# Fitzgerald or Hemingway **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 9, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022 "2011-01-09T21:00:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/21 "2011-01-10T19:08:59Z")
It was a really tough call, but while Fitzgerald is eloquent to the point of magnificence, and captured a certain Zeitgeist, Hemingway wrote of the human condition, and attempted to redefine prose as he did so. He was an innovator, and Fitzgerald wasn’t. So he gets my vote. He also won a Nobel prize for his efforts, thus validating my conclusion. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pierrot_Le_Fou)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/22 "2011-01-10T22:12:04Z")
Fitzgerald did not feel the need to disparage Hemingway or insult Hemingway’s penis size. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/23 "2011-01-10T22:14:33Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Fitzgerald did not feel the need to disparage Hemingway or insult Hemingway’s penis size. Well sure, but like Hemingway could have told you, Fitzgerald was a pussy. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/24 "2011-01-10T22:15:17Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Fitzgerald did not feel the need to disparage Hemingway or insult Hemingway’s penis size. Hemingway had a lot of issues besides those, including racism and misogynism - not sure what that has to do with his writing… ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/25 "2011-01-10T22:16:52Z")
I started to type a long thing about how conflicted I was by the choice. Then I realized I’d confused Hemingway with Steinbeck. That wasn’t an error I would like to live with. Hemingway is a greater figure than Fitzgerald. It would be much more difficult to compare him to Steinbeck. ---
**Author:** ![Tarwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de0a6/32.png) [@Tarwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarwater)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/26 "2011-01-10T22:46:06Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It was a really tough call, but while Fitzgerald is eloquent to the point of magnificence, and captured a certain Zeitgeist, Hemingway wrote of the human condition, and attempted to redefine prose as he did so. He was an innovator, and Fitzgerald wasn’t. So he gets my vote. > > He also won a Nobel prize for his efforts, thus validating my conclusion. 😉 Gertrude Stein was the innovator. Hemingway was the imitator. But he’s still a mile better than Fitzgerald. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/27 "2011-01-10T22:47:57Z")
Hemingway. But it was a tough call. ---
**Author:** ![\_richard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/f05b48/32.png) [@\_richard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_richard)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/28 "2011-01-10T22:59:51Z")
who didn’t end up sucking on an elephant gun i’ll go with that one ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/29 "2011-01-10T23:10:05Z")
Hemmingway- Fitzgerald just wrote about whiny, rich, brats and 99 percent of all quotes are from Gatsby ---
**Author:** ![Gil-Martin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Gil-Martin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gil-Martin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/30 "2011-01-12T02:09:45Z")
I thought \*For Whom the Bell Tolls \*was all right. \*The Great Gatsby \*was tolerable. Of the other works I’ve encountered by these two authors (evil, evil English teachers), I really don’t like any of them. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/31 "2011-01-12T02:19:47Z")
Never cared for either if them. Steinbeck takes it by a mile. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/32 "2011-01-12T11:29:44Z")
Mariel Hemingway is definitely hotter than Tara Fitzgerald. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/33 "2011-01-12T11:49:26Z")
> [@Tarwater](#): > > Gertrude Stein was the innovator. Hemingway was the imitator. I don’t think it’s fair to call him an “imitator”. Influenced, of course, but that’s what happens. I still feel he took what Stein gave him, pushed it further and expanded it in terms of innovation, clarity, and “truth”. Sometimes the student exceeds the mentor. He certainly did more to promote the innovations of modernism than any of the other. I agree, by the way, that Hemingway was an absolute shit to those close to him, in particular Fitzgerald - see _A Moveable Feast_ (and more evidenced in [A Very Short Story](http://records.viu.ca/~lanes/english/hemngway/vershort.htm)), but that doesn’t detract from his writing, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/34 "2011-01-12T13:03:35Z")
I don’t know what the question is. Several possibilities did come to mind: Of the two Who is your favorite? Who was the better writer? Who had the greatest range? Who was the “deepest”? Who had a greater impact on subsequent writers? Who will be studied in college english classes the longest? Who will be read by the average person the longest? Who is the most quotable? I would give different answers depending on the question you are asking. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/35 "2011-01-12T13:38:58Z")
I thought the question was “Who had a better beard?” ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022/36 "2011-01-12T21:09:38Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I thought the question was “Who had a better beard?” Again, Hemingway. There’s no beating that guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fitzgerald-or-hemingway/567022.md?page=1)