Where Style Stands

Hemingway had his famous terse style.  Concise, really.  Implicit. It was artificial, which is why, as his alcoholism progressed, he slipped more and more often.

In other words, he’d write stuff, conventional stories, THEN apply his “style”, a conscious approach, first removing a single big thing to be implied throughout a scene, then making each phrase as concise as possible.  Pruning, trimming, and cutting.

Condensing.

This is why it’s so hard to do, even as accurate parody, and why even he couldn’t sustain it. It was not natural voice, it was an imposed, formal style, Classical as hell. Classicism, in fact. And he did this into the face of Naturalism, which had dominated just prior to Modernism.

And to this day most don’t see past his words. Hemingway’s style stood in how he thought, not which words he chose. Mot juste is fine but it’s icing on the thinking process cake. What he was being concise about, what he drew our mental eye or heart to, is what counts.

Cormac McCarthy is very similar. As is Cormac McCann.

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About Gene Stewart

Born 7 Feb 1958 Altoona, PA, USA Married 1980 Three sons, grown Have lived in Japan, Germany, all over US Currently in Nebraska I write, paint, play guitar Read widely Wide taste in music, movies Wide range of interests Hate god yap Humanist, Rationalist, Fortean Love the eerie
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