I can't take issue with Wolcott's broader point here, but his literary judgement leaves something to be desired:
No last name in American literature stands taller or more shoulder wide than that of Hemingway. It represents stoic endurance, grace under pressure, sentences without commas, big-game hunting and deep-sea fishing, and many rides in jeeps.When I think of Hemmingway, I think only of Vidal's famous line on TR: Give a sissy a gun and he will kill everything in sight.
7 comments:
no love for mellville
Only manly men are brave and manly enough to suck the wrong end of a shotgun!
(1) I'll wager Ayn Rand stood "more shoulder wide" (?) than Hemingway. She could have played left tackle for Patrick Henry U.
(2) Whate'er points Wolcott loses for indulging the Hemingway mystique, he regains for the weblog post title. That's an inspired pun.
I dunno; shouldn't Wolcott have included "bullfighters with impeccable backsides"?
Worst thing about Hemingway is the horde of shitty imitators he fathered.
Hmmm, Ronald Reagan and Raymond Carver both ascended to power at the same time. Coincidence?
I think Wolcott is being a little facetious. "Sentences without commas" and "rides in jeeps" are examples of pseudo-shoulder-wideness.
Really, though, I think Mariel Hemingway is fairly cool. I didn't know she was a literata worthy of Wolcott's attentions.
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