Hi,
I am curious to know what women who have read Ernest Hemingways books think of his style, writing, etc. as his books are very masculine oriented and typically on the topics of men and their struggles. I recently started reading The Old Man And The Sea and as I was reading it, the thought occurred to me that I really couldn’t imagine a woman relating to what was being said on the page.
So I’m curious, female readers who have read his books…do you relate to much of what its saying? What do you think of his books?
Sorry if this sounds naive/obtuse, that is not my intention.
Women have been relating to male-created written work, films, etc. for a long time, partly because that’s what was on offer and partly because humans of any gender have a lot in common. And most people have both traditionally masculine and traditionally feminine personality traits, interests and ways of thinking.
For Hemingway, I would probably never truly relate to his female characters since they are just stand-ins (at least in works that I’ve read) but I can easily relate to his male hero, maybe because of my experience as an immigrant and a bit of a nomad, maybe because of the writing style and underlying tone appealing to me.
I haven’t read Old Man and the Sea.