Ernest Hemingway on Writing (Paperback)

~ Larry W. Phillips (Editor) "I AM trying to make, before I get through, a picture of the whole worldor as much of it as I have seen. Boiling it..." (more)
Key Phrases: Selected Letters, Maxwell Perkins, Ernest Hemingway (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Throughout Ernest Hemingway's career as a writer," says Larry W. Phillips in his introduction to Ernest Hemingway on Writing, "he maintained that it was bad luck to talk about writing." Hemingway seems to have courted bad luck. Phillips has amassed a slender book's worth of Hemingway's reflections on writing, culled from letters, books, interviews, speeches, and an unpublished manuscript. These musings are arranged into topics such as "Advice to Writers," "Working Habits," and "Obscenity" (of which there is plenty here). Sometimes ponderous, other times offhand, these thoughts form a portrait of a man driven to create not solely the best writing he could, but the best writing, period. Hemingway craved exactness, both in his work and in the work of others; he strove to make every word necessary. "Eschew the monumental," he wrote to Maxwell Perkins in 1932. "Shun the Epic. All the guys who can paint great big pictures can paint great small ones." His aim? Mere perfection. "I write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit," he confided to F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1934. "I try to put the shit in the wastebasket." --Jane Steinberg

From Library Journal

Yet another volume reproduced to celebrate old Hemingstein's centennial, this 1984 title offers Hemingway's comments on the writing game gleaned by editor Phillips from the author's numerous fiction and nonfiction works as well as his personal correspondence. It's not "how-to" instructional advice but rather Ernesto's impressions on writing and those who do it. More of a fan's book than a practical guide.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1st Touchstone Ed edition (July 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684854295
• ISBN-13: 978-0684854298
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #188,158 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars He won the Nobel Prize in Literature for a reason, November 22, 2003

By	Bernard M. Patten "Book worm" (Seabrook, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Of course, I've read everything he wrote, but I wasn't prepared to get the key information on writing enclosed in this little book. Most people think Hemingway was a rough and tumble guy who wrote in his spare time when he had the urge. Most other times, the legend goes, he was too busy drinking, fishing, or womanizing. This book clearly shows that ain't so. He spent most of his time, the way real writers do: Writing and thinking about writing. Often he would check into a hotel, let everyone know he was there, and then stay somewhere else so as not to be disturbed from his main mission. The gems of informations depicted here come in the form of advice to the Mice (H's term for young student writers) from Y.C. (your correspondent). Did you know, for instance, "Most live writers do not exist. Their fame is created by critics who always need a genius of the season, someone they understand completely and feel safe in praising, but when these fabricated geniuses are dead they will not exist." Or how about this gem: "If an sonofbitch could write he wouldn't have to teach in college." Particulary interesting is Papa's advice to writers about reading. He was of the opinion that most writers write too much and don't read enough. His advice is to master Tolstoi, Flaubert, Mann, Joyce, Fielding, Mark Twain, Stendhal, Dostoevskis, Crane, Kipling, Turgenev, Hudson, James, (on and on so fast you can't write them down, three times that many) before you start writing. Very good advice, I would say. His point being you must first read the literature before you can write literature. This book does omit one piece of advice that H never gave but which he practiced by example. He memorized the King James Bible (cf Moveable Feast) and could recite it by heart. He did this to get down into the very structure of his brain the cadences that express beauty and truth effectively. The secret of his terse style is therefore the secret of clear and simple expression as in that wonderful version of the Bible.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reflections on writing culled from Hemingway's writings, July 2, 2003

By	James Arvo (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hemingway was reticent about his craft; he feared that talking about it would destroy it, or even worse, be a substitute for it. Yet, woven throughout his novels and other writings are numerous observations about writers and the art of writing. In "Ernest Hemingway On Writing", Larry Phillips has culled several hundred excerpts from Hemingway's books, interviews, and personal correspondences that touch upon some aspect of writing. They range in length from a mere sentence fragment to several paragraphs. As Phillips explains in the introduction, "This book contains Hemingway's reflections on the nature of the writer and on the elements of the writer's life, including specific helpful advice to writers on the craft of writing, work habits, and discipline. The Hemmingway personality comes through in general wisdom, wit, humor, and insight..."

Some of these reflections are insightful, some are humorous, and some show us Hemingway at his best. But this is not to say that the collection works as a whole. While I like the idea behind book, and feel it has definite value, there are a good number of excerpts that do not seem to have any of the above qualities, so I question why they were included. They seem like filler. Nonetheless, I'll list a few of the reflections that I liked, as they show something of Hemingway's many moods and styles.

In a letter to Charles Scribner, Hemingway reveals a tortured ambivalence about writing: "Charlie there is no future in anything. I hope you agree. That is why I like it at a war. Every day and every night there is a strong possibility that you will get killed and not have to write. I have to write to be happy... But it is a hell of a disease to be born with. I like to do it. Which is even worse. That makes it from a disease into a vice. Then I want to do it better than anybody has ever done it which makes it into an obsession."

Among the reflections are many little truisms about writing: "...it has never gotten any easier to do and you can't expect it to if you keep trying for something better than you can do." There are also sardonic remarks: "The good parts of a book may be only something a writer is lucky enough to overhear or it may be the wreck of his whole damn life--and one is as good as the other." Some of Hemingway's remarks seem genuinely helpful, as when he describes what he does when he is "stuck". He would say to himself "Do no worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." Then, he explains "If I start to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written." Finally, when asked "How much should you write a day?", he proffered this advice: "The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never get stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it."

The collection definitely contains some gems; if you are a Hemingway fan you will likely enjoy it. However, if you are looking for sage advice from the master, you are apt to be disappointed, for once you remove the quips and the anecdotes, there is not a great deal left.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful inspiration for writers, November 27, 1999

By A Customer

Hemingway's straight-to-the-point advice reveals much about his own process of writing and helps us get inside his head (just a bit) which is of much interest to the Hemingway fan. It is also great for those of us seeking advice or new ways of looking at different aspects of the writing process. Even when I don't entirely agree with his comments, they are insightful and enlightening and offer suggestions for what may be benificial variations in our too-routine writing routines. I also must agree with one of the other reviewers: the paper is poor (like the brown stuff you used to practice your alphabet letter writing on when you were in kindergarten.) Why? I don't know- this is a book that I can easily refer to anytime I feel myself lacking in drive and I would like to know that it will stand the test of time (physically); a few passages from it and I feel energized by what he has to say. Regardless of the por paper quality, I HIGHLY recommend it.