American Literature: Hemingway

Illinois and had already kicked his writing career into motion by the time

he was seventeen and working at a newspaper office in Kansas City in case

you're wondering this is a newspaper it used to be the way people got the news [Arrow points to man reading a newspaper]

before TV the internet apps downloads crazy uncles and so on well at eighteen

Hemingway served with an Italian volunteer ambulance crew on the front

lines in World War one he was injured by shrapnel and spent several months in the [Hemingway hit by shrapnel and appears in hospital]

hospital where he fell in love with his nurse of course which would be fodder

for what would later become one of his most famous novels a farewell to arms

and more on that later after returning from the war Hemingway continued working

as a reporter and was sent back overseas to cover international event he would [Hemingway sat in a chair]

become part of what we know now as The Lost Generation a group of writers and

artists who couldn't deal with life in America after the war they felt that

Americans were morally corrupt so they packed up and headed to Europe where [Plane travels from US to Europe]

Hemingway was already hanging they flooded European cafes and coffee shops

talking literature and life all day long then they headed to the bars and

brothels for nightlife most every night being around other authors like F scott

Fitzgerald James Joyce and Gertrude Stein along with gallons of old rotted [Gertrude with a bottle of wine]

grapes and/or potatoes ie vodka turbocharged Hemingway's

creative juices and he started writing more fiction he had great commercial

success during his lifetime publishing seven novels six short story collection

and two non fictional works he was honored with a Pulitzer Prize for his [Hemingway celebrating the Pulitzer prize on stage]

novel the old man in the sea and even won the Nobel Prize for Literature in

his later life Hemingway was in two plane crashes that didn't end his life

but left him in a lot of pain.. he got crazy depressed and his already

substantial drinking habit got worse he removed himself from the public eye by

retreating to a small town in Idaho where he eventually killed himself in [Hemingways grave appears]

1961 though he couldn't find it in his heart to live any longer Hemingway sure

knew how to write about his time on the planet he grabbed life by the hand and

ran wild well of his seven major works three of the best-known are a farewell [Hemingway novels appear]

to arms for Whom the Bell Tolls and the old man in the sea I can't read three

novels in the span of well today so let's do a quick rundown of each one

here we go a farewell to arms is the story of an American soldier who drives [American soldier driving an ambulance]

an ambulance for the Italian army seems like we've heard this story line

somewhere before see Hemingway's actual life anywho the soldiers wounded falls

in love the nurse ends up deserting his post in the army and getting threatened [Soldier walks away with Nurse and officer threatens soldier]

with being arrested runs off to Switzerland with the nurse who's

pregnant with his child by this point and loses both the baby and his one true

love in childbirth animated Disney musical coming soon not only is this

book based on Hemingway's personal experiences it reaches a lot of readers

because of the realistic way in which Hemingway discusses love that's right

the l-word some readers don't love reading Hemingway stories because [Person picks up Hemingway book]

they're kind of really depressing but it's what makes them so good too - life and

love can be tough and Hemingway knew that his books aren't sunshine and [Kitten appears in the sunshine]

fluffy kittens quite the opposite they're thunderstorms and rabid Leopards

a farewell des armes became well-loved for its depiction of relationships and

war and relationships in war while Hemingway having personally experienced

as much wrote this story with great feeling in sensitivity [Hemingway writing a novel]

he said all good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really

happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that

happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you if you can get so that

you can give that to people and you are a writer an old Ernie was one heck

of a writer a farewell to arms has been called the greatest American novel

to come out of World War one the relationships Hemingway created are just [Glacier discussing relationships]

so darn good readers devoured love stories and one set amidst a backdrop of war and

strife are even better well next on the docket of Hemingway's

major works is for Whom the Bell Tolls it's another epic wartime story in this

one an American fighting in the Spanish Civil War is tasked with blowing up a [Bridge explodes and collapses]

bridge as a surprise attack on the opposing side the fascists over the next

couple of days the American meets up with different bands of Spanish

militants falls in love and succeeds in blowing up the bridge and killing a few [Explosion and bridge collapses again]

people in the mean time well this book stemmed from the time Hemingway spent as a

journalist covering the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s it was so well received

at the time it was published it was even nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1941 [Book nomination for Pulitzer prize sticker appears on book cover]

