# Hemingway's writing style. Am I being whooshed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902 "2012-04-25T13:43:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/41 "2012-04-27T16:14:38Z")
Thanks a bunch NAF. My internet is being stone-age slow right now, I’ll post a better reply when there isn’t a chance of losing it. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/42 "2012-04-27T16:19:20Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > FYI, a 1923 Hemingway news story in the Toronto Star [**about a prison break**](http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1164775--kingston-penitentiary-ernest-hemingway-s-story-on-the-dramatic-jailbreak-of-1923). Thanks for this. I consider myself something of a fan, preferring the short stories to Hemingway’s novels and somehow until now it never crossed my mind to seek out his news stories. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/43 "2012-04-27T22:36:21Z")
I’m not a fan. I tried reading Hemingway several times, and could never get anywhere with it. The last straw was reading Hills Like White Elephants in a fiction writing class in college. The writing somehow managed to be terse and completely fail to come to any kind of a point at the same time. I had absolutely no idea what was going on at any point in the story, other than Spain and beer, and had to read the class discussion questions we’d been given before I figured out he was taking her to get an abortion. All I got was “operation” and “let the air in” and by the end of the story, I was seriously rooting for a lobotomy. So no. I don’t think you’re being whooshed. I think it’s just more a matter of personal taste than a lot of critics would like you to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/44 "2012-04-28T02:20:41Z")
Also not a Hemingway fan. For a while, I considered Hemingway as being like the Three Stooges. That is, one of those acts that men tend to like and women tend not to. (Yes, this is broadly based stereotyping – I know it, and know there are many exceptions, so you needn’t call me on it.) In a language class in a country somewhere in Europe, we were practicing translating from English into the target language, and the teacher chose Hemingway because his sentences were simple. Analyzing them, all the Americans in the class felt ashamed of how awful Hemingway’s prose was (and oh, the Brits and other Europeans in the class made us feel it even more.) But that was a long time ago, and maybe I should give him a try again, see what my older and more mature self thinks. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/45 "2012-04-28T03:24:36Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > Where he describes fully everything he thinks you need to know about a 3 month long, blazing hot love affair in 8 sentences. That’s what it was supposed to be? I only barely got the idea that they were sleeping together, and hell if ‘blazing hot’ is how it reads, I’m Hemingway himself! I’m a fan of not letting the words get in the way of the story, and skimming over unnecessary details, but…there’s a limit on how much you can do of either of those before you get… That. That’s just terrible. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/46 "2012-04-28T03:26:30Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > That’s what it was supposed to be? I only barely got the idea that they were sleeping together, and hell if ‘blazing hot’ is how it reads. > > I’m a fan of not letting the words get in the way of the story, and skimming over unnecessary details, but…there’s a limit on how much you can do of either of those before you get… That. > > That’s just terrible. Well, I did say it wasn’t his best effort, just the most extreme. His other stories are a bit longer and now quite so spare. I think if you go back and look you can find where blazing hot is indicated. I would point out examples but it is late and other people have written more and better on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/47 "2012-04-28T03:44:41Z")
Surprised there’s not more appreciation for Hemingway on here. I’m a big fan, not because of his style but because of the way he makes you really feel the emotions of the protagonist. I read “for whom the bell tolls” and felt that I was inside the guerilla fighters head as he made every last second of his life count. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/48 "2012-04-28T05:35:48Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Surprised there’s not more appreciation for Hemingway on here. I’m a big fan, not because of his style but because of the way he makes you really feel the emotions of the protagonist. I read “for whom the bell tolls” and felt that I was inside the guerilla fighters head as he made every last second of his life count. Agreed. “For Whom The Bell Tolls” was my first Hemingway and I bought it on impulse because he was supposed to be good. The story and writing totally blew my mind, it was so amazing. To this day, I rave and rave about it to anyone who will listen. ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/49 "2012-04-28T20:34:40Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > I say poor Luz because I read that story and see a picture of a woman who was infatuated with her hospital lover, and who was romantically in love with the idea of being in love. While he is away they are still bonded by the immediacy of the war and what was, but once the war is over they drift apart (physically and emotionally) and she once again falls in love with another soldier, is likely impregnated by that soldier, and the cycle starts again. It’s sad. His story is sad too, but differently sad. I feel as if he got so caught up in his style here that he neglected to show Luz’ actions as cyclical. So I got that the POV character’s story was sad, and I might’ve felt for him if I’d been given a reason to (we don’t get to know the characters), but Luz doesn’t seem too bad off. In any case, I’ll check out the writers you named (thanks a bunch!) and now that I can see my not liking him isn’t due to a brain deficiency (I kid, I kid) I’ll finally be able to put Hemingway to rest. > [@Kenm](#): > > FYI, a 1923 Hemingway news story in the Toronto Star [**about a prison break**](http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1164775--kingston-penitentiary-ernest-hemingway-s-story-on-the-dramatic-jailbreak-of-1923). Silly mofo should have stayed a journalist! I’d read newspaper articles written like that day in and day out. > [@coremelt](#): > > Surprised there’s not more appreciation for Hemingway on here. I’m a big fan, not because of his style but because of the way he makes you really feel the emotions of the protagonist. I read “for whom the bell tolls” and felt that I was inside the guerilla fighters head as he made every last second of his life count. The issue there being that… he doesn’t, at least to some folks. nd in some cases specifically because of his style. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902/50 "2012-04-28T22:07:43Z")
> [@Imago](#): > > Silly mofo should have stayed a journalist! I’d read newspaper articles written like that day in and day out. Yeah, now. Not so much then. It’s much better than the usual written by a 24-year-old. His spare style was honed at newspapers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hemingways-writing-style-am-i-being-whooshed/619902.md?page=2)