A Hemingway connection?
Mattis Fishman (mattis@argos.argoscomp.com)
Mon, 29 Mar 1999 12:04:21 -0500 (EST)
Hello Everyone,
The connection between Salinger and Hemingway was recently discussed,
and up to this point I have had nothing to say. This was due almost
entirely an early ordeal with The Old Man and the Sea, which was enough
to close the rest of Hemingway's books to me.
I was happy to see here recently, that apparently some of you agree
that TOMATS (what a nice set of initials for such a ketchupy book)
was not among old EH's finest work, and so on the last trip to the
library I picked up the Nick Adams stories for myself and my sons
to read. Thanks, Tim, and all the rest who recommended this collection,
though I wish that when the arranged them in chronological order by
Nick's age, they would have noted the date of writing/publication so
that I could get a better feel for the changing attitude of the author
towards his character. I certainly found it more enjoyable that TOMATS.
Of course this is not the Hemingway list so I had better get the point.
When I came across the story "The Last Good Country", whose tone and
style seemed remarkably different from many of the preceding stories
(hence the wish for publication data), I was struck by the fact
that Nick's relationship with his little sister, Littless (sp?), a
major part of the story, was so reminiscent of Holden and Phoebe.
Of course chronologically it is the other way around and I can't
help wondering if anyone else has made the observation that JDS
patterned Phoebe, and her role in Holden's world after Littless.
In the story, Nick is evading arrest for poaching by hiking into
the back country and his sister insists on coming along to help.
She does, and while we find Nick constantly concerned with protecting
her, we eventually realize that she is there to protect him from
succumbing to his vindictive nature. I am not trying to get a job
writing for Cliff's notes, just to give the framework in which we see
the young girl's devotion and innocence and the young man's dual
role of protector and protected. The manner in which Phoebe and
Littless speak, and the type of things they say are so similar, why,
when the run away one of the three book Littless takes with her
is Wuthering Heights (do you think she prefers Heathcliff?).
Even my sixteen year old son, completely uninitiated into the
art of writing English papers, gave a start of recognition when I asked
him if the story didn't remind him of TCITR.
Anyway, thanks for calling these stories to my attention. If anyone
has any thoughts on this connection, and on where this particular
story fits into Hemingway's work, I would be happy to hear it.
all the best,
Mattis