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.
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
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.”
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.
after working with authors in book publishing for 10 years, i learned to separate my personal experience with them from their writings’ imprint on me. Hemingway was a great writer. sometimes it is better to not know details! nevertheless, i dvr’ed this and will watch in due course.
he appeared obsessed with death and we all know how his selfish obsession turned out.
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Blew his head off with a shotgun. Never read his books again.
Hemmingway was an intolerant, self absorbed, drunken mentally ill bastard from a family of mentally ill individuals who also killed themselves.
Which all resulted in above average writings.
Hemingway enjoyed watching Castro and Che murder people. He would sit and watch the firing squad. He had one time as a guest the writer George Plimpton who described the scene. He did not reveal what he saw for many years.
Hemingway may have had regrets as he shot himself dead.
Didn’t know anything of his politics, only his writings which I admired..........So lets all attack him like the left attacked John Wayne after he died.......makes just as much sense.