Hemingway’s Writing Style Essay

From almost the beginning of his writing career, Heming ports distinctive mood occasioned a great deal of comment and controversy. Basically, his flare is innocent, direct, and unadorned, probably as a result of his spikely newspaper training. He avoids the adjective whenever possible, still because he is a headmaster at transmitting emotion without the flowery prose of his Victorian novelist predecessors, the effect is far more telling.In Observations on the bearing of Ernest Hemingway, from Contexts of Criticism by Harry Levin (Harvard University Press, 1957), the critic says Hemingway puts his emphasis on nouns because, among opposite parts of speech, they come closest to things. Stringing them along by means of conjunctions, he approximates the actual flow of experience. Hemingway has often been described as a master of dialog, and most readers agree, upon being first introduced to his writing, that this is the way these characters would very talk. It is interesting to note, however, that Hemingways one attempt at playwriting was a failure. Actually, a close trial run of his dialog will reveal that this is rarely the way people really speak. The effect is accomplished, rather, by the calculated emphasis and repetition which makes us toy with what has been said. Since the critics cannot entirely agree on Hemingways style, perhaps the best way is to put it into the authors own words.Shortly before his tragic death, Hemingway gave to the Wisdom Foundation in California a collection of his observations on life and art, love and death. They were published in the January 1963, issue of Playboy magazine, and in them Hemingway said of his writing I do most of my work in my head. I never begin to write until my ideas are in order. much I recite passages of dialogue as it is being written the ear is a good censor. I never set down a sentence on paper until I have it so show that it will be clear to anyone.Yet, I sometimes think that my style is suggest ive rather than direct. The reader must often use his desire or lose the most subtle part of my thoughts. I retort great pains with my work, pruning and revising with a tireless hand. I have the welfare of my creations very much at heart. I redact them with infinite care, and burnish them until they become brilliants. What many another writer would be content to leave in massive proportions, I polish into a tiny gem. Hemingway goes on at some length, but the essence of what he says may be in this paragraphA writers style should be direct and personal, his imagery rich and earthy, and his words simple and vigorous. The greatest writers have the gift of brilliant brevity, are hard workers, supple scholars and competent stylists. To explain Hemingways style adequately in a few paragraphs is impossible. Scores of articles, and even some books, have been written on the subject, and it is to these that the serious student should go for additional, more detailed information.