By Mickey Jhonny
The reader may feel a bit incredulous at suggesting an early 20th century writer be memorialized by a term which only came into common usage a number of years after his death. However, I hope to demonstrate that Hemingway was indeed the template replicated by such a large number of the rock stars who crashed and burned after meteoric ascents, in the decades just subsequent to Hemingway's death in 1961.
Hemingway well earned his prominent place on our list of top 20 most famous American authors . His literary achievements alone would earn him his ranking. Yet, there is no disputing that Hemingway as icon far transcended his literary legacy in casting the mold of 20st century artistic celebrity.
He was only yet in his 20s when Hemingway received expansive critical accolades following the publication of his anguished and restless novella The Sun Also Rises. This was already pretty heady stuff for such a young man. Yet, only a few years after that he became a bestselling author, on the strength of his novel, A Farewell to Arms. Furthermore, he had yet further cemented his critical acclaim with two short story collections in the years just before and following Farewell. He was widely acknowledged as having reinvented the short story, with his moving, epiphany-inspired tales, that captured the tiny tragedies and lingering scars of life in tales such as A Day's Wait, A Clean and Well-Lighted Place and Hills Like White Elephants.
An infinitesimally small number of artists ever achieve such heights and even fewer in the first decade of adulthood. Many things contributed to this sensation that was the young Hemingway.
Hemingway well earned his prominent place on our list of top 20 most famous American authors . His literary achievements alone would earn him his ranking. Yet, there is no disputing that Hemingway as icon far transcended his literary legacy in casting the mold of 20st century artistic celebrity.
He was only yet in his 20s when Hemingway received expansive critical accolades following the publication of his anguished and restless novella The Sun Also Rises. This was already pretty heady stuff for such a young man. Yet, only a few years after that he became a bestselling author, on the strength of his novel, A Farewell to Arms. Furthermore, he had yet further cemented his critical acclaim with two short story collections in the years just before and following Farewell. He was widely acknowledged as having reinvented the short story, with his moving, epiphany-inspired tales, that captured the tiny tragedies and lingering scars of life in tales such as A Day's Wait, A Clean and Well-Lighted Place and Hills Like White Elephants.
An infinitesimally small number of artists ever achieve such heights and even fewer in the first decade of adulthood. Many things contributed to this sensation that was the young Hemingway.
To begin with, similarly incidentally to many of the iconic rock stars of the 70s-80s - think of David Bowie, David Byrne and Madonna - Hemingway had an astute aptitude for co-opting tropes and techniques of avant garde and experimental artists. He learned important lessons about language and narrative from those experimenting outside the mainstream. Yet, like Bowie or Madonna, had a knack for understanding how to apply those insights while maintaining an appeal to a mass audience. Ezra Pound, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein, were among the experimental writers Hemingway learned from, but managed to capture in a way domesticated for popular tastes.
And capture it, he did. Indeed, it is not too much of an exaggeration to compare the way that rock and roll tapped into the rebellious idealism of the highly educated and materially privileged 1960s baby boom generation, with the way that Hemingway's stories touched a chord in the sullen ennui and restlessness of the post-WWI zeitgeist. Those who came to be called the lost generation found in Hemingway someone who sang their song.
Like, though, any artist who has such early meteoric success, replicating it can be a difficult thing to do. Though he had some modest "hits" along the way, it is not unfair to say he never quite reached the same heights literarily again after the early 30s. Probably only For Whom the Bell Tolls approached his early breakthrough works.
Despite this declining regard of his writing, Hemingway if anything was an increasingly renowned household name. Now, though, it was more his non-writing exploits that seemed to capture the public imagination. Hemingway seemed to be well aware of his celebrity status and made no small effort to flame the fires of public fascination. He cultivated connections with leading gossip columnists and there were always photographs for the glossy magazines when he was on one of his big game hunting or fishing excursions.
He appeared in commercial advertisements endorsing a number of consumer products. And he regularly submitted letters to literary and other publications in which he primped and primed the well sculpted image of the man's man and the anti-intellectual intellectual.
Many accused Hemingway by the middle of the century of having become a kind of parody of himself. Indeed, one can't help thinking of all the 60s and 70s rock and pop bands, grey and flabby, who continue to rake in the dough on the nostalgia circuit of casinos and community halls.
If Hemingway's story had ended there, it would still have been the template for the future rock star, but it turned out he had one more moment of greatness in him - and thereby raised the bar to a mythical height for those who would follow him. It was almost as if one of those geriatric rock bands had the audacity to insist on doing original material though they were being booed off every stage when refusing to just play oldies and goldies. Then, remarkably, they had a new platinum record.
When it appeared to all-the-world that Hemingway had nothing original or important left to say, the literary world was swept away with the 1952 publication of his heartbreaking novella, The Old Man and the Sea. Amazingly, he had done it again; once more Hemin
And capture it, he did. Indeed, it is not too much of an exaggeration to compare the way that rock and roll tapped into the rebellious idealism of the highly educated and materially privileged 1960s baby boom generation, with the way that Hemingway's stories touched a chord in the sullen ennui and restlessness of the post-WWI zeitgeist. Those who came to be called the lost generation found in Hemingway someone who sang their song.
Like, though, any artist who has such early meteoric success, replicating it can be a difficult thing to do. Though he had some modest "hits" along the way, it is not unfair to say he never quite reached the same heights literarily again after the early 30s. Probably only For Whom the Bell Tolls approached his early breakthrough works.
