Ernest Hemingway to
His Mother（Grace Hall Hemingway）
Gstaad，5 February 1927
Dear Mother：
Thank you very much for sending me thecatalogue of the Marshal Field exhibit with thereproduction of your painting of the BlacksmithShop in it．It looks very lovely and I should haveliked to see the original．
I did not answer when you wrote about theSun etc．book as I could not help being angry andit is very foolish to write angry letters；and morethan foolish to do so to one's mother．It is quitenatural for you not to like the book and I regretyour reading any book that causes you pain ordisgust．
On the other hand I am in no way ashamed ofthe book，except in as I may have failed inaccurately portraying the people I wrote of，or inmaking them really come alive to the reader．I amsure the book is unpleasant．But it is not allunpleasant and I am sure is no more unpleasantthan the real inner lives of some of our best Oak Park families．You must remember that in such abook all the worst of the people's lives is displayedwhile at home there is a very lovely side for thepublic and the sort of thing of which I have hadsome experience in observing behind closed doors．Besides you，as an artist，know that a writer shouldnot be forced to defend his choice of a subject butshould be criticized on how he has treated thatsubject．The people I wrote of were certainlyburned out，hollow and smashed——and that is theway I have attempted to show them．I am onlyashamed of the book in whatever way it fails toreally give the people I wished to present．I have along life to write other books and the subjects willnot always be the same——except as they will all，I hope，be human beings．
And if the good ladies of the book study clubunder the guidance of Miss Fanny Butcher，who isnot an intelligent reviewer——I would have feltvery silly had she praised the book——agreeunanimously that I am prostituting a great talentetc．for the lowest ends——why the good ladiesare talking about something of which they knownothing and saying very foolish things．
As for Hadley，Bumby and myself——althoHadley and I have not been living in the same house for some time（we have lived apart since lastSept．and by now Hadley may have divorced me）we are the very best of friends．She and Bumby areboth well，healthy and happy and all the profits androyalties of The Sun Also Rises，by my order，arebeing paid directly to Hadley，both from Americaand England．The book has gone into，by the lastads I saw in January，5 printings（15000）copies，and is still going strongly．It is published inEngland in the Spring under the title of Fiesta ．Hadley is coming to America in the Spring so youcan see Bumby on the profits of Sun Also Rises．Iam not taking one cent of the royalties，which arealready running into several thousand dollars，havebeen drinking nothing but my usual wine or beerwith meals，have been leading a
very monastic lifeand trying to write as well as I am able．We havedifferent ideas about what constitutes good writing——that is simply a fundamental disagreement——but you really are deceivingyourself if you allow any Fanny Butchers to tellyou that I am pandering to sensation-alism etc．etc．I get letters from Vanity Fair，Cosmopolitan etc．asking me for stories，articles，and serials，butam publishing nothing for six months or a year（afew stories sold to Scribner's the end of last year and one funny article out） because I know thatnow is a very crucial time and that it is much moreimportant for me to write in tranquility，trying towrite as well as I can，with no eye on any market，nor any thought of what the stuff willl bring，oreven if it can ever be published——than to fall intothe money making trap which handles American writers like the cornhusking machine handled mynoted relative's thumb ．
