"objective correlative" of emotion.
This objectifying in Hemingway
goes very far. I t is as if he were
a too-literal student of some early
physical scientist, overskeptical
about what he can learn. The ab–
stention from analysis, deduction,
conjecture, the bold hunch–
these risks which are taken by the
great scientist, too--in favor of a
minute noting of symptoms, has a
certain animal simplicity, grace,
and power. But even the most
graceful and powerful bull hangs
from a very small head, which he
uses mainly for battering, and little
of what one bull learns needs to
be passed on to another. He has
opted for a pathetic lowering of
the eyes, a doomed charge, a sword
in the heart, and an occasional
chance to gore before thumping
in the dust with his life running
out. EI pobre toro! His head ad–
mits not enough to understanding.
A passion for objectifying emo–
tion through physical sensation
and act spins off to mania in the
lesser work of Hemingway and in
his fleas. The details become more
and more ritual; the general emo–
tion and sense which is supposed
to emerge from the details has to
be supplied entirely by the read–
er. In its own way, this is a highly
'literary' manner, depending on
knowledge of other stories, other
stages in the life of the maestro,
rather than on the work at hand
itself:
"It
was hot. He took a
cigarette. It was very hot. He took
a drink. He went upstairs. Christ,
it
was
hot."
You will enjoy in
midstream
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