19 Comments
User's avatar
Constantine Markides's avatar

Great compilation and weaving of quotes here. The last Hemingway quote sounds a lot like Orwell from (if I'm not mistaken) WHY I WRITE: "Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand."

Dylan O'Sullivan's avatar

Very much so, likeminds in their distrust of the looseness of language. Both had a front-row seat to the rhetoric of World Wars

Camellia Yang's avatar

AMAZING!!!

Victoria's avatar

Awesome article…so insightful on the true nature of writing and the essence of a great legend. Thank you!

Rick Morrison's avatar

tyty this is basically a public service

Dylan O'Sullivan's avatar

Appreciate you Trick

Leif's avatar

Genuinely I say it: Thank You for this piece. Excellent! One I will keep in my mind for a long time.

Dylan O'Sullivan's avatar

Thanks for reading!

Adhithya K R's avatar

Fantastic read. The Hemingway effect is something I've heard about before but didn't know it had that name and it was actually studied by researchers. Stopping when the going is good is so hard to do!

Dylan O'Sullivan's avatar

Appreciate you man

Carter Davis Johnson's avatar

Excellent!

I've been thinking much of Cormac lately. His essay on the unconscious, "The Kekule Problem," focuses on how the unconscious mind is at work below language. I couldn't help but connecting this to Hemingway's interruptions. Its as if leaving something unresolved allows the unconscious to do its work before continuing.

Dylan O'Sullivan's avatar

Funny you should say, I posted this clip of McCarthy talking about Kekulé about three hours before the news broke: https://twitter.com/Essayful/status/1668656318486282240

Carter Davis Johnson's avatar

Oh wow! It's a super interesting essay. I just finished The Passenger today and his Kekulé "theories" - if one calls them that - are all over it.

Sean Murphy's avatar

Such a great piece on the craft of writing through the lens of Hemingway quotes!

Dylan O'Sullivan's avatar

Cheers Sean! Can't wait to get stuck into the next one

Dylan O'Sullivan's avatar

Cheers my man, a hellish one to get down