I'm sending this letter to both of you becauseI know you have been worried about me and I amalways sorry to cause you worry．But you must notdo that——because，although my life may smashup in different ways I will always do all that I canfor the people I love（I don't write home a lotbecause I haven't time and because，writing，I findit very hard to write letters and have to restrictcorrespondence to the letters I have to write——and my real friends know that I am just as fond ofthem whether I write or not）that I have neverbeen a drunk nor even a steady drinker（You willhear legends that I am——they are tacked on everyone that ever wrote about people who drink）and that all I want is tranquility and a chance towrite．You may never like any thing I write——andthen suddenly you might like something very much．But you must believe that I am sincere inwhat I write．Dad has been very loyal and whileyou，mother，have not been loyal at all I absolutelyunderstand that it is because you believed youowed it to yourself to correct me in a path whichseemed to you disastrous．
So maybe we can drop that all．I am sure that，in the course of my life，you will find much cause tofeel that I have disgraced you if you believeeverything you hear．On the other hand with alittle shot of loyalty as anaesthetic you may be able to get through all my obvious disreputability and find，in the end，that I have not disgraced youat all．
Anyhow，best love to you both，
Ernie
欧内斯特·海明威致
母亲（格雷斯·霍尔·海明威）
亲爱的母亲：
十分感谢您给我寄来马歇尔·菲尔德展览的目录，以及您在展览中展出的油画《铁匠铺》的复制品。这幅画太棒了，我真想看一看原作。
您来信谈及《太阳照样升起》这本书，我没有回信，因为我无法抑制愤怒的心情，写带有愤怒心情的信是愚蠢的；而且，给母亲写这样的信更是超出了愚蠢。对您来说不喜欢这本书是十分
自然的，我很抱歉您看了使您感到痛苦和厌恶的书。
但在另一方面，我一点儿都不为这本书而感到惭愧，除了在某些方面，比如，我也许没能成功地更加准确地刻画我写的人物，也许没能成功地把他们栩栩如生地展现给读者。我肯定这部书不会令人愉快。但这部书并非完全不令人愉快，而且我肯定，它并不比我们最好的奥克·帕克家族的真正的内部生活更令人不愉快。您一定记得，在这部书里，人们生活中所有的最阴暗的一面都被展示出来了，同时也向公众展现了家里美好的一面，也展示了我自己偷偷观察到的那一类事情。此外，您，作为一位艺术家，知道一名作家不应被迫去为他所选的主题作辩护，而应当在他如何对待这一主题方面受到评论。我所写的人物肯定是颓废、虚伪和堕落的，——这正是我试图表达的。我只为这本书在某些方面没能成功地表达出我真正希望展示给读者的一切而感到惭愧。我有很长的一生来写其他的书，主题也不会总是不变——除非他们都如我所期望的成为真正的人。
“书评俱乐部”的淑女们，在并不聪明的书评者范妮·布彻小姐的指导下——如果她表扬这本书，我倒会感到很不自在——一致认为我为这最坏的结局而滥用天才等等——为什么这些淑女们谈论她们一窍不通的东西而且蠢话连篇呢？
至于哈德利、本比和我自己——虽然哈德利和我已有一段时间没有住在同一所房子里（我们从去年九月份开始分居，目前哈德利也许已离弃了我），但我们是最好的朋友。她和本比都很好，身体健康、生活愉快，按照我的要求，《太阳照样升起》这部书的所有利润和版税都从美国和英国直接寄给哈德利。从1月份我所看到的最新的广告中得知，这部书已第五次印刷15000本，并且销量仍在急剧上升。这部书春季在英国以《节日》为书名出版发行。哈德利将于春季到美国来，所以您能看见本比得到《太阳照样升起》的利润。我一分钱的版税都没有拿，版税已经达到几千美元，我仍然一直每餐喝我平时喝的葡萄酒或啤酒，仍然一直过着禁欲生活，并努力写出我所能写出的最好的作品。对于什么是最好的作品，我们有不同的见解——这仅仅是一种基本的不同见解——但是如果您让范妮·布彻这类人告诉您，说我在危言耸听等等，那么您是在真正地欺骗自己。我收到《名利场》、《世界主义者》等刊物来信约我写短篇小说、文章、连载，但我最近六个月或者可以说这一年都没有发表作品（年底为斯克里布纳的刊物写过几个短篇小说和一篇滑稽文章），因为我知道，现在是非常关键的时候，对我来说，安安静静地写作，尽
可能写得更好，既不关心市场，也不考虑金钱能带来什么，甚至不考虑我的作品是否能出版——这一切比落入操纵美国作家们的赚钱陷阱重要得多，这个陷阱就像玉米脱壳机夺去了我那著名的亲戚的拇指。
我把这封信寄给你们两位，因为我知道你们一直为我担心，我为使你们担心而深感内疚。但你们不必如此——因为，尽管我的生命可能以不同的方式结束，但我将永远为我所爱的人们去做我所能做的一切（我给家里写信不多，是因为我没有时间，也因为我觉得写信很难，因此只写那些不得不写的信——而且，我的那些真正的朋友都知道，不管我是否给他们写信，我都一如既往地爱他们），我从来不酗酒，也不常喝酒（你们会听到某些传闻说我酗酒——他们总是把任何一个描写酒徒的作家冠上酗酒的罪名），百我所想要的一切则是安宁和写作的机会。也许你们从来就不喜欢我写的任何作品——也许你们会突然非常喜欢某部作品。但你们一定要相信，我是真诚地对待我所写的一切的。父亲一直是非常诚心的，而您，母亲，一点儿都不诚心，我完全明白这是因为您认为您有责任在您看来是灾难性的道路上告诫我。
因此，我们也许该停止那一切争论了。我敢肯定，在我的生活道路上，如果您相信您所听到的每一件事，您将会找到足够的理由觉得我使您蒙受耻辱。但在另一方面，如果您带有一点点儿诚心作为麻醉剂，您也许会看淡我的那些表面上的声名狼藉，而最终发现，我一点儿都没有使您蒙受耻辱。
不论怎样，致父母亲最真心的爱
欧尼
格斯塔德，
1927年2月5日