Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories was published post-posthumously with some of the stories being mere sketches of what Hemingway had planned to write. Nick Adams to some extent mirrors the author's life. He is not Hemingway of course, but their lives revolve around some of the same experiences. The stories in this collection show Nick growing up in rural Michigan, hunting in violation of the law and fishing, always fishing. He fights in the war, he is injured, he goes back home and has a hard time adjusting, finally he marries and has a son.
I usually have a hard time getting into short stories, the themes they explore are seemingly over right when one started to understand them. This collection is different, not only is Hemingway's court writing well-suited for short stories, these also circle around and detail one person, meaning that a far more well-rounded picture of the character is given.
What I find fascinating with Hemingway per se, and this is true with other writers as well, but less so, is how much his writing is inspired by his own life. Every single book or story I have read by him can be traced back to an event in his life that inspired it. This is not supposed to detract from his writing genius of course, I think he is amazing quite honestly, but it is striking nonetheless.
Showing posts with label Hemingway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hemingway. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
There is never any end to Paris
"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast."
I had recently discovered (very much by accident) that Hemingway had written a collection of sketches of his life as a young husband and emerging writer in Paris. Naturally I decided that I would have to read it and soon after bought it as a present for a friend of mine, racing through most of the book during the afternoon before I gave it to him. While I am not as sentimental, nor as grandiose as Hemingway, it seemed fitting to read something like this as some kind of a closure for my year in Paris.
Hemingway lived in Paris in the 1920s and his twenties. His book, A moveable Feast, consists of charming sketches detailing his impoverished life there. He fasts for lunch, boasts how hunger contributes to the understanding of art, and embellishes his family's finances at the race tracks. The book is less about actual Paris, and much more so about Hemingway's life which happens to take place mostly in Paris. His wife and their happiness in early marriage are focused on, his relation with Gertrude Stein and how they drifted apart as well as his friendship with Ezra Pound is described. Finally, how he came into contact with F. Scott Fitzgerald and how he and Zelda drove each other insane (quite literally) and how Hemingway perceived the glamorous couple.
Quite the fascinating literary gem, without a doubt. I feel some beforehand knowledge of Hemingway (and his literary contemporaries cited above) are needed in order to facilitate one's understanding of parts of the book, but I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
In the last chapter Hemingway scathingly attacks his second wife for stealing him away from his first one with whom he had been oh so happy:
"The oldest trick there is. It is that an unmarried young woman becomes the temporary best friend of another young woman who is married, goes to live with the husband and wife and then unknowingly, innocently and unrelentingly sets out to marry the husband. [...] The husband has two attractive girls around when has finished work. One is new and strange and if he has bad luck he gets to love them both."
Abstracting from Hemingway's obvious glorification of the past (by the time he wrote this he was married a fourth time and shortly before his suicide) and of himself (who is lured away without fault himself from his wife by her rich best friend the poor, helpless chap) and interesting family dispute has emerged regarding this. The originally published version of A moveable Feast was published by Hemingway's fourth wife who arranged, included and excluded the existing sketches. Now, Hemingway's grandson with his second wife has published an alternate version that includes some sketches which paint his grandmother in a more positive light and which had been omitted Hemingway's fourth wife. Quite obviously, I will need to have a look at that version as well.
I had recently discovered (very much by accident) that Hemingway had written a collection of sketches of his life as a young husband and emerging writer in Paris. Naturally I decided that I would have to read it and soon after bought it as a present for a friend of mine, racing through most of the book during the afternoon before I gave it to him. While I am not as sentimental, nor as grandiose as Hemingway, it seemed fitting to read something like this as some kind of a closure for my year in Paris.
