Hemingway's works are full of hard and cold elements, like a piece of ice that refuses to melt, shining cold light in readers' hearts and penetrating into the chill of bone marrow.
For whom the bell tolls, there is probably no one like it in the literary world. Reading his works sometimes feels like reading an expository article, dry and without any feelings. But his narrative is extremely detailed and accurate, and he can repeat the same thing with the words.
In Why Read Classics, Calvino commented on Hemingway: "The hero in Hemingway's novels likes to identify with his behavior, and become himself in his whole behavior, in the dexterity of his hands or at least in his commitment to reality. He tries not to have other problems and troubles, except knowing how to do things well: being good at fishing, hunting, bombing bridges, watching bullfighting with the most expert eyes, and being good at making love. "
"Big Two-hearted River" describes Nick's two-day activities, Hemingway's language style is vividly displayed, and Nick's actions can be clearly "seen" from the text. The Great River with Two Hearts is the best interpretation of Calvino's viewpoint. There is no superfluous action, no superfluous thoughts, no superfluous words, and even no involuntary soliloquy or meaningless muttering when ordinary people are alone. If people are removed, this novel can be called "North American Fishing Guide".
The hardness of Hemingway's works in words gives readers the feeling that it is almost a purely objective description, and it seems that there is no emotion in it.
Black Boy is another story in the Nick series, which tells the story of two killers from Chicago who go to samit Town to assassinate a former boxer. There are only a lot of dialogues, actions and scene descriptions in the story, no explanations, no comments and no psychological activities. At first reading, people are confused, even the target audience is not clear. After careful reading, I found a wily killer, a fledgling accomplice and a fugitive.
Hemingway's works are like icebergs because there is much more content between the lines of his works than the words themselves, which needs readers to explore carefully. Just like icebergs, only one-tenth of them can be seen on the water, and the remaining nine-tenths are hidden underwater, which deserves more attention.
The article "The Snow of Kilimanjaro" begins by saying: "There is a dead snow leopard near the west main peak. No one has explained what the snow leopard is looking for in such a high place. " The translation of "Snow Leopard" here is not accurate. Snow leopard is a special kind of leopard, which only exists in Central Asia. The article should refer to the African leopard, and it is more accurate to translate it into "leopard". Chekhov has a famous saying that the gun that appears in the first act is bound to start in the third act. Readers can't help thinking that this leopard must have some connection with a character in the story. Now you have been thinking about "Leopard" and continue reading, but before you know it, the hero has flown to the top of Kilimanjaro. In the whole story, the hero Harry skied, fought, watched bullfights and lied to women ... but it had nothing to do with the leopard.
According to my understanding, or this philosopher leopard is thinking hard about "leopard life" and comes to this place closest to the sky alone to find a different way; Or this proud leopard, as old and frail as Harry, is coming to the end of his life, but he doesn't want to rot in the wilderness or be buried in the stomachs of vultures and hyenas, so he came to this world of ice and snow alone; Or this brave leopard risked his life to chase prey, but unfortunately he was caught in an ice storm ... A thousand readers will have a thousand leopards in their hearts, but I think what they see is an active, brave and dignified beast, an upward force, which is in stark contrast to Harry's weakness and degeneration. But in Harry's heart, there is also such a leopard, and his soul also yearns for Kilimanjaro.
Hemingway's works are worth studying again and again, and every time you reread them, you will find different things.