but didn't win because one of the head committee members has sided with the

fascist well the novel has stood the

test of time though since it's got a really humanistic element to it look at

the ugliness yet one has a feeling within one that blinds a man while he

loves you you with that feeling blind him and blind yourself then one day for

no reason he sees you as ugly as you really are and he is not blind anymore

and then you see yourself as ugly as he sees you and you lose your man and your

feeling after a while when you are as ugly as I am as ugly as women can be

then as I say after a while the feeling the idiotic feeling that you're [Passage in novel]

beautiful grows slowly in one again it grows like a cabbage and then when the

feeling has grown another man sees you and thinks you are beautiful and it is

all to do over.... Hemingway's theory is that people need other people in order

to have a meaningful existence so instead of just being

about blowin stuff up and murdering people for whom the bell tolls is

actually a tale of compassion and the bonds we can make with others in life

it's about what life can be living was a hawk in the sky living was an earthen [Another passage from novel appears]

jar of water in the dust of threshing with the grain flailed out and the chaff

blowing living was a horse between your legs and a carving under one leg and a

hill in a valley in a stream with trees along it and the far side of the valley

and the hills beyond yeah... Hemingway went there well the old man in

the sea is the last of Hemingway's biggies on the list this is the story of

an old man and the sea too obvious okay so an old fisherman hasn't caught a fish [Old man fishing in the sea]

for 84 days he'd likely starve to death if it weren't for a young boy who gives

him food he takes off and finds the biggest fish ever

then wrestles to catch it for three straight days he finally bagged the fish

and starts back to the shore but gets attacked by sharks by the time he

reaches land while the great fish is just bones you know the reason this book

is awesome is because it reminds us how cruel the world can be especially when

you get older yep older people aren't exactly valued in American culture there [Old man driving a car slowly]

are a lot of really harsh stereotypes about the elderly but when it comes down

to it people are people no matter what the age we all have basic needs food

water companionship a sense of belonging all right well let's look out the book....[book opens]

right from the word go we've got some

characters a serious situation a setting in a problem all in just one paragraph

we're hooked and ready to dive into the depth well in addition to all of his

incredible fictional tale Hemingway came up with this cool notion called [Iceberg theory folder on a fishing line in the sea]

the iceberg theory in his own words he described the theory like so if it is

any use to know it I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg there is

7/8 of it underwater for every part that shows anything you know you can

eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg it is a part that doesn't show

If a writer omits something because he does not know

it then there was a hole in the story and then he says if a writer of prose

knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows

and the reader if the writer is writing truly enough we'll have a feeling of

those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them the dignity of

the movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water

a good writer does not need a reveal every detail of a character or action

alright let's break this down what do we know about icebergs well they're wicked [Polar bears appear]

cold they serve as homes for polar bears at least before global warming and

according to Hemingway we can only see about one-eighth of them above the ocean

surface which means 7/8 of the icebergs are hidden below the ocean surface and

we can't see them it's the essence of Hemingway's theory he posited that the

best writing only shows the reader about 1/8 of the whole story the other 7/8 of

the story is not explicitly stated but can be implied by the reader because of

that 1/8 thing well this theory also goes by the name of the theory of [Theory of omission on a fishing line]

omission any guesses as to why well that's because Hemingway advocated for

writers to omit crucial details and allow readers to you know figure things [Man reading book]

out for themselves well there's a pretty bold move on the part of an author

putting a lot of trust in an intelligent reader and their ability to understand

what the author trying to convey but that was Hemingway and the iceberg

method shows up in most if not all of his major works for instance Hemingway's

short story Hills like white elephants seems to be about discussing abortion [Novel appears and hill transforms into white elephant]

with a woman but the actual term abortion is never mentioned the reader

is only given snippets of conversation between the two characters, is left to

make his own decisions about what's actually going on in the story

well the iceberg theory is a big deal because it changed the style of

contemporary writing it rests on the concept that information not

specifically stated in a story actually strengthens the story as a whole well

yeah there were plenty of other reasons that ol' Ernie won so many Writing [List of Hemingway awards appears]

Awards in his life another of Hemingway's short stories the

killer's definitely uses this concept the iceberg theory

pause the video and read it for yourself now so we can discuss when you're back....

now go ahead and pause we're not kidding here....

