hemingway (1)

Upload: amandaorion

Post on 14-Apr-2018

229 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    1/8

    Reading the Writer's Craft: The Hemingway Short StoriesAuthor(s): Lisa GarriguesSource: The English Journal, Vol. 94, No. 1, Re-Forming Writing Instruction (Sep., 2004), pp.59-65Published by: National Council of Teachers of EnglishStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4128849 .

    Accessed: 16/04/2013 05:39

    Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

    .JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of

    content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

    of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

    .

    National Council of Teachers of English is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to

    The English Journal.

    http://www.jstor.org

    http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=nctehttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4128849?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/4128849?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ncte
  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    2/8

    RE-FORMING WRITING INSTRUCTION

    LisaGarrigues

    Reading t h e Writer ' s C r a f t :T h e Hemingwayh o r t S t o r i e s

    Thepowerof apprenticeship as realizedby highschooljuniorswho spentfive weeksstudying hestyleand craftof ErnestHemingway.LisaGarrigues rovidesdetailsof severalassignments hathelpedstudentsanalyzeHemingway'swork and learn romthis "master raftsman."

    In truly good writing no matter how many times you readit you do not know how it isdone. That is because there is a mystery in all great writing and that mystery does notdissect out .... Each time you re-readyou see or learn something new.-Ernest Hemingway,Ernest Hemingway on Writing

    A rtists have long known the value ofstudying the masters. Stroll throughthe galleries of any museum and youwill see novice painters standing be-foreframedcanvases,up close to examine the artist'sbrush strokes, far back to understand the use of per-spective, then seatedto rendera facsimile of the mas-terpiece on paper. Writers, too, can build on whatand who came before them, even as they develop aunique style and original voice. If English educatorscan guide students in the study of literature as craft,if we can show them how to scan the pages of a booknot just for its storyline but also for its brushstrokes,students will know what it means to read as a writer;they will discover that the best way to learn how towrite is to learn from the masters.

    Writers have apprenticed themselves for cen-turies. Edmund Spenserwas influenced by GeoffreyChaucer;John Keats by John Milton; Ernest Hem-ingway by MarkTwain;and so on. To this day, manywriters attribute their success to "cutting their com-posing teeth on the works of the masters" (Milnerand Milner 335). But apprenticingoneselfto awriterdoes not demand copying; rather, t requires payingclose attention to craft-learning how to read, asAnne Lamott said, "with a writer'seyes"(233).In a five-week unit, Reading the Writer'sCraft:The Hemingway Short Stories, students in English

    11 andEnglish 11 Honors apprenticedthemselves toa master craftsmanwho is lauded for creating a newstyle and setting a new direction in American prose.Hemingway received the Nobel Prize in Literaturein 1954, just one year after winning the PulitzerPrize.Throughoutthe unit (seefig. 1), students askedthemselves, "What can I learn about writing fromHemingway?" And they learned a great deal. Theylearnedthe value of economy in languageand the im-portance of what lies beneath the surfaceof a story.They learned the power of first lines and the impactof juxtaposinga long, serpentinesentence and ashort,emphatic one. They learned that "good dialogue en-compasses both what is said and what is not said"(Lamott 67). And they learned the challenge of cre-ating characterswho resemblepeople, not caricatures.Reminiscent of the writers who gatheredin GertrudeStein's salon in the 1920s, students met in writinggroups of four or five for a variety of activities. Inpreparation orour finalCoffeeHouse, they compiledtheir work in a Hemingway Portfolio, a documenta-tion of their apprenticeshipto a master.

    HemingwayTalksIt is the firstdayof Reading the Writer'sCraft.With-out preface,I instruct students to jot down everythingthey knowaboutHemingway.A few begin scribbling.

