Ken Burns Unpacks Ernest Hemingway's Facade of Masculinity

[@NebraskaWriter]

If you want to understand why Hemingway was so powerful in his writing it is because he used and pioneered a technique called the objective correlative. He described it as “the sequence of motion and fact that creates the emotion.” Prior to Hemingway, writers in the 1800s would provide summaries of scenes. It was as if the writer was looking through a keyhole at the scene and giving the reader a summary of what she saw. In Hemingway’s work, he tried to let the reader see the scene, to provide not a summary but food for the senses. Instead of telling the reader what to think about what was happening in the story, Hemingway shows the reader what is happening. The novelist does not put her self between the reader and the scene. The novelist shows the reader firsthand the scene. That is much harder to do. That’s why when you read, for example, a Hemingway short story such as “Hills like White Elephants”, there is no summary telling the reader what to think. If you had been in the bar in Spain watching the couple have the argument, you would not have anybody telling you what they were arguing about. You would have to infer that based on what you saw and perceived. You would have to detect yourself that they were talking about her getting an abortion. The difference is, providing those sensory details directly without the writer stepping in to interpret, creates stories that never get old. If you read biographies of Hemingway, you see that often his stories in the first draft were full of telling. But as he rewrote, he replaced the telling with showing. There lies his genius and the reason we read him to this day.

[@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy]

He certainly wasn't the first to do it but the first to get popular at doing it.

[@NebraskaWriter]

@@ThatsJustMyBabyDaddy I think T.S. Eliot was among the first to do it.

[@pikiwiki]

very good. Thank you

[@elvinhayes7120]

Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" is heartfelt, touching, and profoundly anti-war. It's my favorite novel, and his best work.

[@MrsFitzDarcy1]

I taught it a couple of years ago to my pre-AP sophomores. I liked it more after teaching it.

[@charlesbukowski9752]

I agree. Read it twice and it's just as moving as the first time.

[@russellcampbell9198]

Watching Ken's doco on baseball. I am an Aussie and don't follow American baseball but I found the series riveting.

[@nickpaine]

Burns could make football (soccer) interesting. Possibly.

[@benzminibusdoc]

Watch also his documentary on Jazz

[@nickpaine]

@@benzminibusdoc I have. It is terrific! I have zero musical aptitude but was fascinated watching "Jazz".

[@evaadams8298]

Same. The Jazz one is incredible too!

[@russellcampbell9198]

@@benzminibusdoc I have. It was excellent too.

[@annaiorio4543]

Wow! Really like Stephen's interview style! He let's his guest speak! Doesn't interrupt or talk over them. Refreshing

[@MB5rider81]

And another comment about the "doesn't interrupt or talk over" thing. 😳 Right down to the "refreshing" part. Is this real life ? 😳 Is this a running joke? 🤣😂🤣😂

[@MB5rider81]

I mean yeah, he does that but , wow. Every interview, somebody says this 👆

[@kathleengallagher4833]

Not like Joe Scarborough who constantly interrupts

[@annaiorio4543]

@@MB5rider81 Have you watched Jimmy Fallon? He turns every interview to himself. Howard Stern talks over people and interupts them right in the middle of a great story. So, yeah, its refreshing to hear a guest finish their thoughts and sentences!

[@melanies.6030]

@@annaiorio4543 Well, Steven's guilty of those traits too. But with Ken Burns, whom he's had on a number of times, he doesn't what to interrupt that great stream of consciousness flow that Ken gets into...one of the few guests he makes a point to not interrupt or talk over.

[@nicoleschaller2027]

Ken burns may be the only person to leave quarantine with a better haircut than when we entered

[@gusdownes7485]

Dude's a doc filmmaker. That's one of the only jobs that require gray hair, and Burns still insists on the oily cheap hairdye that Rudy uses.

[@carolynworthington8996]

@@gusdownes7485 But at least the bangs are gone.

[@SoyBrig]

I came here to say this and what a joyful discovery it was.

[@theduppykillah]

Unnaturallly dark for man his age...he dyes it or it’s a piece

[@beaurex4756]

Not just a better haircut, but even younger looking.

[@brianchristian5598]

30+ years later, it's nice to have my AP highschool English thesis validated!

