Patrick answers “Anybody else out there who finds...”

Andronikos asked this question about A Farewell to Arms:

Anybody else out there who finds Hemingway's style almost completely unreadable?

Patrick Powell Someone else mentioned that Hemingway's style is more suited to short stories and that's true. Despite the, well, hype, he is not a novelist and, if t…moreSomeone else mentioned that Hemingway's style is more suited to short stories and that's true. Despite the, well, hype, he is not a novelist and, if truth be told, not much of a writer.

He caused a splash with his first collection of short stories and his first novel, mainly because they were 'different, in style and content, and because - for the time and place mid-1920s USA they were 'shocking'. After that it was a slow, slow decline, though his fame increased, in part because of his gift for self-publicity.

He was a complex man who sadly believed his own bullshit and was convinced he was the a bloody good writer. Actually, there were far better around, but none was as ruthlessly ambitious as Hemingway.(less)

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A Farewell to Arms

by Ernest Hemingway

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