Hem's good to read when you're young, along with other authors like Karl Marx and Ayn Rand.
Don't know about Marx or Rand, who are essentially philosophers, but you are correct about Hemingway; his work is amazing to read when one is young.
...and middle aged, and old.
The thrill I got when first reading his stories was wonderful but as I grow older it still resonates, albeit in a different way. Any great art "changes" as we change though what we newly discover about a novel or film only reveals itself after we have experienced something similar in our own lives. I take the view that the reader brings his own "baggage" to every book he reads and like or dislike it in proportion to how it addresses our beliefs and experiences.
I love it that Hemingway's work goes in and out of style and has such outraged critics. It does this because it offends the politically correct and Hemingway's work has a directness and a power to it that is evident even in the most mannered passages.
...you are correct about Hemingway; his work is amazing to read when one is young.
...and middle aged, and old.
Man. Many moons ago a right decent fella started off on the wrong foot at college, couldn't get a break and found himself in a deep funk. Don't recall all the circumstances but he was told by his former baseball coach back in the hometown to check out "A Day's Wait". The kid read it. Long story short--for whatever reason he got out of his funk, ended up majoring in English, became a middle school teacher and is now a respected high school principal in a major city somewhere in the South.
Maybe it was having watched The Snows Of Kilimanjaro per thread in 'board proper, then finding this thread over here in 'board unconventional,...whatever...but damn if I didn't just watch the entire program. The bacchanal for that crew between the end of the Great War and the crash of '29 was something else. And I want to go back and dive in with 'em. Will have to settle for another round of Midnight In Paris. Woody really was onto something with that one.
Glad you watched the documentary, Howard. There was another documentary, a better one, which I saw around 2001-02 that I've been searching high and low for but to no agail. It was a two-hour jobber (with commercials) that also aired on iirc The Biography Channel or A&E before it became the shadow of its former (intelligent) self; unless the one above is in fact that one.
I also highly recommend Ernest Hemingway: Wrestling with Life, also from A&E. It's narrated by Mariel Hemingway.
Ah. Ok. I picked up the restored edition yesterday in the bio section but just discovered they have the original in non-fiction. Go figure. Either way, back to the library we go.
Ah. Ok. I picked up the restored edition yesterday in the bio section but just discovered they have the original in non-fiction. Go figure. Either way, back to the library we go.
I should read the restored edition to see just how different it is from the first. Of course, both are not how Hemingway himself would have edited it but it does give the reader a good example of how history (or literature) is interpreted.
Just got Leicester (no relation to the football club) Hemingway's memoir, "Ernest Hemingway, My Brother" and if that weren't wonderful enough, Hem's little bro also makes an appearance in an episode of IN SEARCH OF... and it's in an unrelated-to-Hemingway capacity!
I just finished rewatching Midnight In Paris followed by rewatches of every Hemingway scene. Still lose it at the end, too: "You can fool me but you can't fool Hemingway!" LOL
Just got Leicester (no relation to the football club) Hemingway's memoir, "Ernest Hemingway, My Brother" and if that weren't wonderful enough, Hem's little bro also makes an appearance in an episode of IN SEARCH OF... and it's in an unrelated-to-Hemingway capacity!
something to do with finding "New Atlantis"? I dont recall Hemingway mentioning siblings in his novels. Maybe in the Nick Adams stories? Leicester was known in the past, but nowadays it's like finding out about Sybok in StarTrekV.
What a fine read A Moveable Feast proved to be, just completed. It amazes me how well Hemingway reached back in his later years to the period of his twenties in the 20s. Marvelous descriptions throughout. I especially loved the details of specific wines and meals during these his "hungry" lean years as the struggling young writer with a wife and kid. There is so much humility, a quality that came through in spades in the section chronicling his friendship with Fitzgerald. He really cared about the guy and his craft. EH was a few years younger and yet was looked up to as an older brother. Oh my. Tragic, heartfelt and hurt filled stuff for sure.
The irony? Young Hemingway's story reminds me of young Gatsby's diary; a life with hope and aspiration before money and disillusion.
Glad you watched the documentary, Howard. There was another documentary, a better one, which I saw around 2001-02 that I've been searching high and low for but to no agail. It was a two-hour jobber (with commercials) that also aired on iirc The Biography Channel or A&E before it became the shadow of its former (intelligent) self; unless the one above is in fact that one.
I also highly recommend Ernest Hemingway: Wrestling with Life, also from A&E. It's narrated by Mariel Hemingway.
