Poll: Ernst Hemingway: Why in God's Name is he famous?

[GrinningManiac]

I've had to read Ernst Hemingway's Farewell to Arms for an English assignment relating to the futility of war and the horrors of WW1. Beyond being SET in WW1 Italy, the book has jack to do with the war, let alone the horrors of it.

That's not the problem

The problem is this: Why is Ernst Hemingway such a reknowned and famous writer?

He was a narcissistic, alcholic womanizer with a heavy bout of depression and many suicides in the family owing to a rare, genetic depression disorder. All his lead characters, who are always 20-something males, are identical to him.

He writes "love" stories, but with little originality, all the females having the personality and independence of a damp piece of tracing paper, and he writes like FUCKING MICROSOFT SAM

Seriously, there is no passion, no emotion, no personality and no form to his writing, and his dialouge falls below any resonable mesurement of awful-ness

And mabye this is just my opinion? Mabye I just don't like the style, plenty of famous writers have their opposition. Fair enough...but no, that's not the case

EVERYONE I know who has read his work hates him. My dad, my aunts and uncles, my friends, my freind's families, the 20-something people in my english class AND our teacher. Noone likes him. I would have thought I would have met one person in such a broad range of ages, tastes and backgrounds that enjoys him or at least says "Eh, I didn't mind it"

But no, everyone hates him

Why is he so famous? Why was he even published? What do you think of him?

 

[Soxafloppin]

Never heard of him!

Sorry!

 

[Pimppeter2]

I have never heard of him or read his work, but I feel a strange desire to contribute regardless

 

[WrongSprite]

I have never heard of him or read his work, but I feel a strange desire to contribute regardless



....I can't believe I got ninja'd on that.

 

[Mushroomfreak111]

Why is anyone famous? Most famous people suck...

 

[Kuchinawa212]

Isn't it pretty to think so

I like him. He wrote a decent book that I remember fairly well. I can bearly remember "to kill a mocking bird" while that can argumable be a better book to some. But I can still remember As the sun also rises

 

[BabySinclair]

He was a few good books, The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms are the two I can think of right now but most of his writing is supposed to be taken metaphorically so unless you have a knowledge of what to expect they do seem like boring crap.

 

[Disaster Button]

Apparently he's famous just to annoy you, yep thats right it is all a conspiracy. And those voices inside your head, telling you your postman and your milkman are plotting to murder you and then steal your fridge, are right.

 

[Skuffyshootster]

Isn't it pretty to think so

I like him. He wrote a decent book that I remember fairly well. I can bearly remember "to kill a mocking bird" while that can argumable be a better book to some. But I can still remember As the sun also rises

To Kill a Mockingbird is by Harper Lee.

OT: I have never read any of his books, so I can't comment.

In fact, I don't even know why I'm in this thread.

 

[Kuchinawa212]

Isn't it pretty to think so

I like him. He wrote a decent book that I remember fairly well. I can bearly remember "to kill a mocking bird" while that can argumable be a better book to some. But I can still remember As the sun also rises

To Kill a Mockingbird is by Harper Lee.

OT: I have never read any of his books, so I can't comment.

In fact, I don't even know why I'm in this thread.

Yeah, see I can tell you who wrote, As the Sun also rises but not to kill a mocking bird. So I guess, to me, Hemmingway is just more rememberable.

 

[ioxles]

I really liked the old man and the sea. Now I'm going to read for whom the bell tolls by him, I like it. Some people don't.

That's it I guess.

 

[Sonicron]

He's written at least two really interesting books (ones that I've read - The Old Man and the Sea and Farewell to Arms) and I find your criticism difficult to engage with. Farewell to Arms has loads about the horror of war, unless of course you think that that is confined to the bits where you actually shoot people, rather than including the disconnectedness and isolation that may follow. What other authors and genres do you enjoy?

He was a narcissistic, alcholic womanizer with a heavy bout of depression and many suicides in the family owing to a rare, genetic depression disorder. All his lead characters, who are always 20-something males, are identical to him.

This is completely irrelevant to how good his work is. Jimi Hendrix was an incredible guitarist regardless of his substance abuse. If the criticism is merely that his characters resemble him, it isn't a strong or persuasive one - books aren't just about getting to know new characters. On top of that, I don't remember many alcoholic 20-somethings in The Old Man and the Sea...

