Is Hemingway overrated?

[Flyback]

I've heard lots of Hemingway in the past and finally decided to read The Old Man and the Sea last night around 4AM.

I found it to be pretty simple, short and good. The suspense kept me reading it until I finished in one sitting. This itself was not hard because it is a rather short novella.

I thought it to be a good story (but not amazing). I still want to read The Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls because I've heard they are good reads.

I feel somewhat let down. I think I expected more from a man they claimed did so much for the written word. Do you think Hemingway is overrated?

 

[Kirby]

I'm not sure how they place importance on authors, but I for one didn't like The Old Man and the Sea. If I remember correctly all he did was fish and bitch about his hands hurting.

 

[Flyback]

Originally posted by: nkgreen
I'm not sure how they place importance on authors, but I for one didn't like The Old Man and the Sea. If I remember correctly all he did was fish and bitch about his hands hurting.

He won the Pulitzer for it and it secured his Nobel prize...

 

[Demo24]

I've read "Farewell to arms", and I found it an ok read. Some hated it, but I thought it was tolerable.

I did get tired of all the alcohol mentioned in it. Makes you sick after awhile. Course Hemingway was an alcoholic so it's not terribly surprising.

 

[Paperdoc]

Did that one in 1st year of High School, and the teacher kept analyzing the writing details in every class. Of course, thats part of the pointin a school class. But it really spoiled the book. Much better when I just read it - it keeps on flowing well if not interrupted.

Maybe a clue in your own behaviour: "The suspense kept me reading it until I finished in one sitting." Couldn't have been too bad!

 

[FoBoT]

it was good in fifth grade (old man and sea)
<shrugs>

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

IMO almost all of the classics are overrated and overhyped.

 

[DainBramaged]

I currently reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. Very good so far.

You should read The Rum Diary by Hunter Thompson. I freaking love that book.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Originally posted by: nkgreen
I'm not sure how they place importance on authors, but I for one didn't like The Old Man and the Sea. If I remember correctly all he did was fish and bitch about his hands hurting.

Don't forget the part where he pissed phosphorescent urine a thousand times over the side of the boat.

 

[yowolabi]

I was in the processing of writing something long winded, but now i'm just going to say that you have to put things in their historical perspective.

Of course if the book was released by an unknown author today, it wouldn't get a sniff of any awards and would be largely ignored.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: yowolabi
I was in the processing of writing something long winded, but now i'm just going to say that you have to put things in their historical perspective.

Of course if the book was released by an unknown author today, it wouldn't get a sniff of any awards and would be largely ignored.

I think that's fairly true. Hemingway was a great author in the ground that he broke, being the first to write like he did. I don't particularly find his books breathtaking, but it's always helped to read them with some additional outside information; I got more of a sense of their complexity that way.

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: yowolabi
I was in the processing of writing something long winded, but now i'm just going to say that you have to put things in their historical perspective.

Of course if the book was released by an unknown author today, it wouldn't get a sniff of any awards and would be largely ignored.

so very true, works the same for any piece of art, be it a painting, a song, etc.

 

[Tuktuk]

An English professor of mine went on about how Hemingway was a hack and overrated. Of course he is teaching at a community college probably trying to sell his sh1tty manuscript to any publishing house, all of which have been ignoring him for the past 20 years.

Hemingway is not overrated. If you haven't read A Farewell to Arms, or any of the other books you listed, you are in no position to even mention that at this point He influenced a whole generation of writers including Kerouac and Thompson. He is an amazing writer who told the story of the WWI generation better than anyone else. I guess I can't make that claim without having lived during WWI, but what is being conveyed in his work seems honest and the emotion of what it must have been like to live during those times comes out strongly.

 

[Darthvoy]

Hemingway is one of my favorite all time authors. To each his own.

 

[jjones]

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
IMO almost all of the classics are overrated and overhyped.

I don't think so. What generally sets the classics apart is the character development, which you just don't get in your average work of fiction. Want to know what's overrated and overhyped? Take a look at just about anything on the best sellers list.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: HotChic

Originally posted by: yowolabi
I was in the processing of writing something long winded, but now i'm just going to say that you have to put things in their historical perspective.