    English Journal Vol. 94, No. 1 September 2004 59

    This content downloaded from 123.49.46.143 on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:39:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

    http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    3/8

    Reading the Writer's Craft: The Hemingway Short Stories

    I prompt the rest to recallbook titles, movies, rumors,anything they know-whether fact or fiction, docu-mentation orhearsay. f they drawa blank, I tell themto write questions. Each student then readsaloud oneitem while the others add to their lists: "I think weread a shortstory by Hemingway last yearformy En-glish final." "He lived in Paris, but I believe he'sAmerican." "What books did he write?" "He com-mitted suicide." "Why is he so famous?"I then askstudents to sealtheirpapers n an envelope,which willbecome the first artifactin their Hemingway Portfo-lio, to be revisited at the end of the unit.

    FIGURE. Unit Overview

    Lesson1 MEETHEMINGWAY"HemingwayTalks";EstablishWriters'Groups;IntroduceUnitel Everything I Know about Hemingway ...Lesson2 WRITING PPRENTICESMoreon Hemingway-The Man versus he MythMetaphor-Myself as a Writere DearMrs.GarriguesLesson3 READING PPRENTICESInto"TheSnows of Kilimanjaro"Text-Cutting,Line-Swapping xerciseLessons4-6 CRACKINGPENTHEWRITER'SRAFT"TheSnowsof Kilimanjaro"Hemingway's tyle;HemingwayRules!;Symbols n "Snows"' The Long and the Short of It& Extra!Extra!newspaper tory)Lessons7-9 SCENE NDDIALOGUE"ACleanWell-Lighted lace"TheIcebergPrinciple;taged Readinge Talking boutDialogueLessons10-12 CHARACTERNDMOTIVATION"TheKillers"Portrait f a Charactere Characters rePeople-Not PaperDollsLessons13-14 TO TELL R NOTTO TELL"Fathers nd Sons"The Ethics f AiringFamily ecrets-Debate

    4 TheFinalPaperAssignedLessons15-17 BEGINNINGSND ENDINGS"TheShortHappyLifeof FrancisMacomber"FamousFirstLines;The ShortStoryDefinedC Portfolio PreparationLessons18-20 COFFEE OUSEGallery f HemingwayPortfoliose VideoViewing

    e IndicateswritingassignmentNote:Theunit covered wentyone-hour essonsspanningfive weeks.

    Now the class is readyto "meet"Hemingway.I distribute to each student one quote gleaned fromthe author'sfiction, nonfiction, personalletters, andinterviews on the subject of writing (see LarryPhillips's collection ErnestHemingway n Writing ormore quotations):

    All my life I've looked at words as though Iwere seeing them for the first time .... (7)The most essential gift for a good writer is abuilt-in, shockproof,shit detector.... (8)[WIhatever success I have had has beenthrough writing what I know about.... (21)Prose is architecture,not interiordecoration.... (72)

    I ask students to "talk back"to their quotes in a ten-minute quickwrite, the first of many such im-promptu assignments during which they writespontaneously,without stopping to plan oredit. "Doyou agree or disagree with the quote? How does itrelate to you as a writer? As an athlete, musician,student? What does it tell you about Hemingway?"Meeting in their writing groups for the first time,students debate the quotes and then go home to un-cover three facts about Hemingway from three dif-ferentsources-ideally, information that will answersome of the questions raised in class.

    The Man versusthe MythStudyof anauthor's ife almost always lluminatesourunderstandingof atext, but it is especiallyimportantwhen I am asking students to view Hemingway as amentor.I want them to see the writerbehind thewrit-ing: a man whose life created as much of a sensationas did his fiction. A boxer and fisherman;wartimecorrespondentandwarhero;bullfight aficionadoandsafarigame hunter;heavydrinkerandnotoriouswom-anizer;resident of Paris, Havana,Key West, and SunValley-Hemingway, barrel-chestedand ebullient,was, at six feet tall, largerthan life. No wonder it isdifficult at times, as one biographerpointed out, toseparate he myth from the man (Burgess5). BeneathHemingway's public image of courage and valorwas an insidious fear of death. Behind the mask ofmachismo was an obsession with unmanliness. Be-neath his swaggering bravadowas a perennialworry

    60 September 004

    This content downloaded from 123.49.46.143 on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:39:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

    http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    4/8

    Lisa Garrigues

    that as a writer he was washed up. I imagine TomRomano had Hemingway in mind when he wrote,"writersmust be brave.They don't face lions on theSerengeti. But they will face doubt, anxiety, fear-psychological carnivores hat prey upon confidence"(30). FromHemingway's ife, we know about the fearshe faced.But from the great body of work he left be-hind, we know, too, that he was brave.

