A french novelist has finally produced the inevitable novel without verbs. As far as I'm concerned he cheats. The articly linked quotes a passage like
". . . Those women there, probably mothers, bearers of ideas far too voluminous for their brains of modest capacity."
Clearly, bearers carries verb sense in that quote, it's just a passive form of a sentence.
The entire notion that verbs are suspect and adjectives the true flowers of a language would make Michel Thaler, the author, something like an anti-Hemingway.
The Hemingwayesque notion of economy involves cutting out all but the dialogue and "objective" descriptions. I'm sure he would agree that his own prose was not flowery though. That was the entire point.
Posted by Claus at September 13, 2004 04:38 PM | TrackBack (0)
Hemingway is quite easily the unfortunate epidemy of "stupid american writers" I am disgusted by the celebration of this over-hyped miscreant. Those who proclaim admiration for this man is just as vapid and shallow as he was. Just look at his "literature" hemingway had to kill a bull just to express his masculinity. A real man such as shakespeare, or poe never would stoop to such a level.
Posted by: Jasmine on July 6, 2006 10:35 PMI couldn't disagree more. And frankly your bile is unconvincing.
Let's start from the top: Since when is is a problem if a writer is a miscreant? Even if it was I don't know in what sense Hemingway would be one. 'vapid' and 'shallow' is just goold old fashioned ridiculous. Makes one doubt if you have actually read anything he wrote. Finally, the delicious ad hominem at the end about bullfighting has got very little to do with Hemingways beautiful, precise, highly emotional prose.