
How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen? (1950) - kcovia
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like-it-now-gentlemen
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peter_l_downs
Long. Excellent. Funny, having just moved to New York City for the summer, to
get Hemingway's impression of it: "It’s a town you come to for a short time.
It’s murder."

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strathmeyer
Mirror?

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csense
Stopped reading after the first part of the first sentence: "Ernest Hemingway,
who may well be the greatest living American novelist and short-story
writer..."

I don't understand why people like him. He sucks. Back in high school AP
English, his book was the only required reading I just couldn't bring myself
to finish because the writing was so terrible. If it wasn't a professionally
bound book on the required reading list, I'd have mistaken it for an attempt
at writing by another high school student in my class who lacked literary
talent (as well as vocabulary skills appropriate to the most advanced English
class my high school had to offer).

To me it seems like there's some shadowy cabal of literary critics who
magically decided to appoint him as a great writer with no reason whatsoever,
and their influence is so powerful that his praises are spoken in locations
and times as diverse as a mid-century issue of The New Yorker, a millenium-era
AP English required reading list, and #13 on a 2015 HN frontpage.

What am I missing?

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cafard
Hemingway eventually developed a tendency to self-parody. Jonathan Yardley,
who used to review for the Washington Post, said that "Bad Hemingway" contests
were pointless, for Papa had long ago retired the prize. And he was not well
served by his mid-century admirers, who couldn't always tell the good from the
bad. (The same happened to D.H. Lawrence, I think) One can find oneself
reading the earlier, better Hemingway by light of the later, which is
unfortunate.

I haven't read much in years, but some time ago, I opened _A Farewell to Arms_
, and I must say that the first few pages are beautifully written.

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csense
That was exactly the book I couldn't finish. I remember being turned off
within the first few pages...

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spiritplumber
Mentlegen.

