/lit/ - Literature

Alright, just want to talk about this short story collection of Hemingway's and how having now read most of it over the past two days, I think I've got like 2 or 3 more to go, I'm feeling a bit deflated, and almost feel like I'm starting to overdose on Hemingway. I came in to this having read about how he fuckin revolutionised the entire medium, so I came in with pretty high expectations, which were probably further accentuate because of how much I enjoyed The Old Man and the Sea. Right my first criticism of the collection is the subject matter. In almost 50 unique stories there are a grand total of 4 different topics. A man and a woman together, they're not happy, a man in nature, usually killing animals, war and bullfighting. Add in a couple exotic place names and that the basis of pretty much everything in here. Yes there are a couple of exceptions like the lad and his that whose a jockey, but there is so much of the same its gotten incredibly stale.

Right my next issue is Hemingways patented 'iceberg theory', which I thought was something to do with subletly and minimalism in writing, and instead it feels like something to give him an excuse to write about what kind of grasshoppers are best for catching trout for two pages, while making a couple vague references to war, redumption and being healed by nature. And his prose honestly doesn't even feel minimalist at all, apart from in the dialogue, there's been so many times when he says and about 12 times in a sentence which is waffly to fuck and doesn't say anything.

Obviously it's not all bad, there are a few of stories in here that are absolute dynamite, like the life of Francis Macomber, The Capital of the World and Fifty Grand to name a few, its just the vast majority, especially the Nick ones, apart from the one when he's a kid in India and his dad delivers a baby, are just OK or I don't think are good at all.

Idk maybe I'm reading them too fast, or I'm just a retard and not getting them, or it's just that his short stories are not to my taste. Anyways I'll probably be sticking to his novels moving forward. Maybe some of his poetry too just to see what's going on there.

What do you lot think though?

hemigway's great at this

Hemmingway