The Works of Ernest Hemingway

[swanflake]

He's been mentioned in the Cyberspace Weirdos thread today, so I thought I'd start a thread about his works.

I've never read anything he's read, but I used to know this girl who hated him with an intense passion. One time someone brought up the Nobel prizes, and her response was "Those prizes mean nothing. They gave the literature prize to Ernest Hemingway for being racist and eloquently repressing his sexuality." Thoughts on that?

[dwanollah]

Suckin' up, SwanFlake...?

He's totally one of those "love him or hate him" authors. I mean... racist? Homophobe? Misogynist? Asshole? Drunk? Macho pig? Why do y'all say that like it's not part of his charm, huh?!

[swanflake]

dwanollah said:

Suckin' up, SwanFlake...?

Now that depends on how many cookies you still have left at this hour of the night. ;D

I know I read a book of his in high school, but I can't remember which one, or what it was about, or if I even really read it all or not. I do remember that it didn't have any pictures in it, though.

I probably shouldn't have said that if I really wanted a cookie.

[grumpygirl]

I remember reading "The Old Man and the Sea" and thinking "What's so great about this?" I thought it was REALLY boring. I just don't get the love for Hemingway or Faulkner.

[dwanollah]

Hemingway's strength, IMO, is his short stories. They're amazingly polished gems. I also love A Movable Feast (soooo bitchy!), and Garden of Eden was breathtaking (especially once you see what was planned for the finished product). I can't get through OMATS.

[Shanmac]

God, I love "A Movable Feast." That, his short stories, and "The Sun Also Rises" are my favorites. I wrote my thesis on him.

He's totally one of those "love him or hate him" authors. I mean... racist? Homophobe? Misogynist? Asshole? Drunk? Macho pig? Why do y'all say that like it's not part of his charm, huh?!

I know! I realize I should hate him, but I can't. I love the way he wrote. And I think even the most virulent Hemingway hater has to admit, he was an interesting character. His life was just fascinating. And yeah, AMF is delightfully bitchy. It's like reading snark on all my favorite authors.

[thecupcakekid]

What was supposed to happen at the end of the Garden of Eden/

[plainjane]

That picture of him in his WWI uniform is hott. I think anyone would have to admit that he was very good looking.

On a more serious note, I have to chime in on the Moveable Feast love. His writing is just so effortless, I felt transported. Even with novels like To Have and Have Not where the plot is particularly tight, the writing takes you through. I mean, Hemingway was able to use the English language as a tool in a way that very few other people have been able too.

My best friend has a theory that some people are Hemingway people and some are Faulkner people. I find Faulkner to be a dense morass of words and generally unreadable.

[funwithcats]

Hee! I really enjoy some Hemingway but was never really able to get through For Whom the Bell Tolls. Some of my friends in high school felt the same way, and one of them had a relatively nice hardcover copy of the book with a ribbon that tied the two halves together. She cut the middle of the book out our sophomore year and used the hollow center to store tampons. For the rest of high school whenever we had our periods we'd tell her, "My bell is tolling," and she'd give us the book for a few days so we could carry our tampons around without being obvious.

[Shanmac]

My best friend has a theory that some people are Hemingway people and some are Faulkner people. I find Faulkner to be a dense morass of words and generally unreadable.

I hate Faulkner. And wordiness makes me want to scream. I think our beloved Ivy from the CW thread needs to take a class called How to Write Like Hemingway.