    Writing ApprenticesReading the Writer'sCraft is as much about the stu-dents as it is about the master. Before beginning"The Snows of Kilimanjaro,"Hemingway's favoriteand most autobiographical story,I invite students toconstructa metaphorthat describes hem as writers orillustratestheirwriting process.In "Snows," hey willencountermetaphorscraftedby Hemingway to char-acterize the protagonist, a failed writer who hasabandonedhis craft to live a life of leisure.Harryfirstrationalizes that he was a spy in the country of therich, intending one day to write about them; thenhe admits that he has gone soft, like a middle-aged,overweight fighter who has "destroyedhis talent bynot using it" (Hemingway 11). Fornow, I read aloudmy metaphor as a model: "I was born with a pen inmy hand. It dangles like a cigarette between my fin-gers, rolling overmy writer'scallus, leaving a writer'ssmudge. After all these years, I need it the waysmokers need nicotine. I need it to think. I need itto remember. I need it to know. I need it to makemy mark on the world as the world leaves its markson me.

    Students now read their metaphors in writinggroups. Colette is a car trying to start on a winter'sday. Jack is a ruler. Suzanne is vapor. Madeleine isfireworks. Bryan is a bear in hibernation. Miles is apair of eyeglasses. Kyrais a snail. In a class of thirty,no two metaphors arealike.Metaphor, wrote MaryCatherine Bateson, "isendlessly fertile and involves constant learning. Agood metaphorcontinues to instruct"(135). And soI instruct students to use their metaphorsfor the firstmajor writing assignment, a personal letter ad-dressed to me introducing themselves as writers.Here areexcerpts from their letters:

    > "All of my writing is for school, andthereforeI do not enjoy most of it."

    > "I am a horrific writer. The truth is I'mjealous of people who can write with ease."

    > "Myfriend loaned me OnWritingby StephenKing. That book gave me the confidence towrite forever."

    > "Once I mastered the alphabet, there was noturning back. I literally devoured all thebooks that came acrossmy fingertips."

    > "Ido not like to readmy writing aloud whenit pertains to something personal. Half theclass doesn't understand and the other halfdoesn't seem to care."> "In school I find it exceptionally difficult towrite. But at home, in my journal, I can sitand write for hours!"> "Iwant to write a book one day."> "I just want to make it to graduation."

    Since much of what we know about writers comesfrom reading their personal letters, letter writingseems an appropriateway to begin.

    Throw Away the RulesWe arealreadydeep in our reading of "Snows"whenI turn students' attention fromstoryto craft.From hisearly yearsas a newspaper reporter,Hemingway de-veloped a set of rules every writer would be well-advised to follow. I do not want to ask students toadopt a new set of rules, however, before liberatingthem from the old ones. I tell students to write downfive to ten rules of writing, rules that sit on theirshoulder and squawk while they write. Neverbeginasentence ith a conjunction. everenda sentencewith a preposition.Write in completeentences-norun-ons, o ragments, o ists. Al-ways write romyourownexperi-ence.Neverwrite n the irstperson.Reading the rules aloud makesus laugh. At best, they soundarbitrary;at worst, contradic-tory. I place a dented metalgarbage can in the middle ofthe room and invite students to crumple up theirpages and throw them away.They glance at me ques-tioningly. They giggle. "Go ahead,"I assure them."Throw away the rules." One by one, they ball up

    BeneathHemingway'spublic mageof courageandvalorwasaninsidious earof death.Behindhemaskofmachismowas anobssessionwithunmanliness.

    English Journal 61

    This content downloaded from 123.49.46.143 on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:39:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

    http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    5/8

    Reading the Writer's Craft: The Hemingway Short Stories

    their papers and toss them into the garbage. Nowthey arereadyto considerHemingway's rules.

