F. Scott Fitzgerald vs. Ernest Hemingway

[rumguy]

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Yes, they have more money." Ernest Hemingway

Who's right?

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Hemingway

Flitzgerals was kind of elitist, in his way.

Though I love both and would prefer not to have to choose. But both in terms of the above, and in terms of whose books I'd keep if I had to throw one of the author's collections, it's Hemingway on both.

[rumguy]

2. I agree

3. Hemingway is right, but Fitzgerald is a better write r

just my opinion of course

[boobooday]

4. I'm with 56kid

I can't stand Hemingway.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[smirkymonkey]

5. I'm with boobooday...

I can't stand Hemingway either, and I love Fitzgerald.

Regarding the original question though, they were both right. Having more money is not the only difference - wealth, especially old money, is a culture unto itself.

6. before the love fest begins.......!

I don't think Hemingway is a bad writer, I just don't think he can compare to Fitzgerald when Fitzgerald writes the way he does at the beginning of "May Day" to give an example.

[flamingyouth]

7. Fitzgerald. I'm not a Hemingway fan at all

No, not at all. x(

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. You write like Hemingway, though

:evilgrin:

[rumguy]

15. damn, he does

good catch there

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. Thanks!

I thought it was ironic. Too ironic to leave alone. Like a bull that can't leave the tereador alone. The toreador, the hero, the man's man which we don't have in America. But if we did, he would have no honor anyway. Like a dead man.

;-)

[flamingyouth]

30. He is a she

:evilgrin:

[kskiska]

9. Can't stand Hemingway

and I've read a lot of bio stuff on him and his wives. If you're into it, there's a new book ("Gelhorn") on writer/journalist Martha Gelhorn, who was married to him for 5 years. There's another on Hadley, his first wife, which was really interesting because she was with him when fame first hit. Hemingway is just too macho for my tastes.

Fitzgerald was a much better writer, I think, though his life was pretty pathetic. He and Zelda had some good times, though, but it didn't end well.

[Nevernose]

10. Were thay really lesbians?

I haven't read either of those books, and my knowledge of both authors is sorely lacking. One thing I've heard is that most, if not all, of Hemingway's wives were lesbians. True? What's the source for this rumor?

[kskiska]

27. Not that I know of

Gelhorn wasn't a lesbian, though she was very strong and independent, so her relationships with men were difficult. She did marry again after Hemingway. Hadley also remarried. His second wife, Pauline, was sort of strange, though I don't know what she did with the rest of her life.His last wife, Mary, stayed with him, though he was extremely difficult. Gelhorn didn't like her at all and didn't even want Hemingway's name mentioned in her presence for most of her life.

There certainly are doubts about Papa's manliness, though. Gertrude Stein had made remarks on it. Perhaps that's why he overcompensated with his machoistic pursuits and writings.

[DemoTex]

11. Fitzgerald was a better writer.

Hemmingway told a better story.

[The Lone Liberal]

12. Damn!

I thought Papa and Scott was going to go at it bareknuckles.

[rumguy]

13. there's no doubt who would win that fight

[LiviaOlivia]

14. F Scott always...

read their short stories. Fitzgerald hands down.

[amazona]

16. hemingway

I'm surprised at all the posts replying that Fitzgerald was the better writer. No, uh, sorry, he wasn't. He wasn't a better writer, and he was certainly not as influential. People today are used to reading transparent, strong, muscular, clear prose, and they can thank Hemingway for a lot of that. It's easy to forget what someone has achieved once his achievement has become "just the way things are done." The exchange you quote is a perfect reflection of Hemingway's crisp anti-sentimentality.

Hemingway worked very hard to make his craft transparent -- A Farewell to Arms, for instance, was revised 41 times. On a typewriter. Not a word processor or a computer. A typewriter.

The man was dedicated, influential, and his writing was clean and clear. Fitzgerald is all very well in small doses but he is no Hemingway.

Just my humble opinion. I am no literature professor nor do I play one on TV.

Edited -- typo and I do use a computer! I'm not Hemingway, that's for sure.

[rumguy]

17. excellent reply

wow very incisive

and I totally agree with you

[Rabrrrrrr]

20. beautifully stated

Though Fitzgerald was excellent at catching America at the time and setting it down for posterity.

But Fitzgerald - while an excellent writer - wasn't an unusual or compellingly stylistic writer. Hemingway was. And I think Hemingway was brilliant, whereas Fitzgerald was "merely" excellent.

[mitchum]

21. Couldn't agree more

[rumguy]

22. it's good see Hemingway advocates (nt)

[sweetheart]

18. "There are no second acts in American lives."

Fitzgerald is awesome... Hemingway was tiresome.

Any american with a life complex enough to have more than 1 act,
is not a flag-cult american, rather a denied exception.. and this
denial creates a facile popular culture of ignorance.. IMO.

[mitchum]

23. Fitzgerald is the great "coulda been who really wasn't"

Would be a "People" senior editor if he were alive today

Fitzgerald owes his current overrated status to the efforts of "scholar/squirrel" Matthew Bruccoli. And it has paid off handsomely for Matthew B...

[rumguy]

24. Whose Bruccoli? And why is he part squirrel?

[mitchum]

25. "Scholar/squirrel" is the term that Gore Vidal coined for Bruccoli...

who is the world's leading Fitzgerald scholar. My wife refers to Bruccoli as "Fitzgerald's posthumous agent" (which is also very apt)

[Shopaholic]

26. Hemingway-no contest

Hemingway is brilliant because he was able to powerfully communicate a story without using superfluous language. I'm not trying to take anything away from Fitzgerald though-he clearly was able to capture the flavor of his time and space but I belive that Hemingway has been more influental and his impact greater on successive generations of writers than Fitzgerald. Subject-Verb-Object: It's a beautiful thing!

[Jim__]

28. Does it have to be Either Or

I don't know the context of the statement - but, just based on the 2 statements, they don't necessarily disagree.

Couldn't the rich be different from you and me because they have money?

I think I would be a very different person if I had money. Most of my time is dedicated to making money to support myself and my family. If I did not have that obligation; if I had enough money so I didn't have to worry - I think I'd be a much differnt person.

[rumguy]

32. I believe F. Scott was hinting at deeper differences...

but true to form his specificity was lacking...

[Nile]

29. Fitzgerald

I have some very rich neighbors and they, should we say, like to think they are better. Wrong!!,, they can be real ass-holes and users of the other neighbors. I just do not understand how some of the neighbors succumb to their wishes.

[SarahB]

31. Hemingway

Fitzgerald's quote is a generalization which varies amongst individuals.