The Sun Also Rises: A Pilgrimage Novel

Abstract

While allusions to the Camino de Santiago are concealed in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes follows the Camino path in Paris, Burguete, Pamplona, San Sebastián and Madrid, and he visits the specific citygates, hostels, and hospitals used by Medieval pilgrims. The way Barnes uses language, perceives space and direction, depend largely upon his location in relation to the pilgrimage route. As his inner north, the Camino de Santiago provides a hidden structure in the novel: through a discussion of the social history of the Camino in Celtic and Catholic traditions, this article examines Hemingway’s first novel through the lens of the pilgrimage, an approach that sheds important light on how Hemingway’s conversion to Catholicism shaped his writing.