Hemingway and Faulkner Two Sides of the Modernist Coin

Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner are two literary craftsmen of extraordinary power; both are influential modernists who won the Nobel Prize (Faulkner 1949; Hemingway 1954). Many of their works deal with similar themes (father-son relationships, anti-war, troubled love, the importance of proper hunting, and the impending loss of meaningful values but the -triumph of the human spirit”) – and yet their narrative strategies are in important ways diametrically opposed. Hemingway’s writing appears to be paratactic and linear, with few constructed symbols, whereas Faulkner’s is hypotactic with complex narrative embedding, intertextuality, and overt symbolism. Furthermore, Hemingway’s major European component and the Lost Generation expatriatism contrast with Faulkner’s emphasis on race relations in the American South and the burden of history. We will try to understand how they can both be considered -modernist” authors. In addition to selected short stories – some of the finest in American literature! – we will read Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea, as well as Faulkner’s novella The Bear (the five-part version, if we feel strong) in their entirety; excerpts from Faulkner's The Wild Palms [If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem] will be significant, since this book is a form of -writing back- to Hemingway's Farewell to Arms. Film adaptation clips, especially from the sensitive screen version of Faulkner's Intruder in the Dust, will add an additional dimension to the seminar discussions. Please purchase any edition (new or used) of Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (the new 2012 edition with Hemingway's 47 versions of the ending costs 18 € - it's not necessary to purchase this, but it would be fascinating!) as well as his novella The Old Man and the Sea (I recommend the little Reclam edition for ca. 3 €). All of the other texts, including Faulkner's -The Bear- will be contained in the seminar reader. Anglistik - Sprachpraxis Universität Siegen WiSe 2012/13 Ph.D. Waegner Cathy Ph.D