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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Silly mofo should have stayed a journalist! I’d read newspaper articles written like that day in and day out.
The issue there being that… he doesn’t, at least to some folks. nd in some cases specifically because of his style.
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.