A farewell to arms – Ernest Hemingway

 

Hemingway is commonly referred to as a minimalist and A Farewell to Arms with its simple forms and structure may well be one of the works which best exemplifies this. In this vein I’ll be true to form and keep this short and sweet!

Frederic Henry is an American who joins the ambulance corps in the Italian Army during World War One, something Hemingway himself did at the age of eighteen, and although this clearly qualifies as roman-à-clef (a novel in which real people or events appear with invented names) I was surprised to find how much the story still differs from his own experiences.

Frederic or ‘Tenete’, an alias given to him by his Italian colleagues, meets an English girl early on and despite taking an interest it’s not until she nurses him in hospital that he develops deeper feelings for her.

Tenete is a likeable chap and has a nonchalant disposition characterised by his enjoyment in going to the track, his commentary on war news and his taste for alcohol – the last of which leads to a somewhat premature exit from the hospital ward! As with many of Hemingway’s characters Tenete doesn’t seem to overthink anything and even in tense situations where you’d expect a degree of fear or anxiety there is none.

If anything is testament to Hemingway’s minimalism, it’s his brief encounters with emotion or arguably his avoidance of it altogether. It’s most probably unintentional, but personally I think the distinct lack of emotion in certain instances can prompt the reader to think harder about a situation and consequently feel it more intensely.

The following passage comes from a rare moment of introspection:

If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

No one would doubt that bravery was clearly one of Hemingway’s qualities and it must be said that Tenete’s assuredness in testing situations and unemotional mindset may simply be an embodiment of how Hemingway himself thought.

How accurate a conclusion that is, we’ll never know, but he clearly had no aspiration to live a quiet life and his courageous attitude must still provide inspiration to journalists, aid workers or anyone looking for an adventure.

Regardless of Hemingway’s neutral style A Farewell to Arms is an accessible and enjoyable wartime account, free of sensationalism or nationalistic agendas.

March 2, 2016March 2, 2016 by thomasfarrar89 Tags: book review, Books, Hemingway, literature, modern classic Leave a comment

All the Pretty Horses – Cormack McCarthy

The ranch John Grady Cole grew up on is sold, and reluctant to move into the local town, at sixteen he decides along with his friend, Rawlins, to take off and ride south from San Angelo, Texas, into Mexico.

Travelling with little else than a couple of hunting rifles and the clothes on their back, Grady and Rawlins leave abruptly one summer’s night on horseback.

…they rode out on the high prairie where they slowed the horses to a walk and the stars swarmed around them out of the blackness… they rode not under but among them…

Grady and Rawlins appear to have been swallowed up by the night and whilst the celestial imagery in this passage emphasises how physically alone they are, together they seem in harmony with the environment.

Its 1949, and from an English perspective the level of sheer wilderness and unchartered land is staggering – the boys are roaming free living hand to mouth unencumbered, a lifestyle hard to imagine in any developed country today and vastly different to Kerouac’s journey all over America only a few years later.

Journeying south they meet all sorts of people and get into all sorts of trouble; countrymen living off the land, hospitable Mexican families of small hamlets, and perhaps most surprisingly, a forsaken American teenager named Blevins, whose beautiful horse attracts attention in all the wrong places…

They stumble upon a charming old ranch where they find work as cattle hands. Grady’s mastery in breaking horses does not go unnoticed and the owner promotes him to horse breeder.

He held the horse’s face against his chest and he could feel along his inner thighs the blood pumping through the arteries and he could smell the fear and he cupped his hand over the horse’s eyes and stroked them and he did not stop talking to the horse…

The sensitivity Grady shows his horse is a thing of beauty, forever talking to the creature with compassion and respect for all of its qualities. Parallels spring to mind with Hemingway’s old man and his unrelenting marlin fish in The Old Man and the Sea, where understanding between man and beast feels inborn and natural.

It is here on the ranch that Grady first meets the owner’s beautiful daughter, Alejandra.

…as she rode her black hair twisted and blew about her shoulders and the lightning fell silently through the black clouds behind her and she rode all seeming unaware down through the low hills while the first spits of rain blew on the wind…until the rain caught her up and shrouded her figure away in that wild summer landscape: real horse: real rider, real land and sky and yet a dream withal.

This passage leaves me speechless, McCarthy’s surreal language and illusive imagery borders on the poetic at times and personally I feel part of his brilliance is how sparingly he’ll indulge you with these stirring descriptions.

Regardless of Grady’s youth, from the love of his horses and the loyalty and selflessness he shows his companions, it’s clear he has a maturity which many times dwarfs his age, and without McCarthy providing any insight into his appearance, the reader’s affection for him is born out of his strength of character.

The story really unfolds upon meeting Alejandra, so without further a do let McCarthy’s endearing heroine take you on a journey…

December 23, 2015December 23, 2015 by thomasfarrar89 Tags: Books, literature, mccarthy, modern classic, penguin Leave a comment

Charles Bukowski – Women

Women depicts Bukowski’s later life as a writer through his roman-à-clef character, Henry Chinaski or ‘Hank’, and acts as a sequel to his celebrated work, Post Office.

No surprise Hank is also a writer whose name alone manages to draws big crowds to readings of salacious poetry and literature. You don’t learn an awful lot about the content of his writing but are given a pretty good idea that Hank’s work is ultimately a reflection of his alcoholic and licentious lifestyle, which Bukowski portrays throughout the book only too well.

When asked by an aspiring writer: “You talk about drinking a lot in your books. Do you think drinking has helped your writing” Hank merely replies “No. I’m just an alcoholic who became a writer so that I would be able to stay in bed until noon.”