[@mjbuisse]

That was funny

[@kevinreily2529]

Hemingway was terrorized by his selfish, cruel, repressive mother in his formative years. Traumatized in the war, wounded with a load of shrapnel, betrayed by the nurse who claimed she loved him, then "took it all back" and said she was more like his mother. Watched his horrid, toxic mother drive his father to suicide without a care in the world. Them she kicked Ernest out of the family home, because he didn't turn out to be the kind of artist she wanted. He went to Spain 4-5 times, risking his life every trip, to fight on the side of the loyalists. Then go on to be the most important writer of the 20th century, whose books still sell today. When he was married single women all wanted a piece of the famous writer, they didn't care about his wife. Women had betrayed him his entire life, he didn't trust them and rightly so. A man can only have sex with "a woman who lets him". Just ridiculous to put down Hemingway after all the endured.

[@kaymuldoon3575]

I almost didn’t recognize him with his hair combed back off his forehead. He still looks incredibly young, even though he’s in his late 60s.

[@christinelachance8012]

Oh, that’s it...hair off the forehead, and it’s long

[@TheSuzberry]

I’d know those cheeks anywhere.

[@kaymuldoon3575]

@@christinelachance8012 yeah...he always wore “bangs” or a Beatle-type haircut for many years. He’s always had a baby face, too.

[@theduppykillah]

The hair piece helps

[@christinelachance8012]

@@theduppykillah ...It’s not a hairpiece

[@יוסייייי-ק1צ]

The covid format of seeing people at home is always interesting. It is comforting to see Ken Burns in the most Ken Burns-eque room imaginable.

[@donovanjones7546]

The internal conflicts and insecurities Hemingway clearly had when it came to his identity is part of what makes his works so emotionally potent

[@borkwoof696]

Exactly! Many of his admirers completely neglect his insecurities and his struggles with masculinity.

[@malakaragua702]

"Identity"

[@sailinbob11]

And death... very dramatic.

[@NewMessage]

You just know that if Hemmingway was still alive, he would tear up watching cat videos though.

[@BarbarianGod]

He'd be the one posting pics of cats climbing around in his big ol' sweater

[@whatevs00]

You’re my favorite comment on the internet this week. 🏆

[@donsurlylyte]

he wouldnt get any writing done for watching cat videos and porn

[@mariannesouza8326]

😂

[@theodore6548]

Hemingway would have loved Pusheen.

[@hongkongcantonese501]

This is the kind of interview that not only illuminates but inspires. Life is much more than what we imagine.

[@hartnurz]

Ohhh, the intellect, the humor, the insight. Soooo lovely. Both of them. Thank you.

[@bookshopgirlilmariel2510]

my brain just got a massive charge. Thank you for this eloquent insight, can't wait to watch the documentary

[@Dan-nt2yb]

The Civil War and Vietnam is essential viewing. Absolutely fabulous.👍🏾👍🏾

[@chipcaprioli2237]

Lewis and Clark was excellent too

[@petedog9581]

Ken burns is the greatest historian and documentarian in the modern era. I learned more about our "real history" from him than I learned in any institution of learning. He has the ability to make you feel the emotions and complexity of our past. it is not just the regurgitated pablum form the dominant culture of 100 years ago, like in textbooks. In other words, WASP history. Even that mullet is iconic.

[@Dan-nt2yb]

What you said 😊👍🏾

[@gerrydooley951]

How do you know how accurate he is, do you just assume he is?

[@petedog9581]

@@gerrydooley951 Me thinks a figure of his stature in the documentary film industry is thoroughly fact checked by scholars. Also, you think he does all of this research and production himself? He consult and employs scholars.

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

Not really a mullet, it's more of a feather. Mullets were Geddy Lee in the 80s, Steve Perry (1987 Raised on Radio album photo). Everyone else. This is too long.

[@petedog9581]

@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 Billy Ray Cyrus

[@hughjaass3787]

Ahhh......😁 Once again I am reminded why Ken Burns is my Fav documentarian. #baseball #civilwar

[@geoffreyfeinberg9792]

He so's knowledgeable. He's a legend. How many documentaries has he done.

[@mariannesouza8326]

31 have been completed 7 more are in pre-production

[@CarlosRodriguez-dd4sb]

I hope ‘smarts’ come back into style. The dumbing down of America is taxing

[@michaelmathias3277]

?.

