My form of catharsis is insignificant change. If I feel the need for a
new perspective I color my hair. It's never really dramatic and nobody
would notice unless I made them humor me. Shoes also offer a blanket
of security, especially cheap odd ones that no one would dream of
wearing. They end up all lonely on the clearance rack of some haughty
store begging someone to take them for $15. I don't know if that is
supposed to reflect how I feel about my life or not.
I'm never so sure of what I am running away from and why I force
myself to be so grown up and to live in some disillusioned sense of
grandeur. I don't know why I always have to be right, to have the last
word. I sometimes wonder why I care so much what others think of me,
as if it matters so much. I am honestly afraid of myself, the one who
I sometimes let slip out. I just don't think the people I know now
would be very comfortable with the person I've been trying not to be.
So I'm wondering if now would be a good time to run away or if I
should just stick it out and learn to hate myself some more. I miss
Chicago. But I'd like to give somewhere new a chance. I've spent more
time in Minneapolis than I've ever spent anywhere else. It will be
eight years next September. The thought of that is nearly frightening.
I'll be liberated in exactly one year and armed with a degree. There
is no point in staying here. San Francisco maybe. Design school
perhaps though law school has a better chance.
4 comments:
Favorite Hemmingway story?
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If you mean short story it's a tie between Hills Like White Elephants, The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.
If you mean novel, hands down For Whom the Bell Tolls.
What are your favorites?
Though I'm a big reader and write myself, I'm somewhat new to Hemmingway's work, only discovering him this summer; of the Novels I have only read A Call to Arms and Old Man and the Sea, but I have read a book on the craft of Hemmingway and a biography. Old Man and the Sea was good, of course, and A Call to Arms was so depressing/powerful at the end that I had to read something else before I went to bed.
I've read in our time and Winner Take Nothing. I consider these collections novels, "experiences" in themselves, like watching a movie. Both are incredible--my two favorite books as of now. I read the original style editions--meaning the stories were presented in big print, newspaper column format-- and if you have not, I suggest you do. I think of these two books as a whole--picking a fav story would be much too hard. The Nick Adams storyline and its chronology is incredible.
I read some of A Movable Feast; didnt finish it, though I would like to...its not pure Hemmingway and it shows.
Have you read any biographies? Knowing the background on the man adds something to the stories...a powerful something.
I appreciate Hemingway's ability to utilize different writing styles and formats so I think reading the collections of stories in their original intended formats would be quite interesting and something I'll have to invest some time in.
Hemingway's Nick Adams, though admirable seems a bit lack luster to me in comparison with some of the other characters Ernest has developed. I am especially fond of some of his more minor characters like Pilar in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and Bill Gorton in "The Sun Also Rises"
As far as biographical work goes, I haven't delved too far in, though I really should. I guess I've always just been attracted to good old Ernest's appetite for adventure and the way in which he utilizes his life experiences in his fiction. To me, most of his pieces are autobiographical on some level.
I particularly like this compilation of work, "By-Line Ernest Hemingway: Selected Articles and Dispatches of Four Decades", because it demonstrates another aspect of his literary life. The fall out of Hemingway and Fitzgerald as always intrigued me since it seemed to have spurred a sort of battle of who could write more and who could write better which in turn generated a lot of great literature. I think "Hemingway Vs. Fitzgerald: The Rise and Fall of a Literary Friendship" does a good job examining the circumstances around their relationship.
Let me know if there are any biographies that you recommend, I'm always eager for new reading material.
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