Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette

When Hemingway first came to the attention of critics and the reading public, it was his technique, his method of writing that fascinated.  His prose was described as “stripped” and “stark”.  The adverbs and adjectives were missing.  The prose verged on simplistic.  The sentences were relatively short and declarative.  The writing was visual, full of concrete sense details.

He spent very little time telling the reader what his characters were feeling or thinking.  And yet the reader knew what his characters were feeling and thinking.

How?

Ernest Hemingway 1923 Passport Photograph, 1923 (Photo credit: The U.S. National Archives)

Because he used description as exposition.  By presenting what his characters said, did, their mannerisms, their reactions and the physical world they lived in, Hemingway was able to project the inner world of his characters on to the movie screen of his readers’ imaginations.

Description is exposition.

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It’s 7:30 a.m. and the Old Soldier is on duty. 

How’s everyone doing?  It will be mostly sunny today in Pittsburgh with a high around 76 degrees.  This is just the first post of the day.  I’m sure there will be others.

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Related articles

• Hemingway on “The Lady Poets” (theparisreview.org)
• A Nude Woman And The Secret To Writing Great Flash Fiction (pittsburghflashfictiongazette.com)

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