Hemingway's Legacy

     The name's familiar. A famous writer, right? So what? 

     Hemingway. A man whose heart was ripped out by the woman he loved. War veteran who fought in Italy. American boy. He was a hopeless romantic, a writer, a lover until the woman he loved gave up. After they were over his heart died. That wonderful romance and hope that made him survive the hellish war he was apart of ceased to exist. And the black hole that was left was filled with a blunt acerbic cynic. 

     Hemingway's metamorphosis was sudden and harsh. Some would even call it a tragedy. I suppose in the aspect of his spirit and his personal life it was. But for the writer he became, it was a glorious birth. His writing is utterly devoid of detail. He tried to suck all emotion from what was happening, to force the reader to read what he had not written. And he succeeded. In some ways. His writing style is called fly on the wall. But he takes the blankness of his style and transforms it into such complexity it takes an experienced reader to appreciate it and understand what is happening. 

     Reading Hemingway. Reading works of Hemingway is a challenge. He leaves it to a reader to figure out all the details. He was so vague and pointed, using words, sentences and dialogues like small knives. Stabbing straight to the bone of the matter without any meat pulled out in the process. Yet in the absence of emotion etc. we can feel every bit of what is going on. And not only what is happening in the story. Behind it all the man left his soul. One can clearly feel what Hemingway did. Because every time he left a piece of a character or situation out, he unwittingly left behind the raw emotion and feelings that he had at the moment. It takes an intuitive soul to see through it.

     Today I fell in love with Hemingway. All of the blunt sharp harshness of his writing seems like catharsis. Every choppy syllable, every abominable happening of the plot releases a drip of the long pent up bitterness inside. Every time the text is devoid of emotion some of mine leaches onto the page. I love the bitterness, the bleakness. This was the blessing Hemingway left behind. Tragedy is his legacy. And through his, ours is made a bit lighter.

Reviews

[The Analog Kid]

This is really a well composed tribute to and analysis of Hemingway. Reading his writing is like switching from blended to a single malt scotch. Hemingway was such a minimalist, yet his prose is so deeply complex in what it doesn't say. I am glad I found something intelligent on this site today:) Thanks for that...