tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12866421.post8688923345196195222..comments2023-09-17T09:32:29.485+01:00Comments on BrandosHat: Rambling Thoughts of the Post-AvantSteven Walinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09843948765720382682noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12866421.post-89252184886551616622011-06-01T14:33:42.375+01:002011-06-01T14:33:42.375+01:00Yes, I think you're right, Steven. I am surpri...Yes, I think you're right, Steven. I am surprised when I remember what a big mainstream writer Hemingway is (not just a celebrated/celebrity writer-<i>figure</i> but a popular, big seller)when I'm used to reading patiently between the lines for the stuff I believe he put there because <br />a)They wouldn't publish it in US at the time. (Sympathize with his anger at "bedpan" getting cut from magazine version of <i>A Farewell to Arms </i>but think, in 1929, he was being optimistic with "cocksucker")<br />b) He was hiding personal stuff that made him uneasy<br />c) It was a way he wanted/learned to write<br />But like me for the first couple years of reading him, others read for the vivid vitality of the action and settings and attitudes and whatever the words make them feel, and only experience unconsciously (as he intended) the stuff I peer wisely at as I switch between Hem's text and Michael Reynolds or <i>The Cambridge Companion to Hemingway</i>.<br />People slag off the mainstream sometimes because they distrust success or want to feel they've discovered a writer, or because they think it makes them clever (while clever people watch <i>Star Trek</i> and, I'm told, Scooby Doo). I read and enjoyed some of <i>Black Dogs</i> by Ian McEwan, but prefer <i>Cujo</i>: real dogs are scarier than symbolic ones.ANTHONY SIDEShttp://quickfiction.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12866421.post-72264730511217182452011-05-25T14:34:45.711+01:002011-05-25T14:34:45.711+01:00The last paragraph, Steve, is brilliant. Just what...The last paragraph, Steve, is brilliant. Just what I have always said/thought.angelatoppingnoreply@blogger.com