Anonymous asked: hi, don't know if you remember me, i go by jaranodle, you wrote a piece on your blog about harry potter in response to my anonymous ask back in 2010. I've been trying to expand my literary horizons ever since and because of what you wrote. There has been also a bit of reassurance regarding the whole HP thing. So, to the question at hand, what is there to say about Hemingway? So far I've only read The Old Man and the Sea and I don't like it. If you've already written sth about it let me know.
Hello! I’m afraid I have not read very much Hemingway, so I barely feel qualified to make any sweeping Potter-esque pronouncements on What There Is To Say about Papa H. I read ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ a very long time ago. I didn’t like it much then, and I rather doubt I’d like it more today.
However, there is more to Hemingway than that book. I like his short stories very much. He is much written about, but I’ve always found pure literary theory tiresome: mostly there is little in it that couldn’t be better put in fiction or poetry. So, two things:
- Read the short story ‘Homage to Switzerland’ by Ernest Hemingway.
- Read the short story ‘Homage to Hemingway’ by Julian Barnes, which was recently published in the New Yorker.
I’m afraid I cannot supply links to the full texts of either of these, though I am sure both are online if you know where to look. I would like to think that having to seek them out will rather add to the thrill of encountering the unknown.
