Scarica Ernest Hemingway and Kerouac: Two Literary Giants and Their Literary Journeys e più Appunti in PDF di Italiano solo su Docsity! HEMINGWAY (1899-1961): Born in Illinois, he spent his childhood doing outdoor activities growing his passion for nature. He started his career working as a reporter for a local journal, an experience that helped him learn the rigorous rules of objective writing, without the use of unnecessary words. When America entered Worl War I he tried to serve as a soldier, but a defective eye didn’t let him do that, so he was sento on the Italian front as an ambulance driver, where he was severely wounded and rewarder with a medal. In Paris he joined the group of expatriate writers, the lost generation, led by Stein and Pound. In his first novel, IN our time, he recollected his childhoos experiences; in The sun also rises he showed his love for exotic backgrounds and extreme situation which make one’s virtues such as courage and comradeship emerge. In 1929 he published A farewell to arms, a love story set in the horrible war. He beacame a correspondent for an american news agency in the spanish civil war, wrote numerous novels and got the nobel prize for llterature in 154. He got sick with diabetes and acute depression and he suicided in 1961. He rarely wrote in an explicit biographical way, but all his novels are full of life experiences that starts as personal to become universal. The childhood encounter with nature is seen as a struggle against nature where manis rewarded for fighting using skills and courage: life and death are the misterious forces who lead existence; life is a codified set of actions which allows man to have measure of his control over events; death is the nothingness beyond this actions. Hem. was always fascinated by death, and most of his novels end with the protagonist’s suicide: the trauma of the war was the source of many of his writings, and put himself to face the will of taking risks to give a meaning to his life. His hero is modeled on his exeperiences and is the same in every book. He loves being outdoor but not as a primitve man, he is sensitive but lives in chaos and pain, he wants to be braver doing his best over stressful situations. In contrast to this common hero there’s the code hero, who can live beyond the reach of other humans, honourable and courageous he can face death and difficulties with dignity providing an example of behaviour. His aim was to reach the knowledge of his own identity projecting life experiences through a dry, essential and primitive style with brief dialogues and descriprtions: his characters are revealed with dialogues that evoke a specific mood, there is little introspection and psychological analysis , but his prose creates big emotions. A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1929): It’s the story of an american ambulance driver, Lieutenant Frederick, on the italian front, where he falls in love with a nourse, Chaterine. They meet again in mIlan hospital where he is sent for being wounded: he decides to desert the army after Caporetto to b with Ctaherine who gets pregnant; they escape to switzerland where she dies giving birth to a baby who also dies. The main theme is war, that the protagonist tries to leave behind: Charahcters are ambivalent about war: it causes terrible destruction and they know it, being also doubtful about the glory fighting should bring, therefore there are a lot of vivid brutal descriptions of violence, such as the italian army retreat. The novel doesn’t condemn war, beacuse it is considered inevitable and the outcome of a cruel and senseless world that can’t preserve true love. It is followed by the protagonist and brings him temporary happiness, overwheliming any consideration of honour, glory and abstract ideals. But the tragedy of war can’t let genuine love persist long term: even other values such as loyalty are seen in the perspective of love. There is a frist person narrator, and he recollects being full of noble ideals when he joined the army but then they failed after terrible experiences. The language is symple but the reader has to undestrand the meaning of the sotry, only revealed through suggestions and direct speeches. KEROUAC (1922-1969): Born in Massachusetts, he decided to be a wrtiter after his young brother’s death, he developed a catholic faith that lead to his spiritual tendency of being a spiritual seeker. He chronicled the rebellious culture of the beats in the 50s and 60s for a more tolerant american society; at the end of the war he travelled across the US being friends with ginsberg and the intellectual cassidy, creating the beat movement. Cassidy’s lack of inhibitions, enthusiasm and excitement, make Kerouac idolize him as a hero. They started togheter a journey crossing america inspiring on the road, where he chronicled their experiences. With the publication of this novel in 1957 he started his success and the book became the
