A Moveable Feast

After a hard day’s work, Hemingway walks across the street to Negre de Toulhouse for dinner. The owner, Mr. Lavigne, tells Hemingway that he had seen him working at the Closerie des Lilas and that he “had the air of a man alone in the jungle” (46). Hemingway decides to walk through the streets of Paris instead of attending the horse races. The tempting memory of the horse races reminds him that they are no place for a man with a wife who is trying to make writing prose his full-time job. Hemingway reflects that, “In Paris, then, you could live very well on almost nothing and by skipping meals occasionally and never buying any new clothes, you could save and have luxuries” (47). Hemingway recalls that many of the people he wrote about had strong appetites and a desire for food.

As Hemingway walks, he approaches The Dôme and decides to sit at a table with the painter Pascin and two models. Hemingway describes Pascin as “steady, purposefully drunk” and a good painter (47). He asks Hemingway if he’d like to sleep with one of the models, making everyone at the table feel uncomfortable. The three invite Hemingway to dinner but he declines and quickly leaves.