Ken confirmed that yes, Hemingway was a royal asshole much of his life, but he was also brilliant, dynamic, charismatic and he did redefine what the American Novel was during the 20th Century. His unapologetic approach combined with terse, unadorned, and to the point writing style was antithetical to the flowery language and filigree encrusted writing that had been the rage in Europe for the last so many centuries. I had an English professor in college who called Hemingway's style "blue collar writing". He did not think much of Hemingway, but he was a big fan of Shakespeare. Me, I did not care. I liked some of Hemingway, but I favored Steinbeck, Kerouac, JD Salinger. I did always like his simple to the point style though. The man could pack a lot in a few words.
I watched this three part series not as just an interested viewer, but as a viewer who also liked to write. I hoped to glean some writing nuggets of worth from following the tragic life of Ernest as he stumbled his way through the many Hells he created for himself and those he loved. Again I was not disappointed. Ken Burns provided me some wonderful ideas to try to bring into my own style of writing.
The one Hemingway nugget that stood out was Ernest's contention that good writing springs from that first sentence, that "one true sentence". This beginning was not necessarily restricted to the beginning of a story, but to any effort to write, daily, weekly, or after a long break. Find that one true sentence and what followed would come easily.
Hemingway was a disciplined daily writer who often pounded out thousands of words. If he could not find the one true sentence that day, he would often shit can that day's efforts and start over the next day.
The other Hemingway-ism I learned years ago. In an interview, he was asked how it was he made writing look so easy. His reply was not friendly nor accommodating. He replied that Good writing is never easy, nor should it be. A writer should suffer sometimes to find the words that are locked away in their minds. That once he finds the right words, there is no better feeling for him in the world. At least that is how I interpreted his response to such a stupid question.
Regardless and for what it's worth, Ken Burns' biopic of Ernest Hemingway is excellent and is only 3 chapters long for a total of 6 hours I think. PBS is currently streaming it. Check it out.
Keep it 'tween the ditches ................................................
_____________________________
Music for this post has to be a Bach fugue. Ernest insisted that his first inspiration in his writing came from listening to and playing Bach tunes on his cello as a child. Enjoy this Bach piece composed for those huge church organs from the way back in the days long before the more recent back in the days.
3 comments:
Glad to read you!
Well, I am interested in writing (in English), but have no ambitions to be a writer. (more like, to master ability to communicate complex ideas with people) Because... well, that could be complicated. As it would need to write it that way so people who read would be able to visualise that image, as well as experience.
There is(well, was) funny guy in our side of the Earth.
Standup comic in your terms.
Zvanetsky Michail.
And he said that phrase: "To write... it's like to pee. Better to do that ONLY when one cannot hold it any more".
That is pun in Russian. As "to pee" and "to write" is the same set of letters ("pee'sat'" and "pi'sat'")
PS I know that I am not masterful. All I can -- express with words distiled factual info. Without taking into account possible reactions of people. Or cultural differencies. So, sorry in advance for any rough feelings from it. :-(
Mike:
I too really have enjoyed the Hemingway documentaries by Burns. I have been watching them more slowly…. probably a 1/2 at a time over a few months with my wife in Sunday mornings. I am in the third two hour block right now.
Hemingway has always been a favorite writer that I started to get interested in while in graduate school as a way to not always be studying the “sciencey” work I was doing in graduate school. I have amassed ~50 or so different biographies about Hemingway, and I find his life and his process of writing very interesting.
Like you, I have tended to PREFER the stories by Steinbeck, Pirsig, Vonnegut, Melville, Wells, etc. to Hemingway’s actual stories. What he wrote about has never been as captivating to me as are many other authors. But, I can say I really admire his writing STYLE… the “blue collar style” as you suggest. I think that is his actual power, more so than (for me anyway) the content of the stories he actually wrote.
I have never been very successful writing with his type of style, as my own writing tends to be rather too verbose. But I admire his style a helluva lot.
Even though I have read most of his works, the only STORY that captivated me was one of his works that is considered of “lesser” quality…. “The Green Hills of Africa”.
PipeTobacco
he writes good................:)
Post a Comment