Very much this.
It's still a matter of personal taste, obviously, but I'd say you went about reading that book with the wrong mindset. When I started reading Farewell to Arms (and later The Old Man and the Sea) I discovered that you get more out of those books if you clamp down on the urge to judge the guy; this is also somewhat linked to your question about why he was ever published: Hemingway and his writings can't be judged by today's standards, it's an anachronism. Think about how things were back then, you'll see that it fits better.

 

[CJ1145]

I've had to read Ernst Hemingway's Farewell to Arms for an English assignment relating to the futility of war and the horrors of WW1. Beyond being SET in WW1 Italy, the book has jack to do with the war, let alone the horrors of it.

That's not the problem

The problem is this: Why is Ernst Hemingway such a reknowned and famous writer?

He was a narcissistic, alcholic womanizer with a heavy bout of depression and many suicides in the family owing to a rare, genetic depression disorder. All his lead characters, who are always 20-something males, are identical to him.

He writes "love" stories, but with little originality, all the females having the personality and independence of a damp piece of tracing paper, and he writes like FUCKING MICROSOFT SAM

Seriously, there is no passion, no emotion, no personality and no form to his writing, and his dialouge falls below any resonable mesurement of awful-ness

And mabye this is just my opinion? Mabye I just don't like the style, plenty of famous writers have their opposition. Fair enough...but no, that's not the case

EVERYONE I know who has read his work hates him. My dad, my aunts and uncles, my friends, my freind's families, the 20-something people in my english class AND our teacher. Noone likes him. I would have thought I would have met one person in such a broad range of ages, tastes and backgrounds that enjoys him or at least says "Eh, I didn't mind it"

But no, everyone hates him

Why is he so famous? Why was he even published? What do you think of him?

If you can't find one person that like Ernest Hemingway, you live in a town from the Twilight Zone. I enjoy some of his books. Naturally, not all are best-sellers. But others are just flat-out classics. For Whom the Bell Tolls? The Old Man and the Sea? Read these if you haven't, they're some of his best works.

And why do you bring in his lifestyle? That might influence his writing slightly, but not enough to warrant mentioning as a big argument point. That's like asking if a man likes McDonalds or Burger King in a murder trial because the victim worked at Burger King.

 

[GrinningManiac]

He's written at least two really interesting books (ones that I've read - The Old Man and the Sea and Farewell to Arms) and I find your criticism difficult to engage with. Farewell to Arms has loads about the horror of war, unless of course you think that that is confined to the bits where you actually shoot people, rather than including the disconnectedness and isolation that may follow. What other authors and genres do you enjoy?

He was a narcissistic, alcholic womanizer with a heavy bout of depression and many suicides in the family owing to a rare, genetic depression disorder. All his lead characters, who are always 20-something males, are identical to him.

This is completely irrelevant to how good his work is. Jimi Hendrix was an incredible guitarist regardless of his substance abuse. If the criticism is merely that his characters resemble him, it isn't a strong or persuasive one - books aren't just about getting to know new characters. On top of that, I don't remember many alcoholic 20-somethings in The Old Man and the Sea...

Farewell to arms is the one I'm reading, and I cannot find a single reference to the lonliness and isolation of war. The reason the American (can't remember his name, I care that little) is in the war is because he's a bit of a loser and a drifter, and found himself in Italy at the start and thought "to hell with it", and spent the rest of the war (until he meets Cat) being fairly "Meh" about everything.

Also, whilst I realise I may have put my "He was a narcissitstic alcoholic" quote in a bad way which many people have misunderstood as me judging him as a bad, evil man and therefore has bad, evil characters. What I meant by that was that I found his characters nasty, empty and loathsome. I didn't get angry with them or anything, but I just really, really, really didn't care for them, and I found that they had no real reason to be written about. They live, they die, they're happy, they're sad, I just couldn't bring myself to give half an ounce of damn about them.

This is all very good debate, I'm just glad there ARE people who liked him, I was beginning to think he was So Bad It's Good sort-of reknowned, which I cannot stand as a premise for fame.

 

[mcgroobber]

i loved the old man and the sea, maybe you should try that

 

[dmase]

From what I remember my enlgish teacher was saying was that he had a raw gritty wrtting style and he talked about things that most people wouldn't. He also made his works from first hand expierences.