Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises

First published in 1926 and Ernest Hemingway's first major novel, The Sun Also Rises explores the world of the "Lost Generation"—a term coined by his friend Gertrude Stein—through the lives of a group of American expatriates in Europe after World War I. Jake Barnes, wounded in the war, is hopelessly in love with the aristocratic Brett Ashley, a woman who attracts and becomes involved with almost every man she meets. Barnes and his friends spend much of their time drinking and pursuing such excitements as the bullfights and the fiesta in Pamplona, having lost their optimism and sense of purpose.