“Hey Hey, if I want a cock and bull story, I’ll read Hemingway.”
–Judge Constance Harm, The Simpsons
So I’m looking to read some Hemingway. The only Hemingway I’ve ever read was a short story I was assigned in a college literature class nigh on 20 years ago. I remember not the title nor the story line, so I couldn’t tell you what story it was (that was during my party years, so I can’t even remember what college it was :dubious: ).
Anyway, given that I’m a Hemingway virgin (short stories, like blowjobs, don’t count), what novel would you recommend I sink my teeth into first?
And the obligatory: why?
Thanks!
Ummm, none of them?
Sorry, I have no idea why in the name of ghu people worship this chauvenistic idiot. I was pretty much forced to read most of his garbage in school, and will not willingly pick up anything of his ever again. Cardboard cutouts for people, threadbare plotlines, absurd posturing.
If you want to read drivel, at least make sure it is drivel you want to read, not drivel that someone says you absolutely must read because you will be the village idiot if you don’t.
Hell, I would even give Steinbeck’s Bear Flag Cafe and other stories another read before I would read Hemmingway. … or Mitchners Tales of the South Pacific. :rolleyes:
Thanks for your candor, aruvqan. But truth is, I want to read it. I want to understand what Hemingway is about. I’ve heard others express opinions similar to yours–I know they even have contest to see see who can write the best (or maybe worst) mock Hemingway. In order to to truly appreciate opinions such as yours, I feel I need to read some of his work. I’m just asking people who have experienced Hemingway where to start.
I’m flying to Toronto next week, so I will have 6-8 hours of airport/airplane time to kill. This is what I’ve chosen to do with that time.
If I regret it, I can’t say you didn’t warn me. Thanks!
Why don’t short stories count? I’m not a Hemingway expert by a long shot, but I get the impression that many people believe his short stories show Hemingway at his best and/or most characteristic. Some titles that have stuck in my mind (from reading them long ago in English class) include “The Short Happy Life of Francis McComber,” “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” and “A Clean, Well-lighted Place.”
Sorry. I wasn’t implying that short stories don’t count as litterature. It’s just that I admited I read a short story a long time ago, yet I was refereing to myself as a “virgin.” I had to reconcille that someone, so I made an analogy to sex. I’ve heard the expression “blowjobs don’t count” when trying to trying to proclaim a state of virginity, so I just compared shorts stories to blowjobs for the sake of the analogy.
The comment was intended only as a joke, not as a reflection on the literary format in general, or Hemingway’s talents in particular.
I will take your suggestion into consideration. I appreciate your opinion.
Myself, I’d go with either The Sun Also Rises, which is a brilliant example of what can be done in the Hemingway style (not that much happens, and not that much is said about it, but it’s all interesting), or Death in the Afternoon, which is technically not a novel, but might as well be, and is a great example of how a great writer can defend an indefensible position.
Another vote for The Sun Also Rises and The Snows of Kilamanjaro.
Sun is fairly easy to read, and somewhat less chauvanistic owing to the fact that the hero suffered a horrible disfigurement/loss in WWI! :eek:
Theres a lotof drinking of absinthe in the book and I felt vicariously drunk while reading it! But even after 20 years I still remember the imagery of Spain ( I think it was there I remember bullfights) and how powerful the end felt to a lonely teenaged girl.