For the longest time, I resolutely refused, with a rankled rancor, to read the written ravings of Ernest Hemingway. Put quite simply, he seemed like a massive douche to me. Not only was he a misogynist, but he was also a homophobe! Yeah, I know, right!? But see, here's the problem: The man had skills. If Ernest Hemingway was as skillful a writer as he was a misogynist, he must have hated women with a passion comparable to a thousand exploding suns. Of course, I knew he was a good writer, otherwise he wouldn't be famous for his writing, but I had no clue of his skill level until we read a story by him in Ms. Romano's Creative Writing class (where dreams and ideas go to be interred on paper). The level of expertise he displayed in a four page story made mainly of dialogue was incredible. The things he implied, the relationship he built, the insinuation of Reluctant Submissiveness and Situational Dominance,Subtle tragedy, all of it was masterfully woven into a story that, a first glance, was a simple account of a couple preparing to board a train. It was a very beautiful story, brought into existence by a very ugly man, and I'm still conflicted beyond belief about that.
In any case, I'll put aside my considerable bias to describe some of his other stories to you. Let it be said that some of theses may need to be read several times for their true meaning to come across, or if you just want to enjoy his writing.
His stories include:
- A fatally overconfident waiter.
- Gangrene and lies.
- Snow and lies.
- Knives tied to a chair.
- A Cowardly Matador.
- Metaphors for death.
- An old man who lost his cat.
- Mount Kilimanjaro
- The Femoral artery.
- A dissapointing movie.
- Death, at least twice.
I'd say no, but damn, I've never seen a man make Gangrene and lies look so good.
All I am going to say, is that you need to complicate your view of him. First of all, as we discussed in class, Jig seems to be the sympathetic one in this story. Which is weird. But you also have to think about human beings and their complicated, often contradictory, humanity. What was it that Walt Whitman said, "Do I contradict myself? I do. I am large and contain multitudes..." And I am astounded at the humanity Hemingway layers into his stories.
ReplyDeleteWhoaman. I'm glad to see that you got into Hemingway so much and, moreover, that your opinion of him wasn't biased. Sure the man was crazy, and probably not the nicest guy to eat dinner with, but you're right in the fact that he had mad skills. I takes a special type of guy to give the reader as much story and plot as a novel, while condensing it into a couple pages. I also recommend the short story "The Old Man at the Bridge," I would call it a page-turner if there were more than four pages.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, Hemingway was a talent--at least I think so--and I honestly think that we can make a little more space for douchebags in our society if they can give us all he did. I mean, look at F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was a hopeless alcoholic, but does that make The Great Gatsby any less influential? Nope. So therefore, I'm really happy that you're able to put bias aside and enjoy his literature, that's something a lot of people aren't able to do. Props to you man! Keep on readin' those words!
I’m actually very glad that you wrote about Hemingway’s short stories. I myself haven’t been able to decide whether or not I actually want to read his stories and give him the satisfaction (dead or not, he will always be an ass). Hills Like White Elephants was so beautiful, and I was beginning to wonder if his other pieces were the same way. From your post I can tell that the short story we read in class was not just a fluke, although it may have been one of his best pieces. What I also got from your response to the stories you have gotten through so far is that they might not be something that should be passed up on just because the man was a horrible person. The same thing could be said for many an art form and even sports. I’m not entirely sure if this really works in this context, or if my adaptation of the saying makes any sense, but just because you hate the player doesn’t mean you should hate the game. Okay that makes way less sense than I thought it would, but you get the idea. Just because he was a piece of scum, doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t still value his only redeeming quality. Also, he’s dead so how would he know whether or not we like his writing? All in all, you have convinced me to read more of his works because if you can put aside your opinions of Hemingway (which are definitely stronger than my own) I can as well. So thank you for that, I can’t wait to see how he pulls off making Gangrene and lies look good.
ReplyDelete