Ernest Hemingway

Life Adventurous life – a reporter, ambulance driver in WWI Europe, war correspondent in WWII Father – hunter & fisherman Personal hobbies – bullfight watching, hunting (expeditions in Africa), fishing (in the Caribbean)

Major novels The Sun Also Rises (1926) A Farewell to Arms (1929) For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) The Old Man and the Sea (1952) (Pulitzer Prize in 1953) Winning Nobel Prize in 1954

Wound 创伤 Physical wound Spiritual wound Symbol of the age

The Lost Generation Gertrude Stein WWI The 1920s expatriate writers Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Dos Passos Nihilism （虚无主义） – disillusion, frustration, hopelessness

Hemingway code Code hero: displays grace under pressure – conviction, self-control, courage, capacity and dignity in face of nothingness, pain or despair - A man can be destroyed but not defeated. (from The Old Man and the Sea) Hemingway hero: a tough guy who values honour and skill in profession, human dignity, courage and endurance; masculine but sensitive; learns from code heroes

Writing style Economy of words – simple but suggestive Reliance on dialogues – showing rather than telling, highly suggestive of personality Repetition – foregrounding the theme Antithesis – binary oppositions used to contrast different values and forces

Economy of words Simple diction: monosyllabic / two syllable words; Short sentences Vital lines – highly suggestive, decisively simple, expressively symbolic concise language like the tip of an iceberg

Reliance on dialogue & monologue Little authoritative statement: few adj. & adv; more nouns & verbs (Free) direct speech or thought – showing, least intrusion from the author, no comments, objective

HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS Ernest Hemingway, 1927

Discussion Questoins modernistic elements in - relationship between the characters - narration - theme - style - symbols

Relation between the characters Strained Alienated - The girl feels deep disappointment and despair about the man and behaves emotionally and dramatically towards him. - The man remains calm and rational, unaffected by the girl’s hysteria.

Meaning of the Title Woman’s imagination vs. man’s insensibility Barrenness of the hills (white color) in relation to abortion Pregnancy: form of the big and heavy body The woman feels herself expensive but useless to the man.

Antithesis (contrasting values) Fertility vs. Sterility Pregnancy / Birth vs. Abortion Imagination vs. Insensibility Stability vs. Restlessness

Narration Reliance on dialogue – free direct speech (objective showing) No revelation of the characters’ inner world - external focalization ( 外聚焦 )

Style Colloquial language Simple words and sentences - superficial dealings with life seem easier than serious thinking and conviction Repetition - “water”, “try”

Theme Failure to communicate - Jig and the American disagreed upon the issue of Jig getting an abortion and have difficulty convincing each other. Frustration - Disillusioned with the American, Jig feels hopeless about their future.

Symbols White elephants Abortion Train station River, trees, grain Curtain beads Beer vs. Anis del Toro

Assignments for “Dry September” Find Gerard Genette’s definition and categorization of “focalization” ( 聚焦 ) and compare the different modes of focalization used in “Hills Like White Elephants” and “Dry September”. Identity crisis is the common experience of the three major characters in the story. Identify their identity problem and the way they deal with the problem. What important symbols are there in the story? What is the theme of the story?