    Cracking Open the Writer's CraftHemingway masteredprecisionand economy in lan-guage because he strived to convey, through a con-strained and stoic style, the sense of alienation anddisillusionment of the times. "Butwhat accounts fora writer's style?" I ask. "And what distinguishes

    Hemingway's style from thatof other authors?" Style, ac-cording to M. H. Abrams, is awriter's "mannerof linguisticexpression"-that is, "how awritersayswhateverit is"he orshe wants to say(190; italics inoriginal). To answer the how,students work in pairs to analyze several passagesfrom "The Snows of Kilimanjaro,"considering three

    key elements: word choice, sentence structure, anddescriptive language. Each pair then drafts threerules Hemingway might have taped to his type-writer (see fig. 2).These rules become the first of an evolving listof lessons students learn from Hemingway aboutwriting (see fig. 3). They also serve as the rubric forthe firstassignment to model the master,a newspaperobituary or press releaseinspired by their reading of

    "Snows."Whether studentsultimately adoptorrejectHemingway's rules is not important. The deliberateact of analyzing and emulating another writer'scraftis the first step towarddeveloping their own style.

    The Long and the Short of ItJust when students are beginning to understandHemingway'scondensed,clipped style, they discoverthat the author breaks his own rules. Although hewas a master of the short, simple sentence, Hem-ingway alsohad apenchantfor the long, labyrinthinesentence, in some casesan entireparagraph ong. Theclass considers this example toward the end of "TheSnows of Kilimanjaro":

    Thentheybeganto climb andtheyweregoing tothe East t seemed,and then it darkened ndtheywere n astorm, herain o thick it seemed ikefly-ing throughawaterfall, ndthentheywereout andCompieturnedhis headandgrinnedandpointedandthere,ahead,all he couldsee,as wideasall theworld,great,high, andunbelievablywhite in thesun,wasthe square op of Kilimanjaro.Andthenhe knewthattherewaswherehe wasgoing. (Hem-ingway27)"That'sa run-on sentence!"Jason blurts out. I handhim my dog-eared copy of Abrams'sGlossary fLiter-aryTerms nd ask him to readaloud from the bottom

    FIGURE. Hemingway's StyleEverywriterhas his or herown style. Itis whatdistin-guishesHemingwayromHardyromShakespeare.Butwhat exactly s style? Style sa writer'smannerof lin-guisticexpression-that is,how a writer ayswhateverit is that he or she says.Justas manyfactorscontributeto a person'sndividualtyle(theclothes he wears,thecut of herhair), o a varietyof elements account orawriter's tyle.Analyzeselectedpassages rom "TheSnowsofKilimanjaro."sing he worksheetbelow,considerHemingway'sreatmentof threekeyelementsofstyle:diction(wordchoice),sentencestructure,and descriptive r figurative anguage.Basedonyour findings,draft hreerules hat mighthavegoverned Hemingway'swriting-rules he mighthave kepton his desk nextto the typewriter.Diction: Lookcloselyat the words.Arethey floridor plain,eruditeorordinary,ague orstraightforward?Do you need a dictionaryo understandhem? Look

    at the partsof speech:Do nouns and verbspredomi-nate? Aretheremanyadjectives?How wouldyoudescribe he verbs?Is thererepetition f words?Finally,wouldyou describe he passageas "wordy"or concise?Rule#1:Sentencestructure:Lookcloselyat the sentences.Are most of the sentences ongorshort?Simpleorcomplex?How arethey connected?Is there avarietyof sentences?Do the sentences have rhythm?Rule#2:Descriptive r figurativeanguage:Wouldyou describeHemingway'swritingas heavyon description?Does heuse manymetaphors rsimiles?Doeshe relyon adjec-tives to describe he characters ndthe setting?Ifnot,how does he createpictureswithwords?Rule #3:

    Thedeliberate ct ofanalyzingndemulatinganotherwriter's rafts

    the firststeptowarddevelopingheirownstyle.