Of course if the book was released by an unknown author today, it wouldn't get a sniff of any awards and would be largely ignored.

I think that's fairly true. Hemingway was a great author in the ground that he broke, being the first to write like he did. I don't particularly find his books breathtaking, but it's always helped to read them with some additional outside information; I got more of a sense of their complexity that way.

I believe reading the classics are important, but you definitely need that additional infomation you mention. If I was a teacher, i'd introduce these books as both a literary and a history lesson. When you know about Hemingway's life, his philosophies, his previous works, and the time in which he wrote... you can at least understand why his books were important and why he was so highly regarded, even if you don't hold him in the same light.

 

[Ophir]

Don't judge him until you've read For Whom the Bell Tolls and some of his short stories. I like The Sun Also Rises, but I admit it's not for everyone.

Old Man and the Sea is over-the-top Hemingway as he lashes out at critics - to the extent of being heavy-handed with the metaphors and overly terse in the prose.

 

[Tuktuk]

Originally posted by: jjones

Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
IMO almost all of the classics are overrated and overhyped.

I don't think so. What generally sets the classics apart is the character development, which you just don't get in your average work of fiction. Want to know what's overrated and overhyped? Take a look at just about anything on the best sellers list.

That's true. Great authors usually lead very interesting lives. Take a look at Hemingway or Thompson. IIRC A Farewell to Arms was based largely on his experience as an ambulance drive on the Italian front. He fell in love with a nurse after being injured and then it ended badly with her going with someone else. He wrote the book afterward. You don't get that great of a novel off of the top of your head, and authors that actually lived the experiences (or related experiences) that they write about tend to have much deeper character development. I mean you take what must've been the most influential experience of this life at the time and sit him in front of a typewriter, its a lot different then Dan Brown making up a bunch of stuff about Jesus.

 

[zoiks]

Harry Potter books wrock.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: Tuktuk
Great authors usually lead very interesting lives.

I don't know if I agree with you there. Look at the Brontes. Mostly cloistered, very limited experiences, but three (four if you count the brother and his mostly lost works) wrote some phenomenal work.

 

[BillGates]

Shakespeare is the most overrated ever.

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: nkgreen
I'm not sure how they place importance on authors, but I for one didn't like The Old Man and the Sea. If I remember correctly all he did was fish and bitch about his hands hurting.

I definitely did not enjoy this book.
Then again, I'm kind of a Vonnegut kinda guy.

 

[AreaCode707]

Originally posted by: BillGates
Shakespeare is the most overrated ever.

Shakespeare wrote for the common person, so people who read or watch Shakespeare hoping for some high and lofty work are apt to be disappointed. And Shakespeare really was meant to be watched, not read. In that context, I think his works are fabulously well-written, witty, clever and thought provoking.

 

[Tuktuk]

Originally posted by: HotChic

Originally posted by: Tuktuk
Great authors usually lead very interesting lives.

I don't know if I agree with you there. Look at the Brontes. Mostly cloistered, very limited experiences, but three (four if you count the brother and his mostly lost works) wrote some phenomenal work.

Well there are enough authors out there I guess it just depends what you've read I'm a big fan of Hemingway, Thompson, Kerouac, and other writers whose work is based off of real experiences. I guess I shouldn't have made that claim because this obviously makes me biased. The only author I like of those books that are maybe 6x4x2", you know the ones with the author's name in huge print on the front and always make it to the top of the bestsellers list, is Mario Puzo. I think even he led an interesting life in New York but I don't know much of it.

 

[40sTheme]

Originally posted by: HotChic

Originally posted by: BillGates
Shakespeare is the most overrated ever.

Shakespeare wrote for the common person, so people who read or watch Shakespeare hoping for some high and lofty work are apt to be disappointed. And Shakespeare really was meant to be watched, not read. In that context, I think his works are fabulously well-written, witty, clever and thought provoking.

Yeah, I really dislike his literature, but I love his theater works.