[@couchpotato2222]

Ken Burns is one of the few guests Steven can't interupt. You just have to let him go on his"process"

[@tomallen5837]

and why for the need to interrupt. none

[@lloydbowers8997]

All this armchair psychoanalyzing of a hands-on kind of man who happened to be a writer turns me off. I appreciate that Hemingway was not a talking head. He lived life in the full. He embraced adventure. Hemingway gave everybody the ammo they needed to cut him down to size--his own writings, letters, journals, stories. He lived his life in the open, an available target--unlike the talking heads, who live their lives off-camera, and don't leave such a big paper-trail. The masses don't like a guy who stands apart, who has definition as an individual. One person who probably liked Hemingway was Ray Bradbury. He hated mainstream fiction, calling it "a nice blend of vanilla tapioca."

[@SuperGreatSphinx]

Masculinity = Bravery, Courage, Nerve, and Chivalry

[@marknewton6984]

Ken could use some himself. 😮

[@perrygerardorobles8612]

What I most revere about Mr. H is his experience. He wore many hats. That’s why I wanted to be like him. But the main reason I worshipped him was because he reminded me of my father. Adventurer. Willing to go and do what others don’t have the COURAGE to do.

[@mikelafave5753]

Hemingway described courage as "grace under pressure". To attain a more accurate perspective on Hemingway, it helps to read his non-fiction works. Many of these were written while a war correspondent. 'Death in the Afternoon', his long chronicle about the culture of bullfighting, also constitutes a trove of revelations about "Papa" as a truly lucid writer AND as a persona with more than his fair share of foibles and hobgoblins.

[@perrygerardorobles8612]

@@mikelafave5753 Thank you. I will read some more. Haven't read much in awhile. Been emptying my cup for a while, but READING him sounds like a good way to get back in the FOLD.

[@susiemccomb4501]

H was a terribly insecure drunk who shot innocent animals and mistreated women.

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

Love Ken's work ...I watched as much as I could of Hemingway documentary ...very well done

[@tigercache4397]

Love Ken Burns. An amazing person.

[@labienus9968]

Yes, he never let's anyone else do PBS documentaries-time for a change

[@avocate2017]

@@labienus9968 Not true. Over the past five years, PBS has aired 58 hours of programming from Burns and 74 hours of projects by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an African American scholar, director, executive producer and host of programs like The Black Church and Finding Your Roots.

[@labienus9968]

@@avocate2017 You miss the point-I hope you don't have an agenda. I said documentaries!! You mentioned black I did not-I was referring to a different take on doing documentaries. Burns has done some good ones-but he does them the same way, over, and over , and over again.Since you brought up race, I think it absurd that he is doing the one on ALI-don't you?

[@avocate2017]

@@labienus9968 I haven't missed the point. You made an incorrect and inaccurate statement. You wrote that "he [Ken Burns] never let's anyone else do PBS documentaries." That's simply not true. Never? We know that's not true because there are plenty of non-Ken Burns documentaries on PBS, including the Frontline, American Experience, and American Masters series, just to name a few entire documentary series that have been around for decades.

[@labienus9968]

@@avocate2017 Strange then that you went right to race? Come on, he's had the lion's share, the pick of them, and all I'm saying is there are a lot of other film makers out there-let's give them a chance. Why do you have trouble with that? Wouldn't it be interesting?the American experience and the others you mention are on a different scale-I think you know that. Burn's are so, so formuliac at this point. Of course his brother had the Oliver Sacks one next-and the two brothers have their differences. If this were not PBS, but independently produced he would have more competition. You avoided the Ali question-of all people, yes that should have had a Black director-maybe even jazz for god's sake. Interestingly in the NYT article about the Hemingway documentary-in the comment section many people had my sentiments. Oh, and as much as I liked parts of the Hemingway-it was not uncritical of the man-but fairly useless about other opinions about his writing

[@margaretpeabody243]

Don't you love that Ken Burns is resting on the American flag as he chills out. Of course avid book reader Stephen read Hemingway.

[@ScienceFan1859]

The afghan is INSPIRED by the US flag, it isn’t one...6 points stars, etc

[@carolynworthington8996]

@@ScienceFan1859 Thank you.

[@Sawlon]

Love everyone's longer hair.

[@lisaspikes4291]

The Old Man And The Sea is one of my favorite books. Yet I’ve never read any other Hemingway books. I don’t know why. I have been to the Hemingway house in Key West though! Love the cats!

[@markmh835]

I could write the exact same thing. Been to his Key West home as well as his last home in Sun Valley Idaho.

