Monday, January 26, 2015
Snow Day Post: Hemingway's Style
One of the most distinctive markers of Hemingway's prose is what has been called his iceberg theory, basically a minimalist style in which the deeper meaning comes through implicitly rather than explicitly. Some readers love it, some readers hate it. Some also say there's a connection to gender and these sorts of choices. What do you think of his style? Can you point to some examples where you see it working?
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I think I can see this style working in Brett's character, as well as her relationship with Jacob. The ice burg theory almost comes off as a read "between the lines," because as a reader, you are not given the meaning up front. This is something I'm not totally a fan of, but knowing there is more meaning behind a situation, such as Brett's, makes me want to read further. There is clearly something more going on in Brett's life, including her relationship with Jacob.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the style relating to gender, this may be farfetched, but men are known to be more implicit. They never fully say what they mean and struggle communicating how hey feel. Women, however, are much more explicit, and they make sure they give 100% of themselves; they leave no mystery.
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ReplyDeleteI struggle with Hemingway's iceberg prose when it comes to dialogue. Of course, I find it effective, allusive, metaphorical and all that jazz, but I think his exchanges are simply too vague sometimes, and furthermore it is difficult to follow who said what. For example, in situations where the count, Jake, and Brett are all interacting, I find myself scrambling to understand who is "speaking." Context is what saves the dialogue from being a failure and what makes Hemingway pull it off pretty well. I'd say the best example of this contextual-redemption is within his short stories, which seem to be all dialogue, in my experience.
DeleteAs for _The Sun Also Rises_ I can't help but wonder if Hemingway's masculinity is precisely what defines his iceberg writing. I also agree with Paige in that it seems probable that women feel a greater need to explain themselves, whereas western constructs of masculinity allow for this "vague" dude-expression.
I actually talked a little about this in the Snow Day: Manly Book post.
ReplyDeletehttp://engl360spring2015.blogspot.com/2015/01/snow-day-post-manly-book.html
I have to disagree with Paige and say that I actually really like this writing style. Details are great, but only if I want to be immersed in the story. (Like Middle Earth) Being immersed in someone else's love story is not a place I want to be.
Leaving the details out lets the reader put their own interpretations into the story. Therefore, it can make the story more intimate than a story with a lot of details. It's a very "Troilus and Criseyde" type move. Chaucer said the story would not work unless the reader put their selves into the story.
Stereotypically this writing style may have been attributed to different genders, but I don't think that is the modern case. Men write over detailed romance novels just as much as women do anymore.
Heminway's writing style in The Sun Also Rises is something I neither hate nor like. The descriptions are good but in some cases I would like more description. Also, like Eileen said, it is sometimes very hard to follow who said what. There were multiple times I had to go back and reread the passage I had just read to better understand who said what. Even when doing this, I still sometimes did not know who the speaker was for certain lines. Just like Paige, I'm curious if we will be told more later on in the story so I'm looking forward to reading the novel further.
ReplyDeleteHemingway's writing style is different, but I found myself getting used to it the more I read the text. However, I absolutely agree with Eileen. When there are a few people "talking" (bars, dance scenes, or apartments) I struggled to understand who was speaking at times.
ReplyDeleteAs Paige mentioned, I did like the iceberg theory when it concerns Jake and Brett's relationship. For example, Hemingway does not tell the reader that Brett and Jake are lovers. At first, I thought this was the first time they met. But, I soon discovered that they are madly in love. I know these two have some history together and I am interested to see how much Hemingway tells the reader.
I enjoyed Hemmingway’s iceberg style. I feel like it accurately parallels life, as when you meet people or interact with anyone, most things are not explicitly stated. I think it also shows masculinity rather well, because men do not often go into detail about life. I feel like the interactions between Cohn and Jake in the second chapter appropriately demonstrate the style since Jake’s personality came off as brusque and short, which led to the assumption of jealousy that some people mentioned on their comments on Jake’s personality. (http://engl360spring2015.blogspot.com/2015/01/snow-day-post-jake-barnes.html)
ReplyDeleteConcerning Hemingway's iceberg theory, I can definitely categorize myself as being one of the readers that hate the minimalist style. I found myself getting rather frustrated at the lacking of detail, especially in regards to the relationship between Jake and Brett. I know there has to be more to their connection than we have already read and I do not feel as if justice is being done to their story. When I read, I do so to feel connected to the characters, to escape from my current reality and get lost in the pages created by the author. While Hemingway’s writing style makes me curious, it prevents me form making this connection. I am crossing my fingers, hoping that we as readers will gain more information on Jake and his companions as the book progresses.
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading over the comments to this particular post, I realized that I wanted to continue my discussion and I cannot figure out how to edit my last comment so I just created another one :)
ReplyDeleteIn contrast to my current thoughts on the iceberg theory, my peer Caroline mentioned, “I feel like it accurately parallels life, as when you meet people or interact with anyone, most things are not explicitly stated." This point is so interestingly made that it makes me question my thoughts on what is and what is not accurately portrayed as “real” in literature. As Caroline says, actual life occurrences are not explicitly stated. I can see how this would have been an influence on Hemingway and his writing style because what author does not want their characters to be read as believable beings? What better way to achieve this goal than to write in a style that closely parallels the experiences of human interaction that we as real beings experience on a daily basis. To cap it off, thank you Caroline for your interesting insight!
I may be one of those readers who enjoys Hemingway's iceberg style. I always look for deeper meaning in literary works and I enjoy figuring out how the protagonist is thinking and how those thoughts will guide their actions. If the meaning is stated explicitly it can sometimes ruin the moment for me because then it feels like everything is too overt or too obvious. I like a thinking man's story and I think that's what Hemingway gave us. I'm not a huge fan of minimalist style because I like for excitement to pick things up during the middle of the story but in this case, I think it worked.
ReplyDeleteI may be one of those readers who enjoys Hemingway's iceberg style. I always look for deeper meaning in literary works and I enjoy figuring out how the protagonist is thinking and how those thoughts will guide their actions. If the meaning is stated explicitly it can sometimes ruin the moment for me because then it feels like everything is too overt or too obvious. I like a thinking man's story and I think that's what Hemingway gave us. I'm not a huge fan of minimalist style because I like for excitement to pick things up during the middle of the story but in this case, I think it worked.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Caroline and Haley on the fact that I feel Hemingway's implicit style of story telling is more exciting to read as well as realistic. The point of reading a story to me is being able to follow the ride the story is taking me on. If everything was stated from the beginning there wouldn't be much to tell. I also enjoy being able to come up with my own interpretations, I find myself doing this even with more explicit writing.
ReplyDeleteAs for whether or not I feel this writing is gendered, I'm not so sure. Perhaps for the time you could say the idea of men being more implicit than explicit was common, but I don't know if this is necessarily still the truth. I know personally I have told some stories about events in my life that others have groaned with the amount of detail I put in explaining every little detail and my reactions and inner most feelings. I also have many female friends who are the complete opposite and will talk about events with a very clear opinion on them, but without actually stating them. My question with this would be have gender expectations changed in this sense?