The wave of remembering : reflection and repression of memory in Ernest Hemingway’s big two-hearted river, a farewell to arms, and a moveable feast

Abstract

This dissertation analyses the role of memory and the past in selected works by Ernest Hemingway. The aim is to explore how through a style that is rooted in objectivity, Hemingway is able to evoke a resonant, subjective experience presenting the intricate workings of consciousness. The three chosen texts: the memoir, A Moveable Feast; the short story, Big Two-Hearted River; and the novel, A Farewell to Arms, not only provide variety in genre but also in the distinct ways that the state of mind of the characters is shaped by memory. The introduction focuses on Hemingway’s literary aesthetic. Its critically foregrounded characteristics that include sensory detail and balanced emotionality are presented as creating a special kind of truth that in its intensity could foray into the mind of the protagonists. Chapter One explores the nostalgic revelling in Hemingway’s Paris past which then provides a contrasting basis for Chapter Two’s presentation of fragmented, thorny memories that need to be pieced together. Chapter Three then brings these two strands of remembering together by focusing on the development of a consciousness as it seeks to loosen its restrictions on the act of reflectiveness to obtain a satisfactory relationship with the past that could sooth its distressed psyche. The Conclusion assesses how the ideas explored in the dissertation contradict the truism of the absence of any sense of inwardness in Hemingway’s oeuvre so as to provide a more nuanced perspective on Hemingway’s position in literary history.