Ernest Hemingway and his Influence
Spring 2012
All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened
and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you
and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the
remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.-"Old Newsman Writes: A Letter from Cuba," in Esquire (New York, Dec. 1934);
reprinted in By-Line Ernest Hemingway, edited by William White, 1967).
The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and learn and
understand; and write when there is something that you know; and not before;
and not too damned much after.--Death in the Afternoon
050.487.01 and 350.437.04
Th 9:15 - 12:15
RAB 018
Professor Louise Barnett
Office 205C
Office Hours: by appointment
e-mail: [email protected]
Course Description
Ernest Hemingway was the most influential twentieth‐ century writer. His style
and values had a powerful effect on most American male writers of succeeding
generations, and on writers in other languages as well. In this seminar we will
read the best of Hemingway and some writers who have carried his legacy into
later periods. The Bogart hero in film is an incarnation of the Hemingway hero,
and the “hard‐ boiled” detective figure, like almost any detective you can name,
is still another. (My favorite at the moment is Jack Reacher.)
Course Objectives
To understand Hemingway and his works is to understand an important aspect of
twentieth century American culture. This is the seminar's overall goal.
Specifically, our objectives will be the following:
1. To study--carefully and thoroughly--the major texts of this significant writer and
to explore his legacy.
2. To improve writing skills in critical papers and a substantial research paper
project.
3. To discuss texts orally with increasing fluency.
Course Texts
All of the texts are paperbacks; they have been ordered by the Cook-Douglass
Bookstore and by New Jersey Books. All are by Hemingway.
1
A Farewell to Arms, ISBN 0684801469
The Sun Also Rises, 0743297334
For Whom The Bell Tolls, 0684803356
The Garden of Eden 0684804522
The Snows of Kilimanjaro 0684804441
Other readings will be posted on the sakai site.
Requirements
Strong attendance and class participation are essential to the seminar format,
and there will be informal in-class oral reports as well as short papers and a
culminating 15 page research paper. Papers will be submitted on sakai through
turnitin as well as hard copy.
Texts under discussion must always be brought to class.
Cell phones must be turned off in class.
Students are expected to adhere to the Academic Integrity policy of Rutgers
University at all times. Please familiarize yourself with
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml
Work must be handed in on time or an extension agreed to by the instructor.
** Prolonged absence will make it impossible to receive credit for the course.
And in a senior seminar meeting only once a week and presumed to be the
capstone of the major, this means more than two absences; two absences may
affect your grade.
Evaluation
Classwork
Short papers
Research paper
30%
35
35
Tentative Schedule of Assignments
January
19
Introduction
26
"A Clean Well-Lighted Place," "In Another
Country," "A Natural History of the Dead,"
February
2
2
"Fathers and Sons," "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife,"
"On the Quai at Smyrna"
9
The Sun Also Rises
16
"Soldier's Home," Tim O'Brien, "Speaking of Courage"
PAPER 1 DUE IN CLASS (5 pp.)
23
A Farewell to Arms
March
1
"The Killers," "Indian Camp"
8
Death in the Afternoon (excerpts on sakai);
"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber"
--spring recess--
22
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro," Paris Review interview,
a short story TBA
29
For Whom the Bell Tolls, chs. 1-17; film The Spanish Earth
April
5
For Whom the Bell Tolls, chs. 18-43
12
Islands in the Stream (excerpts on sakai); "Big Two-Hearted
River," Parts 1 and 2. FINAL PAPER DUE IN CLASS.
19
Writers influenced by Hemingway: Norman Mailer and
Tobias Wolff (texts to be posted on sakai)
26
The Garden of Eden
3