    62 September 004

    This content downloaded from 123.49.46.143 on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:39:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

    http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    6/8

    Lisa Garrigues

    FIGURE. Hemingway Rules! A Compilation of Students' RulesDuringhisearlyyearsas ajournalist,Hemingwaydis-covered "the best rulesever learned or the businessof writing" Gottesmanet al. 1666). Later,he adaptedthese rules o fiction. Over the next few weeks, wewillreadseveralHemingway hort stories with an eyetowardcrackingopen the writer's raft. As you read,make a list of all the rulesand lessonsyou learnaboutwriting romHemingway.Someyou willadopt;othersyou willreject.The deliberateact of analyzinganotherwriter's raft s the firststep towarddevelopingyourown style.

    1. Usesimple,everydaywords.2. Useshort,simplesentences.3. Beginwith a shortfirstparagraph.4. Beconcise.Cutyourwordsand cut them again.5. Avoidadjectives.6. Usevividverbs.

    7. Juxtaposea long, paratacticentencewith a short,emphaticone.8. Use metaphorsand similes paringly.9. Repeatwordsforemphasis.10. Bespecific.Includedetails.11. Show,don't tell.

    12. Dare o begin in the middle.13. Writeon the principle f the iceberg,with seven-eighthsof the storysubmerged.14. Write hort,compresseddialogue hat encom-passesbothwhat is said and what is not said.15. Avoiddialogueguidesthat drawattention; ry"naked"dialogue.16. Createrealcharacters ut don't write aboutrealpeople.17. Writewhat you know.

    of page 191. "Aparatactic style is one in which thememberswithin a sentence,orelsea sequenceof com-plete sentences, areput one after the other withoutany expressionof their connection or relationsexcept(at most) the noncommittal connective, 'and"' em-phasisin original).Sounds technical.Jasoncontinues,"Hemingway's style is characteristicallyparatactic"(191). The classwakesup. Rereadingthe excerpt,weagreethat it is aprime exampleof the paratactic tyle.But we also notice how the long first sentence is fol-lowed by a short one: "And then he knew that therewas where he was going." The short sentence comesunexpectedly, ike a punch. Pow! Harryis dead.Forpractice, students select a topic and writethe longest sentence they can, letting the rhythm ofthe words dictate the punctuation, followed by ashort sentence. I offer this example: "Shesat at theedge of the hard-backed chair, the wooden hips ofthe instrument snug between her knees, and grip-ping the frog of the bow in herright hand she placedher left fingers on the ebony board, the steel stringscutting lines in her callouses, and then, for a second,blinded by the glare of the stage lights, she couldnot remember the melody, the old terrorrising andparalyzing. And then the conductor lifted thebaton." The poet Georgia Heard wrote, "My highschool English teachertaught me never to write longsentences. ... But sometimes writers need to break

    all the rules they were taught in school" (126). Notsurprisingly, The Long and the Short of It was formany students the most liberating assignment.

    Informed about FormThe class studies one aspectof Hemingway's style foreveryshortstorywe read.By the time we turnto "TheShort Happy Life of Francis Macomber,"studentsknow the shortstorythe wayNick Adams in "Fathersand Sons" knows quail country, from having beenthere. This is how writers become informed aboutform:they readandstudyagiven form until they soakup its patterns and rhythms.Writers are "takersapart,"said Donald Mur-ray,but they are also "putter-togetherers" 142). Forfour weeks students have takenapart Hemingway, dissectingand analyzing discrete ele-ments of his craft. Now theyhave two opportunities to puttogether all that they havelearned: first, in a writing en-gagement that demonstratestheir knowledge of Hemingway's style (see fig. 4);and second, in the Hemingway Portfolio, a compi-lation of all the material generated throughout theunit. Introduced by a PersonalStatement of 300 to

    This is how writersbecome informedaboutform:they read andstudya given form untiltheysoak up its patternsand rhythms.

