Posted on 04/08/2021 7:03:37 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
Selfish arrogant bastard. Lived in Key West in a big house provided by his well-to-do in-laws. 2nd wife was a home wrecker who he slapped. Spent an awful lot of time indulging in his manly whims-African safaris, marlin fishing and drinking like a fish with his friends. His talents allowed him to hit the big time and everyone wanted to rub elbows with him. Throughout the first episode he appeared obsessed with death and we all know how his selfish obsession turned out. We all have talents. He had too much of it for his own good.
looking forward to the 2nd episode. It's on the DVR.
The only thing worse than a Hemingway novel is a biopic of Hemingway. ..............
Artists often have one area of their brain that truly sparkles. The rest, not so much.
“Critics are men who watch a battle from a high place, then come down and shoot the survivors.” —Papa
WHY?
His son said he was a good father. I’d say the same thing. His wife cared more for Hemmingway than she cared for her kids. Her parents paid their bills in-between novels. Hated racism-don’t we all?
+
It's damning that his own wife correctly accused him of burying the truth for his own gain at the expense of thousands of lives.
Yeah, we know how it ends..................
Why? The man had talent. Grain of salt I guess. Ken Burns is good but we have to take him with a bigger grain.
Orwells “Homage to Catolonia” was more memorable. I’ll have to go back and read For Whom again after 40 years. John McCain talked me into it.
Hemingway did volunteer as an ambulance driver with the Allies in World War One. By that standard, he is different from His Fraudulency Joe Biden (multiple student and marriage deferments during Vietnam), the odious Dick Cheney (same), and most neocons.
The thing about Hemingway that makes it likely we’ll still remember him a thousand years from now is how he changed the way people write. It was a profound change from Jamesian run-on, decorous writing. Faulkner didn’t have that impact, and Fitzgerald only had it a little bit. I also think he owes his writing style to Gertrude Stein, who taught him a lot when he was in Paris.
The first episode was generally depressing and repetitious especially in view of the irony the audience already knows about his suicide. As with many other documentaries on tv, this series could likely have been boiled down to 90 minutes and been a more effective/interesting presentation.
One thing I did not know but found most interesting was that Hemingway learned his style from the Kansas City newspaper, which insisted that its articles be written that way. :D
... We all have talents. He had too much of it for his own good....
Absolutely the most precise and succinct appraisal of Hemingway I ever have read.
I watched it all.
I went into it believing the “man’s man” stuff about Hemmingway. I had recently read the autobiography of Robert Capa, one of the photographers who had gone into Paris with him during WWII. The image he painted was of a rugged, drunk, man who was bigger than life.
What the Ken Burns program showed was that he was a big a-hole. He hit women. He did not know what fidelity meant. And he was a prolific liar.
What I found humorous about the program was the “shock” from the current crop of writers about the language and racism he used in private correspondence. They simply “couldn’t fathom” how such a great writer could use that language.
In reality, this guy used language as a weapon. He knew EXACTLY what he was writing—he understood that when he wrote to someone he could convey an emotion directly and succinctly.
Today’s writers—at least the ones shown on the show—came across as morons because they couldn’t comprehend the context of the man and his times.
But yeah...in the end the guy was a good writer, but a bully and egomaniac who was generally an a-hole to everyone he knew and “loved.”
“he changed the way people write.”
Can you give more detail? I’m not a literary person.
well put
The so-called “hemingway” house in Key West has always been to true natives/descendants of Key West as.... Stephen Mallory’s house. The Stephen Mallory house. Acquired by hemingway’s relatives.
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