all right let's talk killers so this is the story of two rude strangers coming [Al and Max appear together in lunchroom]

into a lunchroom bullying everyone and taking off try the person here looking

to whack then one of the guys who was bullied goes to find the unlucky guy

who's about to get killed tells him what's up and then returns to the

lunchroom defeated and now that's the whole story [Nick sits down at a table]

talk about omission well there seems to be an entire story that isn't being told

here and that was Hemingway's goal what we do know is that the bullies al and

Max are hired killers and are after a Swedish guy named ole Anderson who's

also a heavyweight prizefighter we also know that Nick Adams one of the men at [Nick Adams sitting down with pizza for lunch]

the lunch counter doesn't get down with all this violence and when he tries to

warn Anderson that men are looking to kill him

Anderson mostly says he doesn't care which makes Nick frustrated he says he's

going to leave town well these are all key facts in the story but what's left [Key enters into keyhole]

out of the story is even more important like who hired Al and Max to kill Ole

Anderson and why and why doesn't he care we have to guess that Ole did something

pretty awful even though the lady at the boarding

house insists he's super sweet which just complicates things even more and [Woman shrugging shoulders]

why is Nick the one who's concerned about these guys just randomly showing

up saying how they're gonna kill somebody everyone else seems to accept

it and would prefer to mind their own business but for Nick he's had it he's

packing his bags and heading for the Caribbean at least we're going to assume [Nick with suitcase at an airport]

that's where he's going since it's not actually stated in the story we're free

to imagine that Nick is off to wherever you want to go except Mars...

....One of the most fascinating things about this story is

Hemingway's ability to combine elements of the mundane with a serious danger [Shark circles old man]

lurking just below the surface of the action ever seen a Quentin Tarantino

movie how about anything with mobsters in it yeah these films are usually super

violent but people watch them not just because they're going to be people [Girl watching a movie]

getting killed in gory horrible ways though this also happens but because the

directors and screenwriters have skilfully combined violence with

everyday conversation while Hemingway did it in the killer's and it was

clearly a recipe for success additionally this is a pretty short [The Killers novel appears in the oven]

story but there's a lot going on take Nick Adams the protagonist or main

character of the story Nick's doing okay at the beginning of the story just

enjoying a typical meal around people he knows and

sees almost every day of his life then Al and max come in and rock everyone's world [Nick eating lunch and Al and Max appear together]

well after confronting Anderson, Nick returns to the lunchroom dejected what

makes matters worse is that the other characters don't even share in his

little defeat there it's as if Nick's innocence has been

tested or maybe even lost he's so upset that he's going to run away and leave [Nick walking in an airport]

that town behind him all this loss of innocence is one of the themes in the

killers all right another theme is that of appearances nothing is quite what it

seems in this little story The Killers come on to the scene as well dressed but

offensive out-of-towners their lunch counter banter brands them as more silly

than serious which lies in the face of what we normally think of in terms of [Wanted poster of Al and Max on a lamp post]

the personalities of murderers for hire well then we have Ole Anderson the

prizefighter by all accounts he should be tough and ready to throw down but

when Nick goes to see him he's literally lying down admitting defeat [Anderson lying down]

He appears mighty but is shown in the story is weak well all of these

instances of irony contribute to the overall theme of appearance and link

back to Nick's loss of innocence since what he believes to be true about people

based on appearances ends up being entirely false and we can talk for one

second about the o'clock as a symbol here in the story yeah well first of all [Iceberg discussing themes]

the fact the clock is fast and no one bothered to change it tells us the

lunchroom workers Sam and Al are pretty much content with accepting the status [Sam and Al stood at a desk as clock ticks forward]

quo you know the way things are it's used in this way as both a divisive

characterization and to help set the mood of the whole piece the clock as

fast as it is its ever present in the story creating dramatic tension

throughout well Nick Addams is most affected by the ticking clock and we can

safely assume that if he had things his [Nick punches a clock] way that clock would be set to the right

time down to the second Nick is juxtaposed against the older men who are

fairly set in their ways about the state of things and don't get all worked up

when Anderson isn't going to run away or fight back against his killers well the

killer's is a brief tale but there's a lot there to explore some literary

criticism experts have written entire dissertations on what the story actually [Dissertations on the Killers novel shown in library]

means and that once again is the beauty of the iceberg theory when Hemingway

omitted details from this story he opened the door for readers to come on in and

interpret it any way they please while some speculations about the story [People walking into a house]

are more on target than others well who's to say if they're right or wrong

Hemingway he's unavailable for comment today you've gotten to know me

and my innermost secrets while there's 1/8 of me in front of you right now the

bulk is hidden from view you can only guess what's going on below the seas top

layer Hemingway understood that icebergs are mighty strong stand-ins for writing [The Killers novel and iceberg lands on the page]

techniques and I'm writing novel myself it's called the old bird in the tree and

it's a work in progress...