The Sun Also Rises (published by the Modern Library) is Ernest Hemingway’s seminal 1926 novel that captures the disillusionment of the “Lost Generation” in post-World War I Europe. The story follows Jake Barnes, an American expatriate and war veteran rendered impotent by a battle injury, as he navigates a turbulent love triangle with the charismatic but destructive Lady Brett Ashley and his friend Robert Cohn. Set against the backdrop of 1920s Paris and the frenetic running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, the novel explores themes of masculinity, aimlessness, and the search for meaning in a fractured world.
Hemingway’s spare, iceberg-style prose—terse yet charged with subtext—revolutionized modern literature. The Modern Library edition preserves the novel’s raw power, often including an introduction contextualizing its autobiographical roots (Hemingway’s own expat circle inspired the characters).
A defining work of 20th-century fiction, The Sun Also Rises remains a piercing study of love, loss, and the rituals that keep despair at bay.
