Brad’s Comments (group member since Dec 27, 2008)

Brad’s comments from the The Importance of Reading Ernest group.

So what's grabbing you right out of the gate? And a big thanks to Preb for taking the lead on The Sea Change.

Ruth wrote: "I felt like I walked into the middle of something and then the GIRL left in the middle. And I'm going be walking all day trying to figure out what I missed in this story...."

I think that is really insightful, Ruth, and may have been exactly what Hemingway was going for. I always find myself feeling his stories first, before I begin to understand them, and I wonder if he was cuing us to feel like we walked into the middle of something by having the bar patrons walk in during the story itself to interrupt the flow. Kind of the literary equivalent of light refracting off the lens in a movie -- a reminder that we are intruders on a private moment between two people.

Here is our discussion folder for The Sea Change. Post your threads here, and don't forget to mark *spoilers*.

Something I loved in "Night Before Battle" is the way Hemingway situates distraction. It is another common trope in his work. Characters faced with difficult decisions, dangerous situations or even grief, will often distract themselves from their feelings.

Al Wagner and the pilots all do it with a crap game. Henry distracts himself by caring for Al. Baldy gets himself tight. Manolita distracts herself with the English correspondent. Like so much of what I love in Hemingway, this tendency to distract ourselves feels right.

Al's belief in his impending death resonated deeply for me. Is it foolish of Al to walk right back into a battle that he knows he will not emerge from? Is his willingness motivated by something as simple as honour? Or is Al simply going into death with eyes wide open, knowing that he has to die sometime and that this day, this day he's signed himself up for because "he has politics" is as good as any other?

I was thinking last night while we were watching M*A*S*H* about Hemingway's preoccupation with war. There is an episode of M*A*S*H*, not the one we were watching, where they make a thinly veiled attack on Hemingway's war writings. A famous journalist/author with a red beard and huge physical presence comes to the 4077th and has a run in of philosophy with Hawkeye and BJ (I think it was BJ), and he's written off as a bloodthirsty exploiter of warfare.

As a take on Hemingway, I think M*A*S*H* was pretty unfair, but it has made me seriously consider -- both in the past and again last night -- what Hemingway saw in war that made it such an important part of his writing.

And I think we see much of what motivates Hemingway in "Night Before Battle." Hemingway is interested, above all things, on what motivates people's emotions, and there are few more powerful settings for overwhelming emotion than war. And since war is an experience that Hemingway was familiar with at first hand (he was a genuine hero in the First World War, after all), it makes sense that Hemingway would focus on war and its aftermath as the background upon which to set his examinations of human emotion.

In "Night Before Battle," Hemingway is dealing most poignantly with the emotions of Al, the Tank Commander who's convinced he will die the next day in an attack that he knows should not be made. Al moves from feeling "wet," sure that he will die and genuinely afraid of what's to come, to an acceptance of his fate. And all around Al swirls a cast of wounded people making their way the best they can while fighting what most of them know is a lost cause.

For a man who so many people imagine as the very symbol of American masculinity, Hemingway's stories reveal a sensitivity to emotions and understanding of pain that is unparalleled by his peers. He just happens to use war as the touchstone for his examination.

I'll set up the file and then you can go straight to the discussion, just make sure you don't start the discussion until we've had a chance to talk more about Night Before Battle. Thanks for volunteering Preb. I look forward to your discussion.

Are you up for The Sea Change, Preb? I've made you the discussion leader, tentatively. Feel free to ask me any questions you have.

Hemingway writes war well. What about this war? The Spanish Civil War? Has anyone read For Whom the Bell Tolls?

Arthur wrote: "Preb wrote: "I agree with intensity. And I will also that it has an ending equal for the story. A little noticeable of his style writing but encouraging and tremendous of a short story where it does allude for any reader with war or man and misgivings...." So what do you think about Hemingways' preoccupation with war, Arthur. You and Preb have sent me on to a new topic. War is so important to Hemingway and his stories, isn't it?

Preb wrote: "Hemingway, wrote Wilson, had war and human courage. And that fits perfectly with ‘Night…’, doesn’t it?" Absolutely, Preb! Great connection. I think that is at the core of Hemingway's work, and something that many people, particularly critics of his "fascination with war" overlook (and I think they do so intentionally).

My first impression, albeit late to the table, was of the camaraderie that war must create. There is something in the violence of war that brings people, not just men, closer together if they engaged in some way in the hostilities. Manolita's connection to the men reminds me of Lady Brett Ashley's. But where we see Brett after the damage is done, we see Manolita while the damage is being done.

I don't know about the rest of you, but even in short stories I love Hemingway's characters. There is so much depth in so few words. He really is an impressive short story writer. I think only Faulkner and Conrad come close to him for sheer brilliance in the form.

Rather than making novels a part of our official reading selections, I thought it might be better to create an open discussion folder (called "Novels"), wherein we can keep ongoing and never ending discussions about any of Hemingway's novels.

No assignments. Just good talk.

This is my favourite Hemingway novel. If anyone feels like chatting about it I am willing.

Y'all know the drill. Let's kick off the discussion with our first impressions.

I love that contentment of George's and I feel mostly sad for her. Sad that she is not just enjoying what she's got. Cause hanging out in some seaside European town on a rainy day with a cafe downstairs and a loved one and a good book sounds like heaven to me.

Gio wrote: "maybe she's just so focused on wanting something that she can't sit back and enjoy what she has..."

I felt that myself. There was a simple enjoyment on George's part of just lying around with the book and being that she didn't have. She was almost frantic to have something, and I wanted her to sit still and just enjoy where she was and something simple -- just for her.

I think so too. I imagine the cat will be back out under a chair during the next rain, and she'll be off somewhere with George wanting something else.

Preb wrote: "I felt very sorry for her. She definitely needed love. And she told George that she wanted a home (with her own silver and candles) and a cat. But I think she really wanted a baby. And a life!
..."

I've always had this little place in my head that said George and his wife are the couple in "Hills Like White Elephants." Now wouldn't that be something? And if they are then Preb is bang on with her need for a baby.

If you have, tell us what you think of Hemingway's portrayal of the seaside town.

Ruth wrote: "Brontë and I like a lot of the same things! Maybe I've met my reading soulmate!"

She'll be very pleased to here it, but she's out playing in the sun room with Miloš, so I'll have to tell her when she's done ;).