Ernest Hemingway's Influence On American Literature

Ernest Hemingway had a significant influence on twentieth-century fiction, and most of his works are considered classics today. His work is best known for his minimalist style, accessibility to readers, and for his powerful, style-forming mastery of the art of narration. His works also paved the way for future writers to use the style of Hemingway. Ernest Hemingway influenced American literature through his writing style, use of character, and his symbolism. Ernest Hemingway is widely recognized as one of the most skillful authors of literary minimalism. Literary minimalism focuses mainly on the surface description of a topic and avoids the use of adverbs, thus allowing the context contained in a writing to dictate meaning. Hemingway started this minimalist style early in his career as a journalist for the Kansas City Star newspaper. It was his responsibility to write concisely using minimal words and space. “The paper’s style guide gave him a template for succinctness and clarity that would stay with him forever” (Stodola 133). As Hemingway subsequently developed as a journalist and began writing short stories, he continued …show more content…
In his writings, Hemingway utilized descriptions of nature and environment for the moments he felt it important to express a character’s emotions in his story. For example, in the book “A Farewell to Arms” the use of rain symbolized death and the use of snow represented new hope in the lives of the characters. Hemingway’s style of writing provided guidance to subsequent writers in the ability to input nature, weather or other environmental conditions into their works to symbolize a character being affected by such surroundings. Through the imagery of natural symbols, Hemingway helped lure the reader into the emotional intentions which Hemingway wanted the reader to perceive and interpret in the