Hemingway: 5 To Get You Started.

Top 5 Hemingway (to ease you in gently)

We love Ernest Hemingway here at Rotten Poetry, he gave us our name afterall (see here). But there are many people out there who have never read any for one reason or another.

So we thought we would put together a starter pack of recommendations for you to have a try at to get yourself well into the Hemingway vibe.

So grab a (large) glass of red wine and settle in.

For Whom The Bell Tolls
Set in the Spanish Civil War, Robert Jordan is an American volunteering to fight for the republicans. This book might seem a little overwhelming for a reader unfamiliar with the history of the time as not everything is explained, but if you can deal with that this book will give you a great feel of who Hemingway was.
He went himself to Spain during the Spanish Civil War and it is safe to assume that many of Jordan’s experiences were those of Hemingway himself. Although he reported in the war rather than a fighter that doesn’t stop him from describing the brutality of war and often in graphic detail.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Hemingway wrote many great novels but you can’t ignore his short story collections. This one features every trope of the great man including bull fighting, masculinity, doomed romance and war.
The titular story in the collection features a writer dying of gangrene on an African hunting trip. His female companion provides him with company and reflection as he thinks back over his life and deeds. In typical Hemingway fashion, Harry is grumpy and short as he considers his fate.
For a short and non-committal introduction to Hemingway, look no further.

A Moveable Feast
Moving on from Hemingway’s love of war and hunting, we arrive at another great love. Drink.
Set largely in Paris this book is held dear by our friends across the channel. It evokes a time that is long gone in a way that feels real enough to touch. It depicts the ‘Lost Generation’ stuck between two world wars with not much to do but drink and write.
The narrative features all the celebrities of the time, F. Scott and Zelda Fitgerald, Aleister Crowley, Ford Madox Ford, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas and Sylvia Beech (who founded Shakespeare and Company which can still be found in Paris today).

Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises
Hemingway’s first published novel could be just the place to start your journey with him. This one features France, Spain and bulls. It is based on real people that Hemingway knew with a large amount of artistic licence thrown in.
It evokes the ‘Lost Generation’ again with concepts of masculinity, love and death which are recurring themes in Hemingway’s work.
Jake is in love with Brett Ashley but he has been wounded in the war and he cannot act on his passions. Brett, conversely, is a modern woman. Twice divorced, short hair and promiscuous, she embodies the emerging feminism of the age.

The Old Man and the Sea
A story you might be familiar with as it was turned into a movie with Spencer Tracy. An old man takes his fishing boat out and battles to catch a large marlin. But as with all Hemingway, that is not what the story is really about.
The short novel is about man’s eternal struggle with age and time. Fighting against the tide in more ways than one. The man is stubborn and determined to overcome nature and be victorious. I will let you decide if he achieves that or not.

So, are you convinced? I hope so, Hemingway is a very rewarding read and worth the effort of adapting yourself to his style. Hemingway says a little, but means a lot. It can be tricky keeping up with the fast-paced dialogue at times but once you are hooked, you are in for life.

Charlotte Wood is a feminist and writer of the macabre and sinister. She reads horror, fantasy, classic literature and historical fiction (with a preference for history from a woman’s perspective).