Vicki Hendricks wrote:
> I'd forgotten about "Cat in the Rain," but have just
read a section of
> Robert
> Olen Butler's new writing book From Where You Dream,
where he talks about
> that story in order to illustrate Hemingway's
"cinematically sensual way"
> of
> directing a scene. Butler's book is wonderful for
anyone who writes or
> teaches
> writing, and Hemingway's genius in cinematic
technique is clarified in a
> few
> pages.
When I was first dipping my toe in the pool of trying to
write speculative fiction, I wrote a screenplay adapting
"Hills Like White Elephants," "Cat in the Rain" and "A Clean,
Well-Lighted Place" into one narrative, with the female and
male characters from the former two melded together into one
character each, and the hotel manager from "Cat in the Rain"
combined with the older, disillusioned waiter in "A Clean,
Well-Lighted Place." I had no intention of ever trying to get
it produced, but as a learning exercise it was mighty
instructive for me. It really showed me how Hemingway so
adroitly managed what Vicki calls "cinematic technique." I
think that's an insightful description. After all, the camera
eye does not blink, and rarely turns away. Neither does the
narrative in much of hard-boiled and noir fiction.
> I guess the woman in "The Short Happy Life..." shows
a side of women that
> I sometimes get into trouble for writing about--from
women.
Interesting to compare the memsahib from "The Short Happy
Life of Francis MacComber" to the outwardly (in situation,
circumstance, physical location, background, etc.) similar,
yet very different wife of the dying writer in
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro," isn't it?
All the Best-
Brian Thornton
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