How would you describe Hemingway's writing style?

Question

Diction, sentence structure, etc.

Answer 1

Flat. Yet oddly poetic. Moving when it works well, reportage when it scrapes by, artificial when it fails.

Answer 2

Diction: choice and use of words in writing--Hemingway chose simple words, used them very clearly.

His sentence structure also was very simple and concise. Staccato might be a good word to describe them. He used simple descriptions of gory events (war, bloody scenes, etc.)

This was in opposition to the florid Victorian writers (Dickens, for example) who used many rambling sentences and many adjectives and adverbs.

Hemingway's style, therefore was one of great clarity and brevity. "Tough" would be a good one word description. It wasn't prettied-up. He didn't use many commas, didn't use much punctuation at all. A very simple, straight-forward style that was very revolutionary at the time.

Answer 3

I believe his life to be more interesting than his writing....honestly it does not really appeal to me, but that is just my personal taste in literature.

By the way, his work was intentionally FLAT as some have mentioned, that was his style of choice. His sentence structure was 'get to the point' short, and he often did not use adjectives.

People can criticize all they want to, he is the one going down in history books as a well known writer....not any of us (so far :)

Answer 4

Overwhelmingly masculine, using masculine in the contemporary sense of Western society. Hemingway challenges us to find meaning in the prosaicness of his work, and to find something profound underlying the scarcity of detail he provides. He is considered a 'man's man', and this is absolutely reflected in his work. Hemingway himself thought Truman Capote was the greatest writer of his age, and they share a constant search for precision and clarity in their writing. Hemingway thought of writing as a craft like woodcarving or sailing, something that could be perfected through endless practice, rather than as an artistic pursuit.

Answer 5

Terse. Understatement. Symbolic.

Answer 6

Flat, dry, rambling. Like when they did an exercise at school where you were supposed to write the first thing that came to your head. He just did it for hundreds of pages.

Answer 7

Hemingway was the man! And he wrote like one.

Answer 8

The more dynamic news paper adventure have never read before.
He was great!

Answer 9

Give me a
pair o'scissors and a
yellow pages.

Find me a friggin marlin and some vodka...
dammit.

Answer 10

Boring. He was not all he was cracked up to be. His sentences are ponderous and lifeless, and he rambles.