"Pulvis et Umbra Sumus": Horace in Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises

Abstract

This essay argues that Hemingway read Horace's Odes and incorporated that reading into The Sun Also Rises. The inclusion of Horace's Odes among Hemingway's influences explains a number of phenomena not found in the novel's explicit source—Ecclesiastes. Both Horace and Hemingway, for example, employ a sexually impaired narrator and praise rural over urban living— Ecclesiastes claims neither of these features. Further, all three texts demonstrate a conviction that life is passing and that it is important to "seize the day."