Happy Deathday Mr. Hemingway!

On July 2nd, in 1961, American writer Ernest Hemingway was found in his Idaho home, with a self inflicted gunshot wound through the head. He was 61 years old and is remembered today as a brilliant writer, a WWI veteran and an acclaimed journalist. 

During the twenties, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris, which greatly influenced his first notable work, The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway’s lucid prose and sparse dialogue undeniably exerted a powerful influence on American and British fiction in the 20th century. Some of our favorite Hemingway novels include For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, and his collection of short stories published in 1932 Death in the Afternoon. However, we would have to say our ultimate favorite long format piece by Hemingway, is without question A Moveable Feast. If you’ve not read it, we are hesitant to say much about it and encourage every aspiring and working writer alike to READ THIS BOOK!

It may surprise some of you to know that our favorite Hemingway short story is only 6 words long and is said to be akknowledged by many to be his greatest work of all:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Brilliant!

Today we encourage our readers to stay up all night brooding and reminiscing on adventures gone by, writing and (responsibly) drinking. Challenge yourselves, write a short story in just six words!

Write on in peace, Mr. Ernest Hemingway.

Happy Deathday Mr. Wolfe!

On September 15th of 1938, novelist Thomas Wolfe died of tuberculosis at only 37 years old.

Wolfe only wrote four novels, a book of his memoirs and a handful of short stories. But don’t be fooled… those four are packed with more impressionistic, sophisticated and sensitive prose than some authors are able to convey in a lifetime!

Wolfe is best known for his work Look Homeward, Angel but our favorite is The Story of a Novel, which was published in 1936. This memoir documents Wolfe’s working relationship with his editor, Maxwell Perkins, who worked at Scribner’s. Perkins also worked with Hemingway and Fitzgerald. It is a fascinating window into the world of a writer in the 1930s and a must read for all lovers of that era.

Though Wolfe received great acclaim during his life, he was also published posthumously; Web and the Rock was published in 1939 , followed by a collection of short stories in 1941, entitled The Hills Beyond.It is said that Faulkner, a contemporary of Wolfe, called him “their generation’s best writer” and it cannot be mistaken that Thomas Wolfe was incredibly influential to writers like Ray Bradbury and Jack Kerouac. Upon his death, The New York Times wrote of him:

“His was one of the most confident young voices in contemporary American literature, a vibrant, full-toned voice which it is hard to believe could be so suddenly stilled. The stamp of genius was upon him, though it was an undisciplined and unpredictable genius…. There was within him an unspent energy, an untiring force, an unappeasable hunger for life and for expression which might have carried him to the heights and might equally have torn him down”

Today, we hope our readers will remember Thomas Wolfe by being “undisciplined” and “unpredictable” geniuses! See if you can tap into that “unspent energy”!

Write on in peace, Mr. Wolfe!

Happy Deathday Mr. Faulkner!

On July 6th in 1962, one of our very favorite writers, William Faulkner, died of a heart attack at the age of 64 in Mississippi.

Faulkner is commonly referred to as a “Southern Gothic” writer, and was one of the founders of Modernist American Literature and stream of consciousness writing. Though he is most often remembered as a novelist, Faulkner also wrote poetry and screenplays.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949 and he is widely considered one of the most influential Southern writers, alongside Mark Twain, Flannery O’Connor and Tennessee Williams, to name a few.

Our favorite Faulkner pieces include The Sound and the Fury, The Unvanquished and the controversial short story “A Rose for Emily”. It is interesting to note that Faulkner was responsible for the screen adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s “The Big Sleep”, which happens to be a favorite film here at Dead Writers. He also wrote the screenplay for “To Have and Have Not”, by his contemporary Ernest Hemingway.

Like Twain, Faulkner used diction and accents as a very effective character device in his works. Flannery O’Connor (the veritable queen of southern gothic literature) once said of Faulkner:

“The presence alone of Faulkner in our midst makes a great difference in what the writer can and cannot permit himself to do. Nobody wants his mule and wagon stalled on the same track the Dixie Limited is roaring down.”

The above quote certainly sums up our feeling on the man. Brilliant.

Today, we encourage our readers to pour themselves a nice glass of sweet tea and get lost in the grotesque narrative of one of Faulkner’s short stories!

Write on in peace, Mr. Faulkner!

Happy Deathday Mr. Hemingway!

On July 2nd, in 1961, American writer Ernest Hemingway was found in his Idaho home, with a self inflicted gunshot wound through the head. He was 61 years old and is remembered today as a brilliant writer, a WWI veteran and an acclaimed journalist. 

Most people tend to focus on Hemingway’s rather low view of women or the fact that he, like so many writers we love, killed himself. The truth, as we see it, is this; Ernest Hemingway documented the world around him. Not unlike the great painter Walter Sickert who boasted that he only painted what he had seen, so we feel it is the same with Hemingway. He wrote what he saw in the vast and adventurous life that he led and in the company he kept.

During the twenties, Hemingway became a member of the group of expatriate Americans in Paris, which greatly influenced his first notable work, The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926.

He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway’s lucid prose and sparse dialogue undeniably exerted a powerful influence on American and British fiction in the 20th century. Some of our favorite Hemingway novels include For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea, The Sun Also Rises and his collection of short stories published in 1932 Death in the Afternoon.

Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his brilliance! Our favorite Hemingway short story is only 6 words long and is said to be akknowledged by many to be his greatest work:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

What did we tell you? Brilliant!

Today we encourage our readers to stay up all night brooding, writing and (responsibly) drinking. Challenge yourselves, write a short story in just six words!

Write on in peace, Mr. Ernest Hemingway.