[@seansmith3058]

@@markmh835 I prefer going to "Hemingway's favorite bar". You can find them all over the world.

[@markmh835]

@@seansmith3058 -- The man was a boozer, that's for sure! 😊

[@MrsFitzDarcy1]

The Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite books.

[@alandargie9358]

@@seansmith3058 there was in Takoradi Ghana! Splendid!

[@3in2Art]

We’re accustomed to seeing Ken Burns speaking passionately about history with serious facial expressions - but how sweet was that smiling face in the opening shot?! 🥰

[@Chris-ir8yy]

Hemingway was definitely an Observer. I recall a writing of his about the traumas of being the considered a smart child from a sociological perspective.

[@NewMessage]

I would love to see a Netflix series where Hemmingway and Twain get together and solve crimes.

[@thomaskline]

That’s stupid!

[@guitarstrunged]

Sounds like something they'd put on the CBC.

[@ParArdua]

Way too much crime already on that crappy platform.

[@UKindness4]

I like that idea. Steve Allen did a similar event that was aired in tv called “Meeting of the Minds” it was a great series of programs and is in book form too. You would like it.

[@misujerr]

Sounds like you have yourself a treatment right there. Better pitch it to Stephen ;)

[@rachelk4805]

Ken Burns is such a legend

[@thomgorman]

So is LBJ.

[@catherineaiello7136]

Hemingway documentary is excellent like all Ken Burns docs. Love the new hairstyle.

[@hereigoagain5050]

Love when creative men pretend to be edgy, macho, and dangerous. "He walked into a biker's bar and recited a sonnet that made the Hell's Angles cry."

[@gerrydooley951]

you mean like Norman Mailer?

[@dianeblumenthal5951]

After seeing the Hemingway series, he was as fascinating a man as he was a writer. I never knew the physical toll that he'd been through covering all those wars. And knowing that he struggled with mental health and alcoholism for well over half his life and that he hung on until he was 61 I think shows how strong he was.

[@kevinreily2529]

Thank you Diane for being fair and empathetic and open minded about Ernest Hemingway. I listened to Lynn Novak and I was disgusted at how gleefully she was putting Hemingway down and Insinuating he should be canceled, because he was so toxic. That he wasn’t really a man he acted like a woman. Somebody really needs to do a documentary on toxic feminism in America today.

[@josephvandermillen5808]

What facade? Having vulnerabilities and anxieties doesn’t make someone not masculine

[@xx-vp1ib]

There are not enough thumbs up for this conversation. There's so much wound up in simplicity.

[@catladytrucker7608]

For many years now, I've wanted to read Hemingway. 2022 is the year it's finally happening. I chose his first novel, "The Sun Also Rises." I love his writing style.

[@ashinidesai3595]

Not a fan of Hemingway, but Ken’s passion for him makes me want to know more.

[@dark_neverland]

Same

[@alandargie9358]

Maybe in that case you will become a fan! Or at least appreciate his writing.

[@GameOfDepth]

Hemingway, wrote the life that Ambrose Bierce lived.

[@rd264]

if you want to know Hemingway just read his books -- he was writing what he knew best, himself, and his pals, and the protaganists are really just himself. For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises [1927], A Farewell To Arms [1941], The Snows of Kilimanjaro, and the Short Happy Life of Francis Macoomber all put up a good fight.

[@MsShellectable]

Ken looks so much better without his bowl cut. I hope he gets someone to maintain this look for him.

[@judypasqualone5392]

I’ve just begun the three part series. I’m trying to take it all in. This complex man. Genius..sensitive man. I hope to read some of his books. I’m starting with The Old Man and the Sea. All I remember is some of the movie.

[@avocate2017]

I thought the Ken Burns series was fascinating. I saw it right after watching Cooper & Hemingway: The True Gen, which is a documentary about the unlikely yet fascinating friendship between Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway. The two documentaries are great companion pieces.

[@gerrydooley951]

@@avocate2017 You have to remember that both Cooper and Hemingway were a couple of queens which is why they did connect. They were both hiding something.

[@wlodell]

You’ll be astounded by ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ and ‘A Farewell to Arms’.

[@adamblakeley2592]

It would be amazing if Ken Burns did a documentary about the underground railroad and the Canadian savior myth regarding racism as well as slavery.

[@seansmith3058]

The Canadian what?

[@tomwinchester55]

What a great story! Love that he has a U.P. of Michigan connection.

