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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—Mansfield vs. Chekhov:
In Chapter 14, Hemingway alludes to two other short story writers, Katherine Mansfield and Anton Chekhov. He uses a series of similes to express his preference for Chekhov:
I had been told Katherine Mansfield was a good short-story writer, even a great short-story writer, but trying to read her after Chekov was like hearing the carefully artificial tales of a young old-maid compared to those of an articulate and knowing physician who was a good and simple writer. Mansfield was like near-beer. It was better to drink water. But Chekov was not water except for the clarity. There were some stories that seemed to be only journalism. But there were wonderful ones too.
Katherine Mansfield was a prolific, New Zealand-born writer of short stories who tragically died at the age of 34 due to complications from tuberculosis. Her work was informed by her life as a wealthy young woman who emigrated to England and struggled personally with questions of national identity, religion, and sexuality. She lost her brother in World War I and explored grief and existentialism in some of her subsequent work. Over her career, she developed a distinctively poetic prose style.
Anton Chekhov, meanwhile, was a Russian doctor who rose to fame as a playwright and short story writer. He is still credited as one of the founders of modernism in the theater. Chekhov had a challenging upbringing and began writing at a young age to support his family. He became known for his deceptively simple and yet eerily haunting stories about ordinary life in Russia. Chekhov is especially known for the literary principle of "Chekhov's gun," which holds that no detail should appear in a story unless it is important to the plot. (i.e., if a gun appears, someone must be shot by the end of the story). Chekhov also died tragically young from tuberculosis, at age 44.
In the memoir, Hemingway puts a great deal of time and effort into developing his taste as a reader and writer, visiting Sylvia Beach's bookstore and taking out material whenever he can afford it. This passage makes clear, however, that Hemingway's taste is informed by more than the books he reads. It is also informed by deep-rooted misogyny that he fails to interrogate. He seems to prefer Chekhov's work in large part because he respects and admires him more as a person. Hemingway's father was a doctor, and he is a writer, so it is easy to see how the figure of the "articulate and knowing physician who was a good and simple writer" embodies every standard he wants to live up to. By contrast, he would be humiliated to be like a "young old-maid" whose stylize prose sounds "carefully artificial." He compares Mansfield's work to watered-down beer and, insultingly, suggests that it is better to skip her work altogether in favor of Chekhov's "clarity."
Hemingway's own work reflects his belief that Chekhov's stripped-down style is superior to Mansfield's intricate prose and deep psychological reflection. Even though Mansfield also read and imitated Chekhov in her own way, Hemingway helped ensure that the startling simplicity of Chekhov's style would serve as the main model for publishable short stories for decades to come.
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