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2.0 out of 5 stars
The Ongoing Debate, Oct 7 2002
I find it admirable that the publisher chose to include Nick Adams drafts that Hemingway worked on, set aside, and did not publish during his life. While incomplete as stories, they give insight into the creative process. Insofar as the stories Hemingway did publish, some are quite good: "Ten Indians", a story of adolescent love, rejection, and the resiliency of the teenage mind; "The Battler", a wonderful portrayal of mental illness among drifters and hobos; and "Fathers and Sons", a death meditation. Other stories, such as the famous "Big Two Hearted River" and "The Killers" are just not very good. What is the significance of "Big Two Hearted River" consisting of two parts? Beats the hell of me. And the entire story is about nothing but the rituals of fishing and camping, which Hemingway describes to the point of fetishization. There is something at the very end about the swamp being a "tragic" place to fish, but that there will be another time to confront it. Don't be so obscure, Hem. What are you talking about? We'll never know because the story is devoid as to what's on Nick's mind (See footnote below). And then "The Killers" is implausible: contract killers are not ingenue who intentionally leave evidence trails and toss out incriminating statements; and witnesses do call the cops. What I notice about all of the stories is that Hemingway mostly focuses on external things, and that little or nothing of the characters' inner lives is revealed. Because details of hunting, fishing and camping are interesting to a point only, ultimately, I lose interest. Hemingway's style is also annoying: he was too much the reporter and not enough the poet. Because he never sings, very little description is unique or memorable. We must remember that these stories were written and published in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time Art Deco - simple, unadorned, streamlined - was popluar. Perhaps Hemingway, like many great artists, subconsciously intuited the zeitgeist, or spirit of the time, and reflected that in his writing. Hemingway's style and substance now seem dated. But at one time, like Art Deco, they were revolutionary. Perhaps that explains Hemingway's once extraordinary popularity which seems incomprehensible now. FOOTNOTE: I have since discovered that such obscurity was intentional and evidently first applied during the writing of this story. Hemingway describes this literary device in "Hunger Was A Good Discipline", which appears on page 75 in A MOVEABLE FEAST, as his ". . . new theory that you could omit anthing if you knew you omitted and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel something more than they understood. . . . And as long as they don't understand it you are ahead."
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2.0 out of 5 stars
I Just Don't Understand the Appeal..., Jun 26 2002
... of Ernest Hemingway's writing. It's dry, glib, and unadorned. His stories appeared bereft of meaning or apparent symbolism. His characters didn't grab me, and some of the stories were quite disjoined and confusing. Why his works are considered classics is beyond me.(As a side note, I felt compelled to read this book due to the fact that my father said that he named me after Hemingway's character... the "q", however, was my own addition...)
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Deep and Beautiful, Dec 9 2001
To me, this book is so eloquent I am reluctant to review it because it will be impossible to do it justice. It is a collection of short stories from earlier works of Hemingway. In each of them, a thoughtful reader can gain insight into Hemingway and him/herself. The following is from "Indian Camp." In it, Nick is a very young boy, and, with his physician father, he has been present at a difficult childbirth and found the victim of a suicide. Dawn is approaching and he is in the canoe with his father rowing back across the lake.
Quote:
"Do many men kill themselves, Daddy?"
"Not very many, Nick."...
"Is dying hard, Daddy?"
"No, I think it's pretty easy Nick. It all depends."
They were seated in the boat, Nick in the stern, his father rowing. The sun was coming up over the hills. A bass jumped, making a circle in the water. Nick trailed his hand in the water. It felt warm in the sharp chill of the morning.
In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die.
Unquote Regardless of how you feel about Hemingway, this is a poignant look into the soul of the man, and ourselves. Hemingway's family was plagued by suicide, including that of his physician father, and, like all of us, Hemingway was once a young child coming to grips with the idea of mortality, in a world still fresh and fascinating and frightening. Other stories deal with the joys of a life full-lived, an appreciation of the natural world around us, and our "quiet desperation," in love, life, and death. "The Nick Adams Stories" is high on my "Top Ten List."
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