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Ernest HemingwayA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Hemingway is one of the most celebrated minimalist writers and is known for coining the “Iceberg Theory,” which is a literary technique that prioritizes simple, declarative sentences and omission. The reader is presented with short, intense sentences focusing on observable facts and must then infer what is beneath the tip of the iceberg in terms of people’s inner lives. By presenting observable events and avoiding explication of his characters’ inner lives, Hemingway allows the reader to think critically about human subjectivity and participate in the act of literary creation.
A clear example is at the beginning of “Soldier’s Home,” when Hemingway describes Harold’s daily routine. He writes,
He was sleeping late in bed, getting up to walk down to the library to get a book, eating lunch at home, reading on the front porch until he became bored and then walking down through the town to spend the hottest hours of the day in the cool dark of the pool room. He loved to play pool (112).
The reader can infer that Harold is lost and aimless since returning from the war. Hemingway never says it, but the reader sees it in what is absent: Harold doesn’t work, doesn’t socialize, doesn’t have focused motivations, and doesn’t act with purpose.
By Ernest Hemingway
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
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Across the River and into the Trees
Across the River and into the Trees
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A Day's Wait
A Day's Wait
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A Farewell to Arms
A Farewell to Arms
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A Moveable Feast
A Moveable Feast
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A Very Short Story
A Very Short Story
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Big Two-Hearted River
Big Two-Hearted River
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Cat in the Rain
Cat in the Rain
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For Whom the Bell Tolls
For Whom the Bell Tolls
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Green Hills of Africa
Green Hills of Africa
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Hills Like White Elephants
Hills Like White Elephants
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In Another Country
In Another Country
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Indian Camp
Indian Camp
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In Our Time
In Our Time
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Old Man at the Bridge
Old Man at the Bridge
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Solider's Home
Solider's Home
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Ten Indians
Ten Indians
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The Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden
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The Killers
The Killers
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The Nick Adams Stories
The Nick Adams Stories
Ernest Hemingway