I tried reading A Farewell To Arms but found it incredibly boring. I have already read WW1 memoirs that were far more interesting.What am I missing here? I can't see much appeal to his work. Is he one of those authors who were revolutionary at the time but their style has simply become normalised now?
>>24732122>Is he one of those authors who were revolutionary at the time but their style has simply become normalised now?Bingo.
>>24732122I'd recommend trying A Farewell to Arms next. The first 40% is comatose, but if you manage to get through that, it picks up and is actually quite gripping towards the end. For whatever reason, his novels are consitently soporific at the beginning. Guess that's part of his style.
>>24732122>What am I missing here?First, read a few pages from So Big by Edna Ferber. It was the best-selling book of 1924. Once you get the idea (you don't have to read much) read Hemingway's first book, "in our time." It's short stories with vignettes interspersed and came out the same year. Then you'll get why everyone went fucking batshit over this guy. The best entry point into Hemingway is def his short stories.
>>24732122I read most of the Hemingway novels. I only liked For Whom the Bell Tolls. Now, that's a novel with pathos. All else is some cuck-sorrow memoir.
>>24732122Hemingway was not a great writer but he was meticulous in marketing the image of himself. He made sure there were photographs of himself during his war reporting, exotic travels, and outdoor adventures, and appeared in advertisements for suitably manly interests like beer and airlines. I am convinced that is entirely the reason for his popularity and lasting image because I have never found his writing noteworthy. Mark Twain cultivated his own image in a similar fashion as the witty well-traveled grand humorist and shilled suitably manly cigars and whiskey.
You could call him “derivative” if you were retarded.
