In a message dated 3/11/02 8:54:59 AM,
Robison_M@crane.navy.mil writes:
<< Hemingway? I've read him, and to this day I can't
grasp
>why people rank him among the 20th century's
literary
>heavyweights. >>
Hemingway's faithfulness to clean
straight unembroidered lines of prose, his dedication to less
is more, and his determination to tell a well paced, camera
shot clear story, speak so powerfully to some people, me
included, that they have served as a beacon and a primer for
writers of half a dozen generations. It's not tough to argue
that without Hemingway the hard-boiled school would be
different and less, and that the minimalists might not have
happened at all. While some in literaryland might see that as
a blessing these days, I don't.
I also see Hemingway's influence on
many of the writers I enjoy most, John Gregory Dunne, John
O'Hara (in his short fiction) Ray Carver, and Elmore Leonard
among them. If you read "A Clean Well Lighted Place," or "The
Snows of..." or "The Short Happy Life," and you aren't blown
away by the extraordinary skill of the guy who wrote them
(especially when you think about the literary tradition he
was working from) then I don't know where else to point you.
He was probably not the best of men, but IMO he was a 20th
Century giant and he was a damn fine writer.
Jim
Blue
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