New Warhorn Media post by Nathan Alberson:
My last year of college I took 20th Century American Novel. We were asked by our prof whether âA Farewell to Armsâ was a love story or an anti-war story. I disappointed him greatly by saying it was neither. I couldnât say what it was, but I told him it was a pathetic love story and an uncompelling anti-war story.
The ending really summed up the whole book. Tragic and pointless. His view of life is terrible, but he does a really good job portraying his view in literary form.
Agreed. Very dour. I preferred For Whom the Bell Tolls (which I decided to read based solely on the name). It was somewhat tragic as well, but it didnât feel as empty, to me.
I can understand why it made such a splash THEN. Itâs hard for me to fathom why anyone loves it now.
I had an apostrophe the other dayâŚ
What Ernest Hemingway thought of himself and wasnât, Ernest Shackleton was. Hemingway was on to something with his attempt at rugged masculinity, but his execution was awful. There are glimpses of what he could have been in For Whom the Bell Tolls, but glimpses amidst what I think @nathanalberson called âgrossness.â Ranulph Fiennesâ bio of Schackleton is on my shelf. I havenât had a chance to crack it yet, but I doubt it will suffer for a want of genuinely rugged masculinityâŚthe good kind.
A Tale of Two Ernests
Now THATâs funny! Poe? Ortlund? Wodehouse?
HemingwayâŚfrom @jtbaylyâs lit class story.
I havenât listened to the podcast! Means Iâm probably jumping in the convo midstream.
And I tried WodehouseâŚfound it the same as Chesterton. Interesting and entertaining for the first couple stories, but really boring after that. Probably means Iâm the boring one!
Poe and OrtlundâŚnow thereâs an interesting comparison!
Edited to add: Just got it. Iâm a bit slow!
Finished âA Farewell to Armsâ the first time a few months ago.
Felt like it was a huge waste of time. Empty. Meaningless.
I had just finished Hemingwayâs short story âThe Short Happy Life of Frances Macomberâ which I found absolutely fantastic. Boy, what a drop-off I experienced.