1. The man was a genius. If you've ever read one of Hemingway's many works, you know what I mean. Often times he leaves you completely befuddled and contemplating life.
“There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now… And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life.” ― Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
2. Plain, simple, and to the point. Hemingway knew how to write. He was all about short sentences. He wasn't afraid to say what he thought. He said what he meant and said it perfectly.
“Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words? He thinks I don’t know the ten-dollar words. I know them all right. But there are older and simpler and better words, and those are the ones I use.” ― Ernest Hemingway.
3. He makes you feel. No matter how much you hated Brett Ashley, you have to admit she was finely crafted. It's been almost two years since I read The Sun Also Rises, and I still hate this fictional woman. Whenever I see a girl treating a man wrong, I immediately think, "God, she's such a Brett Ashley." It is a truly great author that can make you curl up in a ball and cry, want to punch a fictional person in the face, and pack up your bags to move to Paris in hopes of finding what the Lost Generation was so desperately searching for.
“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you… If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.” ― Ernest Hemingway.
4. He wrote on what he knew. It isn't rare to find an author writing about a place they want to travel to or a time they wish they lived in. Hemingway knew the key to successful writing: write through experience. He was an ambulance driver in World War I, so he wrote about World War I. He was a veteran and a writer living in post war Paris, so he wrote about a veteran and journalist living in post war Paris. He was a bullfighting aficionado, so he wrote about bullfighting in Spain. His works are great because he knew what he was writing.
“In order to write about life first you must live it.” ― Ernest Hemingway.
I would like to thank my 11th grade World Literature teacher for opening my eyes to the world that is Hemingway. Sure, Hemingway knew how to throw back his alcohol and did it often. In fact, the man was a known drunk... yet he refused to pick up the bottle while writing. He had his demons, but they helped him create great works of literature. His life may have been filled with tragedies, but those tragedies made America's best author.
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places.”― Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms.