Hank manages to earn enough to pay the rent and to keep himself tanked up on booze five or six nights a week. Amidst drinking himself to near oblivion his second favourite thing is sex, and due to the nature of his albeit passable celebrity status, he seems to find no problem whatsoever in intriguing women of easy virtue.

 

Many would label Hank a misogynist and you couldn’t really blame them… Bukowski doesn’t hold back with raw and gritty descriptions and the ‘C’ word quickly becomes commonplace. But Hank doesn’t appear to hate or hold prejudices against women, he simply enjoys a high frequency of casual affairs and in his defence everything about his character and disposition screams the fact he has no interest in settling down –

When Hank’s attempts to chase a woman of sophistication fall short he candidly deduces:

‘Katherine knew there was something about me that wasn’t wholesome in the sense of wholesome is as wholesome does. I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn’t have a god, politics, ideas, ideals. I was settled into nothingness’

The sooner you accept Bukowski’s approach the more at peace you can be with his characters. American low-life unapologetically describes the lives of less reputable members of society, which may sound trivial but storytelling that focuses on a combination of poverty, promiscuity or criminality seldom succeed in the mainstream.

With exception to the latter – portrayals of organised crime have always captivated audiences but this is different. They are typically coupled with a rags to riches narrative apparent in the reportedly inaccurate glamourisation of the Italian/American mafia.

Tony Soprano, the archetype antihero, is a criminal and womaniser but he is rich and powerful, which is why to many he remains aspirational. On the other hand similarly aged Hank still lives in a rough part of town and few would aspire to his uncertain and unconventional position of living from one day to the next, which to me is what makes Bukowski’s ‘in the moment’ style so readable.

October 17, 2015October 19, 2015 by thomasfarrar89 Leave a comment

The Road – Cormack McCarthy

The man and the boy are survivors in a post-apocalyptic world in which the trees are charred, the lands are desolate, and many of the remaining survivors have entered a horrifyingly literal dog-eat-dog state of nature.

Armed with a few bullets, a pistol and some tins of food, the man pins his hopes on a road that will lead himself and the boy south towards the coast. Unfortunately they’re not alone on this road and are forever exposed to the threat of thieves, cannibals and ultimately perishing at the hands of starvation and a bitter climate.

To the boy, being an infant when this unspeakable moment occurred this is life as he knows it. The man is compelled to promise the boy a better future. With no other possible way of imparting knowledge of another world before this one, he looks to supernatural influences to inspire optimism, not only for for the boy’s sake but increasingly his own.

For the man there are two options: to fight against all odds or to simply end it all – many of which before him already gave into the latter. McCarthy’s story is about never giving up, and in my opinion, one of his central themes is parenthood. Amongst unthinkable scenes of brutality, the man’s unabated persistence is evocative of a sense of duty, or perhaps more endearing still, virtue – this is what he must do because it is the right thing to do.

So why read it?

Obviously this isn’t a recommendation for the fainthearted. McCarthy’s world is completely and utterly torn in two. Nevertheless, his elegant writing and succinct delivery help propel the reader along as though you are trudging along the road with them.

Having seen two different copies of the text I’d guess McCarthy has even thought about the way the words are printed on the page. Both copies feature narrow layout with large paragraph spacing, which again helps the reader digest and continue through moments of sheer horror.

Above all though there is a strong sense of expectation surrounding the man and the boy from the outset, and once you get going you simply can’t turn your back on them.

Above all though there is a strong sense of expectation surrounding the man and the boy from the outset, and once you get going you simply can’t turn your back on them.

September 13, 2015September 13, 2015 by thomasfarrar89 Tags: apocalypse, book review, Books, literature, mccarthy, modern classic Leave a comment

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

Robert Jordan is a young American who has given up work as a Spanish teacher to fight for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Hemingway himself was a reporter in Spain from 1937-39 and, in true roman-à-clef style, his experiences clearly resonate through the thoughts and feelings of his protagonist.

Robert is no ordinary recruit; he is an explosives specialist, with a track record that has earned him respect and responsibility. However, his next mission – along with the war and its people – has risen to a level of unprecedented complexity.

If the imminent Republican assault on Segovia is to succeed Robert must prevent a ready supply of Franco’s reinforcements from the south by blowing-up a fascist controlled bridge in the city’s neighbouring mountains.

If this wasn’t enough of a challenge he must first gain the trust and assistance of a band of guerrilla combatants, who have become arguably too comfortable with their mountain lifestyle. Their leader, Pablo, feels his dominance slip away upon Robert’s arrival, leading to a toxic atmosphere of scepticism and polarized belief in Robert’s mission.

This book is undoubtedly a masterpiece and one of Hemingway’s most celebrated works. Alongside a plot that is principally concerned with a mission and its unthinkable outcomes, Hemingway’s novel is embroiled with unsettling moments, violent power struggles and intense romance.

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So why read it?

Hemingway goes beyond just presenting an excellent story and delves headfirst into an exploration of the human condition. I think what is most difficult to comprehend is not Hemingway’s depiction of conflict itself but the choices of ordinary citizens in its aftermath.

This war had fellow countrymen murdering each other in the most merciless of ways. When considering the nature of the bloodshed, the war’s relative recency and Spain’s geographic position, it makes the horror of Hemingway’s storytelling all the more captivating for the modern day reader.

September 7, 2015September 7, 2015 by thomasfarrar89 Tags: book review, Books, For whom the bell tolls, Hemingway, modern classic, spanish civil war Leave a comment