    English Journal 63

    This content downloaded from 123.49.46.143 on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:39:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

    http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    7/8

    Reading the Writer's Craft: The Hemingway Short Stories

    500 words, the Portfolio documents students'progress as writers and experiences as students ofHemingway.

    The Coffee HouseIn the spirit of the poets and writersof Hemingway'stime, we culminate the unit with a Coffee House,during which students read aloud one selection fromtheir Hemingway Portfolio.Jared readsa humorousquickwrite beginning, "When I think of my brother,it is always his beer belly," inspired by a line in "Fa-

    thers and Sons" in which the narratorwrites abouthis father'seyes. Susan readsa dialogue between twolovers in which the woman wants to break off the en-gagement but never brings herself to say it. Markreads a charactersketch inspired by a man he ob-served in Barnes and Noble, incorporating into thefictional account ten "real"details. Afterwards,stu-dents browse our Gallery of Hemingway Portfoliosin search of the most alluring cover,the most candidPersonalStatement, the most memorable lines, andthe most "Hemingway-esque" writing sample. Wedevote the last class to viewing an award-winning

    FIGURE. The FinalPaperFor he finalpaper, ou maychoose one of the followingengagements,oryou mayproposean alternativessign-mentforapproval yme. (Note: he choiceswithasterisksequirehe inclusion f a reflection aragraph,about 300 words, nwhichyou muststateyourmethod-ology, ntentions, ndconclusions.) hefinalpaper sintended o give you anopportunityo synthesize ndreflecton allthatyou havelearnedduring hisunit.The finalpaperwillbe graded or (1) conventionalexcellence(neatness,accuracy,orm),(2) acquiredknowledge(Howmuch haveyou learnedaboutHemingway,hiswriting tyle,and hisfiction?),(3) analysisandsynthesis(Howwell do you analyzeindividualtoriesandsynthesizeyourfindings ntoacoherentwhole?),and(4) insight(Whatconclusions,connections, nsightshaveyou drawn romyour studyof Hemingway?).Your apermust be proofread,double-spaced,and typed.ThematicEssay.Certain hemes recur n Hemingway'sshortstories.Trace ne major hemethroughat leastthreeof the storieswe have read. ConsiderhowHemingway's se of symbolsreinforces he theme,how certaincharactersmbodythe theme,and howhiswriting tylesupports he theme. Possible hemesto explore nclude he Hemingwaymale,pendingdeath,the rich, ostdreams,wastedtalent,the conflictof youthwithage, courage nthe face of fear.Stylistic nterpretation. hetitleof this unit s Readingthe Writer'sCraft. na discussionof two or moreHemingway hortstories,explore he ways in whichHemingway'styleof writing-particular lementsofhis craft-elucidates histhemes,furthers he "plot,"anddevelopsthe characters.ShortStory. Authoryourown shortstory,usingHemingwayas a mentorand a model.Youmightexperimentwithcertain lements of his craftorstyle.Youmightexplorea recurringHemingwayheme. Youmightincorporateome of the symbolsorcharacterswe have met in Hemingway'shortstories.

    Parody. Writea parodyof the Hemingway hortstory.(Aparody sa literarywork nwhichthe styleof anauthororwork sclosely mitated orcomiceffector inridicule.)Caution:Topokefun at something,you mustknow itwell. Justas a caricaturexaggerates he mostsalient eaturesof a person,a parody apturesandmagnifies he keyelementsof a storyorstyle.Yourparodymust show evidenceof your understandingfHemingway'shemes and/or characters s well as keyelements of his craft.Newspaper.*Hemingway'styleemergedfrom hisexperienceas a journalist.ProducePageOne of aHemingwaynewspaper.Yourarticles hould drawonbiographicalmaterial f Hemingway'sifeas well asmaterialrom at least three short stories.Your hal-lenge is to turnkeyelementsof the fictional toriesintothe stuff of current vents. Besureto followHemingway's ulesof writing.Youmayincludecartoonsand/or illustrations.Playscript In a numberof Hemingway'shortstories,the reader omes to know the characters irectlyromtheirdialoguesand monologueson a well-conceived"stage."Rewrite ne suchstoryas a playscriptexcep-tion:you mayNOTchoose "AClean,Well-LightedPlace" ince we dramatizedhisstory nclass).Theplayscriptmust nclude tagedirections, tage sets,props,costumes,music,andso forth.CrossConversations. Createan imaginary onversa-tion between yourself,Hemingway, nd at least threecharacters romthree different tories. Createafictionalcontext for the conversation: dinnerparty,a talkshow, a trainride. Theconversation houldexplorekey Hemingway hemes (andsymbols)and re-flect the essence or primary truggleof each character.Itmightalso addressstylisticconsiderations.Likean essay, yourconversationmust have a workableshape anddirection,with an introduction, limax,conclusion,and transitions.

