Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner are generally recognized as the most influential American novelists of the 20th century. Their careers paralleled one another in significant ways ? two of their fledgling poems coincidentally appeared in the same avant-garde little magazine, and their first important books, The Sun Also Rises and Soldier's Pay, were published in 1926; they died a year apart, almost to the day; each won the Nobel Prize. But the trajectories of these two lives and careers were also much different. Somewhat incredibly, given many of their mutual friends (and enemies), they never met. They kept their distance but also a wary eye on one another. This book is not only a valuable addition to literary scholarship, it is also a unique re-creation of an era in American culture and letters, especially of ?the charmed circle? of Parisian expatriates.