There Is Simply Too Much to Think About: Collected Nonfiction

by Saul Bellow

It is plain that Hemingway thinks of himself as a representative man, one who has had the necessary and qualifying experiences. He has not been disintegrated by the fighting, the drinking, the wounds, the turbulence, the glamour. He has not gotten lost in the capitals of the world or disappeared in the huge continents. Nor has he been made anonymous with the oceanic human crowd. He keeps the outlines of his personality. This is why his characters are so dramatic: They offer the promise of a strong and victorious identity. But it is strange that Hemingway’s standards, unlike Whitman’s, should be such exclusive ones. I suppose that, in a game not all can play, only those within the spell and within the rules are eligible. Manhood, as Hemingway views it, must necessarily be the manhood of the few.