    64 September 004

    This content downloaded from 123.49.46.143 on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:39:18 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

    http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
  • 7/30/2019 Hemingway (1)

    8/8

    Lisa Garrigues

    film biographyof Hemingway (Stacy).With ten min-utes to go, I invite students to open the envelope theysealedon the first dayof class,when they wrote downeverything they knew about Hemingway. Readingtheir firstquickwrite, students are astoundedby howmuch they know now.I tell students that, for five weeks, we havebeen following a prescription Hemingway wrote in1925 in a letter to E Scott Fitzgerald, advice Hem-ingway himself followed all his yearsas a writer. "Ithink you should learn about writing," he advised,"fromeverybodywho has ever written that has any-thing to teach you" (Phillips 91). With the knowl-edge that students now know how to apprenticethemselves to an author-how to readthat writer'scraft-I hold up whatever texts are on my desk and,in the words of Natalie Goldberg, I say, "These areyour mentors. Authors can take you through yourwhole writing life" (108-09).WorksCitedAbrams, M. H. A Glossaryof LiteraryTerms. th ed. NewYork:Holt, 1981.Bateson,MaryCatherine.Peripheral isions: earninglong heWay.New York:Harper,1994.Burgess, Anthony. ErnestHemingway nd His World.NewYork:Scribner's,1978.Goldberg,Natalie. Thunder ndLightning:CrackingOpenhe

    Writer's raft.New York:Bantam,2000.Gottesman, Ronald,et al., eds. TheNortonAnthology fAmer-ican Literature. ol. 2. New York:Norton, 1979.Heard,Georgia. WritingowardHome:Tales ndLessonsoFindYourWay.Portsmouth:Heinemann, 1995.Hemingway,Ernest. TheSnows f Kilimanjarond Other to-ries.New York:Scribner,1986.Lamott,Anne. BirdbyBird:Some nstructionsnWriting ndLife.New York:Anchor,1994.Milner, osephO'Beirne, ndLucyFloydMorcockMilner,eds. BridgingEnglish.2nd ed. Upper Saddle River:Merrill, 1999.Murray,Donald M. Write oLearn.3rded. FortWorth:Holt,1990.Phillips, LarryW., ed. ErnestHemingway n Writing.New

    York:Scribner's,1984.Romano, Tom. Writingwith Passion:Life Stories,MultipleGenres.Portsmouth:Boynton/Cook,1995.StacyKeach sHemingway. ir. BernhardSinkel.Wellspring,1988.

    SCORESSAYSfI HrIe

    WorkefomhomSendse

    your own schedule.

    S.l

    Peasn *ducational Measurement is i nee

    a p p l y p l e a s ewwwcareermapping.comscoreessaP E A R S O N

    I - A l i c a l l ( l i m lN i c a s i l l - r i l i c i l l

    E89s'.'.teDrvPearsoni 0I~Educaion is 0committ ed toemploi ngis auiverse

    workfore WeareanqualOpprtuity Empoyr

    Lisa Garrigues developed the idea of Reading he Writer'sCraftwhile eachingat RidgewoodHighSchool nRidgewood,NewJersey. hecurrentlyeaches coursesand leadsworkshopsincreativewritingand memoir. mail:[email protected].

    EnglishJournal 65

    This content downloaded from 123.49.46.143 on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:39:18 AM

    http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp