At first glance it might seem a bit of cultural dissonance to refer to one of the most famous American authors by a term that only came into popularity some years after he died. Yet, in many ways, Hemingway's life and career was the template for so many to be called rock stars in the decades immediately following his death in 1961.
Hemingway well earned his prominent place on our list of top 20 most famous American authors . His literary achievements alone would earn him his ranking. Yet, there is no disputing that Hemingway as icon far transcended his literary legacy in casting the mold of 20st century artistic celebrity.
Hemingway would still have qualified for registration at most youth hostels when his brooding and anguished novella of restless ennui, The Sun Also Rises, became an instant darling of the literary critics. Then, miraculously, only three years later, still soaking up the glow of critical acclaim, his novel, A Farewell to Arms, became a popular best seller. And this new best seller status was backed by a pair of short story collections, in the years just prior and subsequent to the novel that revealed Hemingway as nothing less than the re-inventor the short story form. Such stories as A Day's Wait, A Clean and Well-Lighted Place and Hills Like White Elephants were heartbreaking glimpses into mundane injuries that leave ordinary people scarred and broken.
This remarkable accomplishment of simultaneous critical and commercial success became the dream of generation after generation of artistically inclined youth throughout the 20th century. And to have achieved all this while still in fact a very young man was the almost fairytale-like part of the story. There were a variety of factors that converged to allow for his success.
To begin with, reminiscent of many of the most successful rock artists who followed him in the later decades of the century - think of David Bowie, David Byrne and Madonna - Hemingway exhibited a remarkable capacity to draw valuable lessons from avant garde and experimental artists, while having a deep intuition about how to apply these lessons in ways that remained accessible to mainstream literary society. For Hemingway the important influences included Ezra Pound, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. He knew how to capture a lesson in narrative or language from the avant garde in a way that domesticated it for the mainstream.
And capture it, he did. Indeed, it is not too much of an exaggeration to compare the way that rock and roll tapped into the rebellious idealism of the highly educated and materially privileged 1960s baby boom generation, with the way that Hemingway's stories touched a chord in the sullen ennui and restlessness of the post-WWI zeitgeist. Those who came to be called the lost generation found in Hemingway someone who sang their song.
Meteoric success at a young age, though, poses its challenges: how does one repeat the feat? What do you do for an encore? He did have some modest "hits" in the 30s, capped off with the success of For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1940. Perhaps not a work equal to what he'd accomplished previously, but it sold. The 40s dragged out though as long a decade in which Hemingway's publications became less and less impressive and relevant.
Despite this declining regard of his writing, Hemingway if anything was an increasingly renowned household name. Now, though, it was more his non-writing exploits that seemed to capture the public imagination. Hemingway seemed to be well aware of his celebrity status and made no small effort to flame the fires of public fascination. He cultivated connections with leading gossip columnists and there were always photographs for the glossy magazines when he was on one of his big game hunting or fishing excursions.
Rather far ahead of his time, he was the pitchman for a number of consumer goods, including a pen, airline and a beer. Additionally there was a regular supply of letters from Hemingway to literary and other publications in which he contributed to the continual building and shaping of his persona and mystique as man's man and anti-intellectual intellectual.
By this time, at least in literary circles, Hemingway had plenty of detractors - those who depicted him as being reduced to a kind of self parody. To get a sense of how some were now regarding Hemingway, we might consider the 60s and 70s rock and pop bands, grey and flabby, that today cash in on their former glory on the casinos and community hall circuit.
For Hemingway, though, at least artistically, the end wasn't quite that tragic. Almost like one of those hanging-on senior citizen rock bands, with the audacity to actually try out a new song, rather than pandering endlessly to the clamoring for greatest hits, who suddenly found themselves with a new platinum record.
Just when it seemed that the world had seen all the original and powerful work an elderly Hemingway had to offer, suddenly, in 1952, he did it again. The Old Man and the Sea took the literary world by storm and once again made Hemingway artistically relevant.
And yet, there was something too true in the story, as there always was in Hemingway's greatest work. This story of an elderly man, near the end of life, who experiences his last grasp at greatness slip fleetingly through his fingers, perhaps told us more about the tragic heart of the legend than many wanted to hear.
Like so many of the rock stars that followed the template he forged, in 1961, in an isolated home, Hemingway came to his demise, in a suicidal fog of depression and substance abuse. In the process not only did we lose one of the most important artists of the 20th century, but the one who invented the model of artistic celebrity that would mold the dreams of aspiring youth throughout the rest of the century.
And it still does.
Hemingway well earned his prominent place on our list of top 20 most famous American authors . His literary achievements alone would earn him his ranking. Yet, there is no disputing that Hemingway as icon far transcended his literary legacy in casting the mold of 20st century artistic celebrity.
Hemingway would still have qualified for registration at most youth hostels when his brooding and anguished novella of restless ennui, The Sun Also Rises, became an instant darling of the literary critics. Then, miraculously, only three years later, still soaking up the glow of critical acclaim, his novel, A Farewell to Arms, became a popular best seller. And this new best seller status was backed by a pair of short story collections, in the years just prior and subsequent to the novel that revealed Hemingway as nothing less than the re-inventor the short story form. Such stories as A Day's Wait, A Clean and Well-Lighted Place and Hills Like White Elephants were heartbreaking glimpses into mundane injuries that leave ordinary people scarred and broken.
This remarkable accomplishment of simultaneous critical and commercial success became the dream of generation after generation of artistically inclined youth throughout the 20th century. And to have achieved all this while still in fact a very young man was the almost fairytale-like part of the story. There were a variety of factors that converged to allow for his success.
To begin with, reminiscent of many of the most successful rock artists who followed him in the later decades of the century - think of David Bowie, David Byrne and Madonna - Hemingway exhibited a remarkable capacity to draw valuable lessons from avant garde and experimental artists, while having a deep intuition about how to apply these lessons in ways that remained accessible to mainstream literary society. For Hemingway the important influences included Ezra Pound, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. He knew how to capture a lesson in narrative or language from the avant garde in a way that domesticated it for the mainstream.
And capture it, he did. Indeed, it is not too much of an exaggeration to compare the way that rock and roll tapped into the rebellious idealism of the highly educated and materially privileged 1960s baby boom generation, with the way that Hemingway's stories touched a chord in the sullen ennui and restlessness of the post-WWI zeitgeist. Those who came to be called the lost generation found in Hemingway someone who sang their song.
Meteoric success at a young age, though, poses its challenges: how does one repeat the feat? What do you do for an encore? He did have some modest "hits" in the 30s, capped off with the success of For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1940. Perhaps not a work equal to what he'd accomplished previously, but it sold. The 40s dragged out though as long a decade in which Hemingway's publications became less and less impressive and relevant.
Despite this declining regard of his writing, Hemingway if anything was an increasingly renowned household name. Now, though, it was more his non-writing exploits that seemed to capture the public imagination. Hemingway seemed to be well aware of his celebrity status and made no small effort to flame the fires of public fascination. He cultivated connections with leading gossip columnists and there were always photographs for the glossy magazines when he was on one of his big game hunting or fishing excursions.
Rather far ahead of his time, he was the pitchman for a number of consumer goods, including a pen, airline and a beer. Additionally there was a regular supply of letters from Hemingway to literary and other publications in which he contributed to the continual building and shaping of his persona and mystique as man's man and anti-intellectual intellectual.
By this time, at least in literary circles, Hemingway had plenty of detractors - those who depicted him as being reduced to a kind of self parody. To get a sense of how some were now regarding Hemingway, we might consider the 60s and 70s rock and pop bands, grey and flabby, that today cash in on their former glory on the casinos and community hall circuit.
For Hemingway, though, at least artistically, the end wasn't quite that tragic. Almost like one of those hanging-on senior citizen rock bands, with the audacity to actually try out a new song, rather than pandering endlessly to the clamoring for greatest hits, who suddenly found themselves with a new platinum record.
Just when it seemed that the world had seen all the original and powerful work an elderly Hemingway had to offer, suddenly, in 1952, he did it again. The Old Man and the Sea took the literary world by storm and once again made Hemingway artistically relevant.
And yet, there was something too true in the story, as there always was in Hemingway's greatest work. This story of an elderly man, near the end of life, who experiences his last grasp at greatness slip fleetingly through his fingers, perhaps told us more about the tragic heart of the legend than many wanted to hear.
Like so many of the rock stars that followed the template he forged, in 1961, in an isolated home, Hemingway came to his demise, in a suicidal fog of depression and substance abuse. In the process not only did we lose one of the most important artists of the 20th century, but the one who invented the model of artistic celebrity that would mold the dreams of aspiring youth throughout the rest of the century.
And it still does.
About the Author:
To stay in the know on the scoop about U.S. writers, dead or alive, check out Mickey Jhonny's work at the site Famous American Authors . He also keeps tabs on the trends in sophisticated television: catch his great work at the Don Draper Haircut site.
Comments (0)
Posting Komentar