[@wlodell]

I know! Me too!

[@donsurlylyte]

glad to see burns still working

[@rondunn4336]

Ken Burns' and Wynton Marsalis' documentary entitled "History of Jazz" mentioned one white guy. What does that tell us?

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

Not much mention of female musicians, either, and there they were. One drummer just died recently and it was a whole band of her sisters...

[@OfficialMyxomatosis]

I can *only hope* they involved his children and grandchildren in this as they *really knew him* as well as the Historical Society of Portland Maine.

[@presentfuture7563]

I was today years old when I learned Hemingway was trolling toxic masculinity a la Chuck Palahniuk. Huh.

[@kevinreily2529]

As if there’s no such thing as a toxic feminist?

[@borkwoof696]

@@kevinreily2529 did he say that? No.

[@kgreej]

Stephen should do more really smart interviews like this. Why not? He can obviously keep up.

[@skybaby444]

Most interesting Zoom background I’ve seen.

[@totsmini3105]

Finca Vigía here we come!!!!.... to get up-close-and-personal, with "This Old man and His Sea" of literary masterpieces!!

[@shock_n_Aweful]

all hail the greatest documentarian of all time

[@chrismartin3197]

*most mainstream

[@shock_n_Aweful]

@@chrismartin3197 ok I'm curious, who is better? I don't really care if they have a big name or not as long as they do quality work. Also only if they don't do crackpot conspiracies

[@chrismartin3197]

@@shock_n_Aweful ok he’s good - he just does very mainstream subjects, obviously.

[@gerrydooley951]

Is he? You would have to be an expert on the subject he is documenting to know how accurate he is.

[@shock_n_Aweful]

@@gerrydooley951 Well I am an expert, to some degree anyway. I study history formally. I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a historian since we generally reserve that for published authors. I do have a degree though and am familiar with many of the topics he has covered. He puts an entertaining frame around the topics but he uses primary sources and is careful with framing. Less careful than I would expect from the author of a history book but for a documentarian he's pretty fair.

[@robertsully6]

Loved the civil war documentary

[@gerrydooley951]

thought it was really boring after the first 3 hours.

[@HomeAtLast501]

I read "The Garden of Eden", and I noticed the use of repetition. On one level it's a technique for simply helping the reader internalize more deeply the most important elements of the story to serve as strong structural posts on which to hang other details. The repetition helps you remember these details. The sparse detail is almost Jungian --- like a Fellini film. The use of image and archetype to permit the reader to project onto it their own very personal view of the image or symbol --- to project their unique and complex combination of personal and universal meaning they ascribe to the image.

[@pauldockree9915]

A moveable feast. No other Ernest Hemingway book read. Or wrestled with. We will always have Paris.

[@bottleaire2082]

What's more manly than consoling Fitzgerald about the size of his flaccid, er, Gatsby? The Sun Also Rises.

[@theodore6548]

That's A Moveable Feat, not TSAR.

[@stevenjbeto]

Burns came to bury Hemingway not to praise him.

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

That doesn't make sense, why go to all the trouble?

[@raelyneannelli6678]

Ken’s deep slo-movin voice is delicious on it’s own. Even better is when Ken combines his luscious melted hot fudge to slowly over a mound of ice cream; while dreaming in another of Ken’s history sessions!

[@johnnycash2254]

Exactly, Hemingway’s words sing and reverberate. Simplicity, or complexity, has nothing to do with it.

[@borkwoof696]

I don’t always like the the term "toxic masculinity" but I think it really applies to Hemingway (which I say with the greatest admiration for him and his work)

[@kevinreily2529]

A 100 years ago it was not illegal to go big game hunting, deep sea fishing or to actually like a woman. Not like it is nowadays. So he’s going to do a “hit piece” on Hemingway to smear his masculine reputation. I guarantee you he leaves out the toxic affect his overbearing, intrusive mother had on his childhood. When is he going to do a hit peace on famous Black/Asian athletes & celebrities who constantly make racist statements? I look forward to that.

[@john-paulmichelangelo5180]

PBS rumpswab tackling Ernest Hemingway is like a fly deciding how he will consume an elephant.

[@jeanetteschock4744]

Look at Ken Burns hair!

[@yourturn777]

Wow. What a hairstyle can do! Im in.

[@kevinreily2529]

It’s a hit piece on his masculinity. His feminist assistant was just drooling at all the ways she could attack Hemingway as a man and his masculinity, His mother ruined him as a child.

