The conflict between romanticism and realism in three of Hemingway's novels

Other Title(s)

الصراع بين الرومانسية و الواقعية عند همنغواي

Dissertant

Abd al-Mahmud, al-Taj al-Nur

Thesis advisor

Babikir, Yusuf Umar

University

Omdurman Islamic University

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

Department

Department of English Language and Literature

University Country

Sudan

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2009

English Abstract

This is a critical study of three of Hemingway’s most accomplished novels،namely A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.

The choice of these novels from amongst Hemingway’s tremendous heritage of literary works stems from the fact that they represent three different political and social eras in the United States as well as in Europe.

In addition، these three novels are believed to correspond to different stages in Hemingway’s literary career.

This study focuses on the aforesaid eras and views them as effective factors upon fiction in general، and upon Hemingway، as a novelist، in particular.

Also، these three novels have acquired special significance from the periods of time they belong to.

In them, is reflected the development of style innovation and the display of the contrasting views relating to the issue of realism versus romanticism، which is the core of the study.

As for style, Hemingway expresses his rejection to what he calls ‘flowery’ language by adopting simple and direct language.

However, he exploits his 'new' style to let his characters speak frankly about themselves and about their needs0, too. A Farewell to Arms (published in 1929) belongs to the late 1920s, the period of time between the two world wars, which witnessed great world events, such as, the Great Depression (the economical crisis) in the United States, many troubles and conflicts in Europe as well as the emergence of new ideological movements like Nazism and Fascism. The second novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls ( published in 1940) reflects troubled situations relating to different places in Europe in general, and the Spanish Civil War in particular.

The novel also reflects a true prelude for the mass destruction caused by the second World War. The third novel, The Old Man and the Sea, represents Hemingway’s philosophy towards life and his universal understanding of the nature of things that many of us do not care about.

It also represents the struggle of man in search of survival from a humanitarian point of view. It is believed that a major aspect of this study, is the amazing technique which Hemingway adopted to create two parallel moods in order to present two contrasting characters, romantic and realistic .

Each type talks about his dreams, his ambitions and his future.

However, dreams and ambitions are relative concepts which swing between romantic and realistic way of thinking.

These novels obviously show Hemingway’s skill of exploiting personal experiences within the framework of universal events, and this may well help in understanding man’s simple and ordinary personal dream in confrontation with magnified conceptions such as ‘patriotism’, ‘self-denial’, ‘sacrifice’ etc.

However, it is confounding that Hemingway، who is known for his report-like style, presents very romantic characters to parallel his genuine realistic ones.

Here is where the conflict between romanticism and realism arises.

A conflict that does not affect the coherence of the unity of the fictional work but enriches its personal, social and political dimensions.

Such conflicting views are represented in their full images in the disputed interests between politicians and military leaders on the one hand, and the ordinary people and the ‘big’ theorists on the other .

The study attempts to clearly prove that Hemingway is not only a master of realism as he is always labeled, but he is a romantic writer, too.

Hemingway’s romanticism derives from his special concern about personal details as well as his ability to make his characters speak about themselves and their needs very openly.

As for realism, Hemingway’s mastery of this approach is attributed to his directness and the plain linguistic choices he uses.

Accordingly, the conflict that results is an integrated image of human paradoxes in terms of love, war, death, survival and other Hemingwayian themes. Romantic views are placed versus realistic ones in this study to draw a clearer contrast between them, hence, it appears like a painting with many interpenetrated colours.

The main ‘two coulors’، as they appear، are his romance and his realism.

Hemingway, as he is usually expected to, allows his characters to reveal what they suppress, but sometimes he lets them suppress their feelings more than they reveal them .

Interestingly, both the situations are vividly stamped on the reader’s mind .

And this may well show.

Hemingway’s genius of mixing reality with imagination and dreams.

His characters are from all walks of life, so his transcendentalism and anticlimaxes are due to the wide variety of personalities he exploits in his writing .

Hemingway’s contrast display of romantic views in confrontation with his realistic ones proves him to be a master of romanticism as he has already been a master of realism .

Hemingway, therefore, is unarguably a romantic-realistic writer who employs the contrasts and makes them explain each other.

Main Subjects

Literature

Topics

• Psychology
• Realism
• United States
• Twentieth century
• Literature
• Fiction

No. of Pages

149

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-363369