Expert: Josh Silverstein - 4/10/2005

Question
Josh - I'm writing a paper about Hemingway and the issues of love/hate in his writings. I've read A Farewell To Arms, The Sun Also Rises, Hills Like White Elephants, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.  I was wondering if you knew of any books or articles about Hemingway that would help me in researching this specific topic?  Thanks so much for your help.

Answer
Hello,

Sorry for the late reply on this, but I was giving thought to the way you might want to approach this topic.

How about examining the love/hate towards women in Hemingway's work?

Hemingway's characterization of women is a fascinating one. "The Sun Also Rises" and "A Farewell to Arms" are good places to start. Though do not neglect Hemingway's later work, especially the posthumous novel, "The Garden of Eden." Here the depictions of women and men are rather strange, for Hemingway that is, but perhaps illustrative of how his views of women changed throughout his life. Some critics have held Hemingway's four marriages accountable for these changes. I, however, feel his views of women solidified much earlier on (perhaps during childhood and young adulthood). As you will see in "The Garden of Eden," as his narrative structure loses its rigidity, his eccentric views of women and of women in men (an erotic blending of the sexes of sorts) becomes exposed.

May I recommend the following articles and books. All should help you generate some fine insights:

Comley, Nancy R. and Robert Scholes. Hemingway's Genders: Rereading the Hemingway Text. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

Bernice Kert's "The Hemingway Women" is exclusively devoted to a discussion of the women in Hemingway's life. More biographical than critical.

Spilka, Mark. "The Death of Love in The Sun Also Rises." In Ernest Hemingway: Critiques of Four Major Novels. Ed. Carlos Baker. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1962. 18-25.


Sincerely,


Josh Silverstein
Webmaster
Timeless Hemingway
http://www.timelesshemingway.com
Speed Address: http://www.timeh.com