ABSTRACT. The inter-war American expatriates seem to have found a substitute for the West in the mountains of Spain. Fishing and bullfighting were the favourite pastime of these ‘men without women,’ drinking coming second. It is still an essential dimension in the troubled personality of Jake Barnes, Hemingway’s alter ego in The Sun Also Rises; it is also essential for his ‘buddies,’ they all revolving around the equally troubled personality of Lady Brett Ashley, who in turns becomes the bitch-goddess of the riau-riau dancers, the Circe of Robert Cohn, the Terrible Mother of Mike Campbell, the daredevil of Jake Barnes himself. Drinking is one of her many weapons to enslave them all, and keep them in awe.

Keywords: Ernest Hemingway; The Sun Also Rises; drinking; the West; the destructive woman; the wounded man

How to cite: Aprodu, N. (2024). “Drinking in Spain,” Romanian Journal of Artistic Creativity 12(3): 33-48. doi: 10.22381/RJAC12320244.

Received 25 July 2024 • Received in revised form 08 August 2024
Accepted 22 August 2024 • Available online 30 September 2024