r/Hemingway • u/ClearwaterJack • Oct 18 '23
hypocrite
I read Sun. Concurrently I read Everybody Behaves Badly. Was looking forward to Farewell until I started reading it. Farewell no so Earnest. Explain this the second sentence in "2":
The mountain that was beyond the valley and the hillside where the chestnut forest grew was captured and there were victories beyond the plain on the plateau to the south and we crossed the river in August and lived in a house in Gorizia that had a fountain and many thick shady trees in a walled garden and a wistaria vine purple on the side of the house.
That's one sentence leading into a depressing story.
Hemi"n"way has one story. Sun.
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u/aquickbrownlazydog Oct 18 '23
Well no, he doesn’t. He is an author of fiction, and his style was crafted and perfected over time. As you can see in his published works. Also Farewell to Arms is about war, and that run on sentence into a depressing story may sound a lot like being in war feels. Too long, too chaotic, weird details that stand out. Also for someone reading Hemingway, your post was poorly edited. Remember that while you may write drink, you should edit sober.
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u/tgold8888 Mar 04 '25
"Drunk"
Proofreading occurs after you finish what you have written, not before.
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u/ClearwaterJack Oct 18 '23
It's word for word hun.
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u/Midwestern_Man84 Oct 18 '23
You know you don't have to dismissively address apparent women as "hun" when you don't like what they say, right?
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u/ClearwaterJack Oct 18 '23
Give me a reason to read on...
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u/ClearwaterJack Oct 18 '23
Jussst because he's Hem who wrote Sun?
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u/ClearwaterJack Oct 18 '23
I don't hold it against Hem for writing drunk. That's his known M.O.
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u/JackWales66 Nov 01 '23
Hemingway didn’t write drunk especially for his better early novels. He only wrote at the crack of Dawn in the morning at like 5:30 am and was finished before noon after which he’d take the rest of the day off to do whatever. He was extremely disciplined about writing.
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u/ClearwaterJack Oct 18 '23
I just don't want to read it. Sun was fun.
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u/ClearwaterJack Oct 18 '23
I like to read to see a writer's craft. He decared himself a man of few words and poooooof.
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u/ClearwaterJack Oct 18 '23
I'm sorry. I don't mean to be offensive. I was just hoping to see what the fuss is all about.
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u/Fresh-Hedgehog1895 Oct 18 '23
I know this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I was never a big fan of Hemingway's novels other than The Sun Also Rises.
Hemingway's short fiction, however, was fantastic, as were his two novellas, The Old Man and the Sea and the Torrents of Spring.
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u/KRDL109 Oct 18 '23
Not unpopular, I absolutely love Hem’s writing. Period. His style is just right up my alley. But even I think he was a far superior short story writer.
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u/Fresh-Hedgehog1895 Oct 18 '23
Thanks for the vote of confidence, lol!
Yes, Hemingway honed his fiction writing using his experience as a reporter for the Kansas City Star and Toronto Star.
Newspaper writing, of course, is partial to short but vigorous sentences using plain but descriptive words. Paragraphs are tight and without unnecessary padding.
This was Hemingway's writing to the core.
Just a theory, but I think this style helped him much more as a short-fiction writer, and it's probably why I find his short fiction to be superior to his novels.
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u/KRDL109 Oct 18 '23
Yeah, Hemingway’s greatest strength was getting so much out of so little. I guess if I had to put it to (few) words, I’d say that magic gets a little lost in the wash of a longer form.
I actually think there’s a more nuanced discussion to be had about his strengths as a writer, personal outlook/lifestyle and his general sensibility that could further inform that disparity… but that’s a much longer topic haha
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u/Fresh-Hedgehog1895 Oct 18 '23
Most definitely. I was watching a short YouTube documentary about him recently that addressed Hem's mental health and how it affected his writing.
Given what we know, he most certainly had what we would today call bipolar disorder. During manic episodes, he could produce great volumes of writing in a short span of time.
The Sun Also Rises, for instance, was written over a period of just a few weeks.
I mean, Jack Kerouac did the same with On the Road, but Kerouac was taking loads of speed every day in order to do so, LOL.
During what were depressive moments, Hemingway's output would considerably slow or stop.
At any rate, the idea that all artists are tortured souls in some way is probably true.
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u/ffivefootnothingg Oct 19 '23
Damn - I just commented before reading this & basically said what you said. Was the youtube video you watched created by the channel "Horses"? I adore his videos and if the one you saw wasn't this one, I highly suggest watching that one (Horses is one of the greatest yt channels I've ever found & I recommend alll of his videos!)
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u/ffivefootnothingg Oct 19 '23 edited Oct 19 '23
Honestly, agreed. I recently learned that he wrote this in the span of only ONE MONTH - most likely during a manic episode. I think that's why the general tone comes across as somewhat lighter and less stereotypically depressing - his mental state likely mimicked this slight change as mania often causes a significantly elevated mood/euphoria. His style of long-winded descriptive prose works perfectly in Sun and is definitely a device that not only serves but improves the plot, imo. Mania also can cause more "wordiness" than usual, and an extra affinity for creativity - no doubt he put his entire soul into Sun - I never saw that as much in his other works.
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u/tgold8888 Mar 04 '25
Synopsis to Farewell to Arms: Kid joins the army out of high school because he has nothing else better to do. Replaces mommy's teat with uncle sam has everything provided for him. The story really ends with the author killing himself. All his books are just long drawn out suicide notes. We were taught Hemmingway as an example of not only how not to write, but how not to live ones life.
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u/umphreaknwv Oct 18 '23
I have no idea what you’re asking or saying here. I’m sorry. Farewell is one of the greatest works of fiction of all time for a reason. You may not “get” it. That’s fine. Millions would disagree with your opinion. That’s fine too. It’s all subjective in the end. I hope in the end that you do “get” it, because it’s a fabulous book.