Hemingway lived in Paris in the 1920s and his twenties. His book, A moveable Feast, consists of charming sketches detailing his impoverished life there. He fasts for lunch, boasts how hunger contributes to the understanding of art, and embellishes his family's finances at the race tracks. The book is less about actual Paris, and much more so about Hemingway's life which happens to take place mostly in Paris. His wife and their happiness in early marriage are focused on, his relation with Gertrude Stein and how they drifted apart as well as his friendship with Ezra Pound is described. Finally, how he came into contact with F. Scott Fitzgerald and how he and Zelda drove each other insane (quite literally) and how Hemingway perceived the glamorous couple.
Quite the fascinating literary gem, without a doubt. I feel some beforehand knowledge of Hemingway (and his literary contemporaries cited above) are needed in order to facilitate one's understanding of parts of the book, but I can wholeheartedly recommend it.
In the last chapter Hemingway scathingly attacks his second wife for stealing him away from his first one with whom he had been oh so happy:
"The oldest trick there is. It is that an unmarried young woman becomes the temporary best friend of another young woman who is married, goes to live with the husband and wife and then unknowingly, innocently and unrelentingly sets out to marry the husband. [...] The husband has two attractive girls around when has finished work. One is new and strange and if he has bad luck he gets to love them both."
Abstracting from Hemingway's obvious glorification of the past (by the time he wrote this he was married a fourth time and shortly before his suicide) and of himself (who is lured away without fault himself from his wife by her rich best friend the poor, helpless chap) and interesting family dispute has emerged regarding this. The originally published version of A moveable Feast was published by Hemingway's fourth wife who arranged, included and excluded the existing sketches. Now, Hemingway's grandson with his second wife has published an alternate version that includes some sketches which paint his grandmother in a more positive light and which had been omitted Hemingway's fourth wife. Quite obviously, I will need to have a look at that version as well.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
The Fifth Column
What can I say, I like Hemingway. His short stories are always fun and food for thought as well. His novels I have always enjoyed. Obviously - to me - he is not in one class with people like Faulkner and Twain, but he definitely is up there in the canon of American literature. The Fifth Column apparently is the only play he ever wrote, under shells stuck in a Madrid surrounded by Franco's forces I might add for melodramatic benefit. Hemingway tells the story of an American counter-espionage agent working for the Republic (and a greater, future - socalist - good). He falls in love with an American girl, working in Madrid as a writer and in the end has to choose whether to pursue his current life or follow her into the glamorous life-style of well-off American expatriots in Europe. This being Hemingway, you should know what he chooses, I will not tell you.
I liked the play, but I cannot claim that I was overly thrilled about it. Somehow - and paradoxically - Hemingway's method of telling a story, through factual descriptions, and uninterpreted dialogue does not really work in this play. Maybe because the factual descriptions of what people are doing, what they are looking at and so on are missing and he relies nearly solely on dialogue (kind of like Richard III, which I just read actually, but absolutely different nonetheless of course). Yet, what bothered me most was not the way Hemingway told the story, but rather what he implied in it.
The girl, which is called Bridges, but according to Hemingway himself could have been called Nostalgia as well, is described as beautiful with a remarkable body, but lazy and inept most daily activities. In a way she represents what men are supposed to long for in a woman, and that is actually what tempts the main character, Philip, to turn his back on his life as a killer - for political reasons and in a war, surely, but a killer anyway. Yet, that what she stands for does not come across as tempting to me, she is shallow, naive, vain; if that is what Hemingway looks for in a woman - and that's how it comes across - good for him, it doesn't work for me - a nice body and good looks simply don't cut it.
Finally, a feminist critique of her role would be necessary as well I believe, in the beginning of the book, she chooses Philip over the man with whom she has been living up until then, mainly - if not solely - on the basis of him being a man's man. Philip is not just a writer sitting in a hotel room, afraid of the shells, he is a tough guy that does not mind using his force to take advantage of other people. He treats Bridges badly, mostly for reasons associated with his job, yet she doesn't know this. The whole thing just makes me wonder whether Hemingway really believes women decide on who to fall in love with, based only on these traditional masculine elements. I doubt it.