Despite this declining regard of his writing, Hemingway if anything was an increasingly renowned household name. Now, though, it was more his non-writing exploits that seemed to capture the public imagination. Hemingway seemed to be well aware of his celebrity status and made no small effort to flame the fires of public fascination. He cultivated connections with leading gossip columnists and there were always photographs for the glossy magazines when he was on one of his big game hunting or fishing excursions.
He appeared in commercial advertisements endorsing a number of consumer products. And he regularly submitted letters to literary and other publications in which he primped and primed the well sculpted image of the man's man and the anti-intellectual intellectual.
Many accused Hemingway by the middle of the century of having become a kind of parody of himself. Indeed, one can't help thinking of all the 60s and 70s rock and pop bands, grey and flabby, who continue to rake in the dough on the nostalgia circuit of casinos and community halls.
If Hemingway's story had ended there, it would still have been the template for the future rock star, but it turned out he had one more moment of greatness in him - and thereby raised the bar to a mythical height for those who would follow him. It was almost as if one of those geriatric rock bands had the audacity to insist on doing original material though they were being booed off every stage when refusing to just play oldies and goldies. Then, remarkably, they had a new platinum record.
When it appeared to all-the-world that Hemingway had nothing original or important left to say, the literary world was swept away with the 1952 publication of his heartbreaking novella, The Old Man and the Sea. Amazingly, he had done it again; once more Hemin
Despite this declining regard of his writing, Hemingway if anything was an increasingly renowned household name. Now, though, it was more his non-writing exploits that seemed to capture the public imagination. Hemingway seemed to be well aware of his celebrity status and made no small effort to flame the fires of public fascination. He cultivated connections with leading gossip columnists and there were always photographs for the glossy magazines when he was on one of his big game hunting or fishing excursions.
He appeared in commercial advertisements endorsing a number of consumer products. And he regularly submitted letters to literary and other publications in which he primped and primed the well sculpted image of the man's man and the anti-intellectual intellectual.
Many accused Hemingway by the middle of the century of having become a kind of parody of himself. Indeed, one can't help thinking of all the 60s and 70s rock and pop bands, grey and flabby, who continue to rake in the dough on the nostalgia circuit of casinos and community halls.
If Hemingway's story had ended there, it would still have been the template for the future rock star, but it turned out he had one more moment of greatness in him - and thereby raised the bar to a mythical height for those who would follow him. It was almost as if one of those geriatric rock bands had the audacity to insist on doing original material though they were being booed off every stage when refusing to just play oldies and goldies. Then, remarkably, they had a new platinum record.
When it appeared to all-the-world that Hemingway had nothing original or important left to say, the literary world was swept away with the 1952 publication of his heartbreaking novella, The Old Man and the Sea. Amazingly, he had done it again; once more Hemingway had become artistically relevant. No doubt largely a function of this last great hurrah, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, perhaps adding the final piece to the Hemingway legend.
Yet, in that tragic way in which Hemingway's work always told more about him than perhaps he realized, one can't help noting the theme of this last great novella. It tells the story of an elderly man who sees his last hope for greatness slip away out of his grasp. The moment of its apparent possession revealed as but a mirage. By the 50s, there was something tragically broken in the heart of Hemingway.
Like so many of the rock stars that followed the template he forged, in 1961, in an isolated home, Hemingway came to his demise, in a suicidal fog of depression and substance abuse. In the process not only did we lose one of the most important artists of the 20th century, but the one who invented the model of artistic celebrity that would mold the dreams of aspiring youth throughout the rest of the century.
And indeed still does.
About the Author:
He appeared in commercial advertisements endorsing a number of consumer products. And he regularly submitted letters to literary and other publications in which he primped and primed the well sculpted image of the man's man and the anti-intellectual intellectual.
Many accused Hemingway by the middle of the century of having become a kind of parody of himself. Indeed, one can't help thinking of all the 60s and 70s rock and pop bands, grey and flabby, who continue to rake in the dough on the nostalgia circuit of casinos and community halls.
If Hemingway's story had ended there, it would still have been the template for the future rock star, but it turned out he had one more moment of greatness in him - and thereby raised the bar to a mythical height for those who would follow him. It was almost as if one of those geriatric rock bands had the audacity to insist on doing original material though they were being booed off every stage when refusing to just play oldies and goldies. Then, remarkably, they had a new platinum record.
When it appeared to all-the-world that Hemingway had nothing original or important left to say, the literary world was swept away with the 1952 publication of his heartbreaking novella, The Old Man and the Sea. Amazingly, he had done it again; once more Hemingway had become artistically relevant. No doubt largely a function of this last great hurrah, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, perhaps adding the final piece to the Hemingway legend.
Yet, in that tragic way in which Hemingway's work always told more about him than perhaps he realized, one can't help noting the theme of this last great novella. It tells the story of an elderly man who sees his last hope for greatness slip away out of his grasp. The moment of its apparent possession revealed as but a mirage. By the 50s, there was something tragically broken in the heart of Hemingway.
Like so many of the rock stars that followed the template he forged, in 1961, in an isolated home, Hemingway came to his demise, in a suicidal fog of depression and substance abuse. In the process not only did we lose one of the most important artists of the 20th century, but the one who invented the model of artistic celebrity that would mold the dreams of aspiring youth throughout the rest of the century.
And indeed still does.
About the Author:
To keep up on all the news about American writers, dead or alive, you need to follow Mickey Jhonny's work at the blog Famous American Authors . He also keeps tabs on the trends in sophisticated television: catch his great work at the Don Draper Haircut blog.