Hemingway's Iceberg Theory !
Apr. 2008, Volume 5, No.4 (Serial No.52) Sino-US English Teaching, ISSN1539-8072, USA
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On Hemingway’s iceberg theory
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distinct image with the succinct and direct writing, the feeling and thought of the writer himself are hidden in the image to the largest extent. Thus, the emotion is plentiful, though included but not exposed; the thought is profound, though deeply concealed but not obscure. On account of this, the sensibility and perceptibility of literature are combined skillfully, leaving the readers to explore the emotion and thought of the work through the feeling of these distinct images.
Succinct words, distinct images, plentiful emotion and profound thought are the four fundamental elements of iceberg theory for further study, that is, the words and images are the so-called “1/8”while the emotion and thought are the so-called “7/8”. The formers are specific and visual while the latter are implied in the former. The words portray the images; the emotion is embodied in the images; the thought is embodied in the emotion.
In the following part, the main features of the iceberg theory are to be analyzed in detail.
2. The main features of the iceberg theory
2.1 Succinct words
According to Hemingway’s aesthetic view, the real beauty should be the organic combination of the natural beauty and artistic beauty. Good works should not be the accumulation of rhetoric, but of one’s own particularity. He is object to the ornate diction which is flashy and without substance; he is also object to the meticulous descriptions of the character and complicated and delicate analysis of the mentality, because in this case, the readers can take in everything at a glance. He advocates that the writer should express the most complicated meaning by the most succinct words while avoiding the useless circuitousness. And this view is embodied in the following aspects.
(1) Describing scenery
On the dimension of describing scenery, Hemingway, according to
51
On Hemingway’s iceberg theory
52
distinct image with the succinct and direct writing, the feeling and thought of the writer himself are hidden in the image to the largest extent. Thus, the emotion is plentiful, though included but not exposed; the thought is profound, though deeply concealed but not obscure. On account of this, the sensibility and perceptibility of literature are combined skillfully, leaving the readers to explore the emotion and thought of the work through the feeling of these distinct images.
Succinct words, distinct images, plentiful emotion and profound thought are the four fundamental elements of iceberg theory for further study, that is, the words and images are the so-called “1/8”while the emotion and thought are the so-called “7/8”. The formers are specific and visual while the latter are implied in the former. The words portray the images; the emotion is embodied in the images; the thought is embodied in the emotion.
In the following part, the main features of the iceberg theory are to be analyzed in detail.
2. The main features of the iceberg theory
2.1 Succinct words
According to Hemingway’s aesthetic view, the real beauty should be the organic combination of the natural beauty and artistic beauty. Good works should not be the accumulation of rhetoric, but of one’s own particularity. He is object to the ornate diction which is flashy and without substance; he is also object to the meticulous descriptions of the character and complicated and delicate analysis of the mentality, because in this case, the readers can take in everything at a glance. He advocates that the writer should express the most complicated meaning by the most succinct words while avoiding the useless circuitousness. And this view is embodied in the following aspects.
(1) Describing scenery
On the dimension of describing scenery, Hemingway, according to
References: Cunliffe, M. 1985. American literature. Beijing: China Translation and Publishing Corporation. Hemingway, E. 1999. A farewell to arms. Nanjing: Yilin Press. Hemingway, E. 1999. For whom the bell tolls. Nanjing: Yilin Press. Hemingway, E. 1999. The old man and the sea. Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House. Hemingway’s iceberg theory. Retrieved from http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap7/hemingway.html. (Edited by Stella, Jessica and Robert)