Having explained how I disagree with the author over his main characterisations, I have to say that the play was fun to read anyway. I would recommend his short stories or novels for people that don't know him, but for further reading this play is definitely good. The Spanish Civil War is a very interesting subject anyway, as you have in a micro cosmos the forces fighting out the 2nd World War and the Cold War already. I would love to read more about it, and hope I do get that chance at some point.
I liked the play, but I cannot claim that I was overly thrilled about it. Somehow - and paradoxically - Hemingway's method of telling a story, through factual descriptions, and uninterpreted dialogue does not really work in this play. Maybe because the factual descriptions of what people are doing, what they are looking at and so on are missing and he relies nearly solely on dialogue (kind of like Richard III, which I just read actually, but absolutely different nonetheless of course). Yet, what bothered me most was not the way Hemingway told the story, but rather what he implied in it.
The girl, which is called Bridges, but according to Hemingway himself could have been called Nostalgia as well, is described as beautiful with a remarkable body, but lazy and inept most daily activities. In a way she represents what men are supposed to long for in a woman, and that is actually what tempts the main character, Philip, to turn his back on his life as a killer - for political reasons and in a war, surely, but a killer anyway. Yet, that what she stands for does not come across as tempting to me, she is shallow, naive, vain; if that is what Hemingway looks for in a woman - and that's how it comes across - good for him, it doesn't work for me - a nice body and good looks simply don't cut it.
Finally, a feminist critique of her role would be necessary as well I believe, in the beginning of the book, she chooses Philip over the man with whom she has been living up until then, mainly - if not solely - on the basis of him being a man's man. Philip is not just a writer sitting in a hotel room, afraid of the shells, he is a tough guy that does not mind using his force to take advantage of other people. He treats Bridges badly, mostly for reasons associated with his job, yet she doesn't know this. The whole thing just makes me wonder whether Hemingway really believes women decide on who to fall in love with, based only on these traditional masculine elements. I doubt it.
Having explained how I disagree with the author over his main characterisations, I have to say that the play was fun to read anyway. I would recommend his short stories or novels for people that don't know him, but for further reading this play is definitely good. The Spanish Civil War is a very interesting subject anyway, as you have in a micro cosmos the forces fighting out the 2nd World War and the Cold War already. I would love to read more about it, and hope I do get that chance at some point.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
The Old Man and the Sea
I've been quite busy here, what, with my french courses during the day, working the week-end and at the same time having to read all my papers online. Yet, last week, before this all started in a way, I did manage to fit in a couple more books, which I now have to catch up on.
One of these was Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, I hadn't read this before, just knew that it was considered a classic and part of the (in?)famous literal canon. I really like Hemingway, he is not on the same level as people like Faulkner or Twain but he always provides a good read and did not disappoint this time around either. The story in itself is quite surprising as neither women nor booze play any kind of relevant role. An old fisher-man has not caught anything for more than 80 days, yet does not give up trying and is ultimately - in a way - rewarded or punished, however might one view the end. I am not going into anything else here as I don't want to destroy it for anyone wanting to read the novel. Let it suffice to say that it is a really recommendable book. I really enjoyed it. A word of warning though, due to its length - barely more than 100 pages in my version - and Hemingway's contracted writing stlye it took my not even half a day to finish it.
One of these was Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, I hadn't read this before, just knew that it was considered a classic and part of the (in?)famous literal canon. I really like Hemingway, he is not on the same level as people like Faulkner or Twain but he always provides a good read and did not disappoint this time around either. The story in itself is quite surprising as neither women nor booze play any kind of relevant role. An old fisher-man has not caught anything for more than 80 days, yet does not give up trying and is ultimately - in a way - rewarded or punished, however might one view the end. I am not going into anything else here as I don't want to destroy it for anyone wanting to read the novel. Let it suffice to say that it is a really recommendable book. I really enjoyed it. A word of warning though, due to its length - barely more than 100 pages in my version - and Hemingway's contracted writing stlye it took my not even half a day to finish it.
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