Other Female Figures in Feast

From what I’ve read so far the other figures presented in Feast, are usually depicted or shown in a good light.  In the book, Hemingway speaks of Stein, his wife, and most recently Sylvia Beach. He speaks of his of encounter with her, saying how she was generous and trusting although she had no reason to be.

Sylvia is the owner of the famed library and bookstore, Shakespeare and Company.

Hemingway met this sweet woman when he was in search of some books to read and when he had no way to compensate or trade for the books, she simply told him not rush. Instead she encouraged him to enjoy stating not to read too fast. He mentions in the book, “no one that I ever knew was nicer to me.”

Her kindness is further shown when she learns of Hemingway’s financial state. Hemingway wrote in the book his address, and apparently the area he lives in is known for its class and state, which is poor.

This did not bother Sylvia and nor did it halt her from letting Hemingway borrow the books. She even went as far as inviting the Hemingway and his wife over for dinner at her place.

In Sylvia Beach’s memoir titled, Shakespeare and Company, we learn of her encounter with Hemingway through her opinion and also through her memoir we learn about her dealings with other now famed writers and her time during the war.

Beach’s kindness and well-hearted image is not shed, but instead further brightened.

Beach was told to be exploited by Joyce, a writer whose proposed book she supported. Beach was “pressed into service to run his endless errands, to lend him pocket money, to give him a sympathetic ear.” Eventually she is betrayed and Joyce brings his work elsewhere. 

These courses of actions are learned and told by letters, in which we later learn of Beach’s true nature. That, although, she may have been shown as sweet and generous, initially, by the help of Hemingway’s descriptions, she is actually a strong woman as well.

Through the letters, we learn behind the reasons of why she was so kind to Hemingway. During her time abroad, the Nazi’s were beginning to occupy Paris, United States were recommending all Americans to leave Paris and to return to their former home. She opposes the idea, and instead remains in France.

She even goes as far as refraining a highly ranked Nazi officer from taking a book, for which she saved for herself.

The comparison of the two readings helps demonstrate or display Sylvia as not only a kind woman who might’ve seen the good in a man who simply could have wanted a book that day, but it helped show the reasons behind her actions and it showed behind the curtains of a strong willed woman who believed in her interests and her new home.