[@yohei72]

I loved Dave Letterman's show - there was never anything like it before and no one will ever do that better. But he couldn't have done an interview like this on Hemingway.

[@gerrydooley951]

that's not the kind of show Dave did, just as Colbert is not as funny as Dave.

[@yohei72]

@@gerrydooley951 Yes, that's what I'm saying.

[@gerrydooley951]

@@yohei72 right

[@ParkerAllen2]

This is so interesting about the gender identity thing. I read Hemingway and a few biographies on him over the years but only in the last few years did I actually hear his speaking voice. Given his macho image I always imagined he had something like a deep, Clark Gable-ish growl, but his voice is actually fairly high-pitched. To me he sounded like a slightly fey college professor, which was so counter to the public image he had. I guess it speaks to the complexity of the man.

[@theodore6548]

Huh? The recording I have sounds exactly like what you expected..

[@ParkerAllen2]

@@theodore6548 Actually, after I wrote that it occurred to me that the recording I heard was late in his life when I believe he was in fragile health so that may have effected how he spoke.

[@theodore6548]

@@ParkerAllen2 Ah, got it. That's pretty sad.

[@gerrydooley951]

he wasn't complex at all just a big sissy. Both he and Hoover would dress up on weekends and hit the bars in Florida

[@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823]

@@gerrydooley951 You don't usually see gay men shooting innocent animals, tho. It would seem doing so is trying very hard to prove being a badass. Which it's not, I mean, it's not exactly a fair fight.

[@joliecide]

If I could afford it... I'd have Ken Burns film a documentary of my life. Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch.

[@HomeAtLast501]

Maybe he wasn't constructing a persona. Maybe he just did big game hunting because he wanted to try it, or because he enjoyed it. If I went on a big game hunt I wouldn't think it was a "manly" thing to do.

[@burgermind802]

where's Ken's bangs?

[@pepperco100]

HA! I was laughing while watching, thinking how it would take Hemingway about 2 seconds to bust Ken Burns in the nose for imputing that Hemingway was a girly man.

[@kevinreily2529]

I think Ken Burns could fit the description of a girly man, even though he is a great documentarian.

[@pepperco100]

@@kevinreily2529 lol

[@wlodell]

I would gladly do it in the name of Hemingway.

[@pepperco100]

@@wlodell lol But, it'd be like hitting a girl.

[@Norvo82]

Man, Dave Foley looks good in that wig!

[@patriciafeehan7732]

Many of the writers that were considered not fit for WWI Hemingway / F. Scott Fitzgerald took their rejection out in their work. Hemingway especially took being rejected for frontline duty as insult to his manhood.

[@wlodell]

And they both served anyway in frontline duty.

[@thatssomething1]

Burns got an American flag blanket in the background ferchrissakes 😆🙌

[@wlodell]

I hope Burns has the flag flying outside his house! I too had second thoughts about the flag blanket on the couch thing.

[@clydecessna737]

The more I understand Hemingway the less I like him.

[@stevejanowiak1982]

Because his bravado and masculinity makes you uncomfortable?

[@Miamcoline]

Awesome

[@scrubjay93]

Here is a nerd--I pet his cats back in the late 80s.

[@jimdEth]

Were they polydactyl?

[@robertschwartz4810]

Ken Burns' work should be taught in schools.

[@gerrydooley951]

why, because he presents a lazy man's version of learning history? He's like Cliff Notes.

[@thomaskline]

Now do John Steinbeck, a truly great writer!

[@lorinapetranova2607]

I went to Monterey and Salinas back in the day to pay homage to Steinbeck. My favorite author as a teen besides Dostoyevsky.

[@nsn5564]

You can't love nature and want to kill it. Big game hunters have something seriously evil and toxic in their brains. I feel nothing but contempt for him.

[@michaelvslucifer4273]

Oh and that transformation thing, beautifully beautifully preformed, dude you've got a serious god complex...you're the olympian sons of god🤣🤣🤣

[@jasonbean591]

Bach, eh? Now it makes sense..:)

[@theodore6548]

And wrong. Hemingway learned the power of repetition from journalism and Stein.

[@KidGibson]

he changed his hair! Looks good on him.

[@Ekkie101]

What happened to Ken Burns' bangs?

