Faulkner and Hemingway Essay

Introduction

Faulkner and Hemingway have been viewed as writers who have helped shape the ways in which authors write. Both are American writers who had the opportunity to gain recognition in the forms of awards such as the Nobel Prize and the Pulitzer prizes for fiction in 1955 and 1953 respectively. The two writers express their work in different writing styles. This could be traced back to their personal lives. They present some similarities in their works and personal lives. This research paper will discuss the history of both writers in an attempt to compare and contrast the lives of the two writers.

History

William Faulkner was born in the late nineteenth century 1897 in the town of New Albany in Mississippi. He is known for his works in writing short stories, novels, poems, and plays that began at the age of thirteen and ended at his death in 1962. Faulkner owed his artistic abilities largely to his up childhood and university education where he had studied literature he did not get his college degree a factor that led to his reference as uneducated person. He had several jobs ranging from being an air force trainee and a university teacher in the University of Mississippi. He was known for his expansive reading that evidenced in his works (Padgett, 2008). THE MARBLE FAUN was his first work that comprised of poems. It was not much of a success at the time but this did not deter his work as a writer. He won Nobel Prize in 1949 for his contributions to the writing of the American novel.

His greatest works were “The sounds and the fury” written in 1929, “As I lay dying” written in 1930 and “Light in August” written in 1932. The writer was recorded to have been married to one wife in 1929 a marriage that lasted his entire lifetime. William’s life ended in 1962 from a heart attack at the age of sixty-four. This happened at the sanatorium that he had been forced to visit by family members in an effort to cure his drinking problem. This had followed an injury he had obtained from a fall he had suffered while horse riding.

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American writer who lived in the period between 1899 and 1961. He was born in oak place in the town of Illinois. The climax of his writing was between the 1920’s and 1950. His key publications were in poetry, short stories and novel writing was influenced lifelong adventures and presentations as a public figure. The writer also worked as a reporter for the Kansas newspaper, the Kansas City stars. He also worked as a driver during the First World War a career that was short lived when he was wounded during the war. His first publication in 1925 was his novel, THE SUN ALSO RISES which he accomplished with the help of the modernist writers, the lost generation.

Hemingway personal life involved a series of short marriage and subsequent divorces. He had married and divorced four wives. The writer also suffered countless injuries acquired from a series of plane crashes during his safaris in Africa. He later suffered knee injuries following a road accident. These injuries culminated into a series of health problems such as blood pressure, migraine, and diabetes. The writer won the prestigious Nobel Prize in 1954 a decision that he welcomed only for the reward involved and not for the contributions he had made in writing. He was recorded as saying that the decision to award his work was reached because he had to deal with obituaries written in his regard. His deteriorating health saw him attend various clinics and therapy treatments at the mayo hospital. The writer shot himself and thus ending his life in 1961.

Faulkner versus Hemingway:

The two authors differed in their styles of writing. Faulkner was known as the writer who would use long sentences even as long as thirty-five pages. It is this unique style of writing that enable Faulkner to paint a picture of his thoughts in his reader’s minds. Literature analysts propose that this style of writing must have been utilized by the writer in the attempt to push him to the limit. The writer was known to have culminated his long hours of compiling work with a drinking spree.

Others relate his style of writing to the duration of his personal relationship especially with his wife that lasted until his death. Faulkner made use of his emotions while writing. The American southerner often wrote about issues of morality and social conventions. Faulkner just like Hemingway focused their writing to the continuity and the linking of future generations.

Hemingway used short sentences to relay his messages to his readers. This he achieved through the use of many basic words and short paragraphs. Analysts such as Louis gates suggest that Hemmingway’s style of writing resulted from his lost faith of the westerners during the First World War. His style of writing could also be related to his love for adventure and the nature of his personal life that was marked by short affairs. He also had a strong belief that the meaning would only be created to a reader if dialogues and silences about obvious matters were used. This was his strength in writing as it enabled the reader to recall his stories.

The writers also differed in the way they live their lives. Both were interested in serving the army during the First World War. Faulkner only managed to get as far as joining the royal air force training in Toronto before the war ended. Hemingway worked as an ambulance driver during the First World War and later acted as a reporter during the Second World War. Hemingway was exceedingly adventurous whereas, Faulkner was reserved to his Mississippi hometown.

Similarities

The writers’ work was based on human behaviour and deportment when faced with different degrees of nature’s forces. They are equally concerned with the manner in which people ought to conduct themselves when presented with the natural forces of nature. According to drake, Hemingway had a natural ease in describing the ordinary pleasures of life such as eating while Faulkner could offer an effective description of the changes in climatic conditions. Both writers were presented with the Nobel Prize for their literary works an event that paints a clear picture skill and expertise in literature.

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