[@Dreyno]

“Dubliners” is an easy read by Joyce. People are scared away by “Ulysses” and “Finnegan’s Wake”. His earlier works are not as dense.

[@theodore6548]

Nothing easy about "Dubliners" if you are reading closely.

[@Dreyno]

@@theodore6548 How massively condescending of you. You think I couldn’t have appreciated it properly? Is that what you’re suggesting?

[@theodore6548]

@@Dreyno I am not suggestng anything. Whether you understand the complexities of "Dubliners" is not in question. But that book is not "easy" reading, any more than are the stories of Hemingway.

[@Dreyno]

@@theodore6548 It is an easy read relative to “Ulysses” or “Finnegan’s Wake”. I didn’t mean it was a Mills and Boon publication.

[@seansmith3058]

@@Dreyno Portrait of the Artist isn't too bad either.

[@FrederickFIintstone]

Cringe. Just say you were a nerd and you were stuffed in lockers back in high school, we get it.

[@judychurley6623]

...because gender is about how long a man's hair is and how short a woman's hair is. That's not superficial, much.

[@Scupperjack]

Before it burned down, Hemingway's house on Bimini was turned into a hotel. I remember seeing pictures on the walls of Hemingway with machine guns shooting at sharks from his boat. How macho! Of course, he is the same as the rest of all of us and subject to flaws in our humanity.

[@BlackHoleBrew42]

For sale: baby shoes, never worn

[@johnbecay6887]

BlackHoleBrew42 why don't you have more likes? Hemingway in 6 words.

[@lawrencelewis2592]

I can beat that. "Free bassinette, unused."

[@laurencaulton103]

No thanks to the big game hunters for killing the world's creatures.

[@seansmith3058]

I'm no fan of hunting but it's a drop in the bucket compared to loss of habitat and trafficking. I've even come to accept that it helps preserve areas that are unappealing to tourists and would otherwise become farmland.

[@notsonutsomills593]

Ken Burns is a god.

[@platogenova9573]

“Unpacks Hemingway’s facade of masculinity”. No, Hemingway was totally masculine and an alpha. Nothing these two bug men say retrospectively, can change it.

[@nikosvault]

Leave Britney Alone!

[@gladyslambert398]

What’s up with the flag on the couch? Stripes going the wrong direction make it ok for that purpose or what? Ken Burns rocks, that couch just caught my attention.

[@troygaspard6732]

My father completely bought into this persona.

[@AWhileHanlin]

The docs made me realise and confirm why I disliked his work and still do.

[@donutemptycircle8717]

Some mad macho projecting with him. His novels too betray a man who had little idea about or interest in women.

[@theodore6548]

Like you've read them.

[@seansmith3058]

@@theodore6548 I can't think of anything more pathetic than an overeducated troll.

[@theodore6548]

@@seansmith3058 I agree completely. You must have thought yourself quite the spod for knowing what "comparative literature" is, or thinking you do.

[@seansmith3058]

@@theodore6548 Knowing what you are is all too easy, Jack.

[@theodore6548]

@@seansmith3058 I see you're moving on to your "internet tough guy" phase. The more you go on, the more boring you get. But that's no suprise, coming from someone who uses the word "overeducated." I'm done bothering with you now. Go ahead and have your final say. People like you always have to.

[@billmalloy448]

Ken, Ken, Ken! Take that American flag (or evocative blanket) off the sofa. Even though you've given so much to this country, that image suggests disrespect.

[@GjbMcN]

Ken Burns is a Fantastic American Export and PBS a blessing! BUT why not HEMINGWAY THE MUSICAL 🎵?

[@CassandrashadowcassMorrison]

Writers present an idealized version of themselves in their fiction. That is far from uncommon. The tragic death of Ernest's daughter Gloria Hemingway in a jail cell in Florida tells you all you need to know about the back story of that family. TIME Magazine reported it this way: DIED. GLORIA HEMINGWAY, 69, transsexual youngest son turned daughter of novelist Ernest Hemingway; in a Miami jail cell. Born Gregory, the former physician wrote Papa: A Personal Memoir in 1976, battled alcohol addiction and had her medical license revoked. Her famous father once said Gregory had "the biggest dark side in the family except me." The date was October 1, 2001.

[@danharvey5935]

Randy Feltface already did the perfect Hemingway story.

[@marcusmartinez4662]

Mr Burns, what’s the bigger achievement, another wonderful exposé or finally getting your hair under control?