Ken Burns Hemingway Series

[Jim Owen]

Three parts. Ran Mon, Tues, Wed on PBS but it’s up for free right now on the PBS website.

It’s excellent. Love him or hate him, he changed American fiction. For me, his early works are the best (except for his late flash of brilliance with Old Man and the Sea).

Lots of photos I’d never seen before. The commentary is also enlightening. The late John McCain gives a moving tribute to his favorite novel.

[Brucebubs]

I look forward to seeing it.
Great fan of Ken Burns work, his Civil War series was an unexpected ratings winner when it first aired down here.
Guess we Aussies with our limited High School knowledge of American History were intrigued by just what happened and how it came about.

[Jim Owen]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

I look forward to seeing it.
Great fan of Ken Burns work, his Civil War series was an unexpected ratings winner when it first aired down here.
Guess we Aussies with our limited High School knowledge of American History were intrigued by just what happened and how it came about.

I think a lot of Americans were equally in the dark about the history. It made a star out of the soft-spoken historian Shelby Foote.

[dirkronk]

I've recorded it (we still have cable) and am looking forward to diving into the series. I'll be interested to see reactions here.

As for Hemingway himself, I know only a bit...I'm sure the series will rectify this. But his short stories have always been a go-to for refreshing writing style. l've pointed young writers to these to learn how to tighten their prose.

Cheers,

Dirk

[BrunoBlack]

I’ll be the outlier here I guess. I’ve read every book Hemingway published (I believe) and I consume huge amounts of History. I also like most of the stories produced by Ken Burns. However I can’t get into the Hemingway series. I stopped after streaming into the second episode. I found myself asking: do I care enough about Hemingway’s life to watch this one. However — Another well produced show by KB.

[Don W]

I've seen all of the Ken Burns documentaries...outstanding. The Hemmingway series is also outstanding. Have been a great fan of his style of writing for years more so than all of the womanizing, drinking, etc. "The Old Man And The Sea" and "For Whom The Bell Tolls" are on my top 10 novels that I own. Ken Burns documentaries should be required watching in all History classes.

[Lkristians]

We watched part I last night and enjoyed it. Ken Burns' formula still works!

[FrankHudson]

I'm nearing halfway through. It's a Ken Burns documentary, with all the now customary tactics and stylistic things. One needs some patience and a personal wide-interest receptivity I think, just as with his others. I'm not extraordinary in that regard (most long-format podcasts bore me to tears with their low information density and self-referential ticks for example) but I'm enjoying it, taking it in in 1 hour or so chunks, so half-an-episode at a sitting.

Reviews had lead me to believe that it would be too heavy on the personal life (which is sort of interesting, but not the reason I'd be interested myself) -- but at least so far it's pretty good on his art.

For free use without copyright, my current project uses a lot of early 20th century Modernists. In my youth and school days, a lot of the emphasis was on the generation following them, the "High Modernists" as well as Surrealism and the like, literary stuff with lots of, well, stuff: allusions to history and other arts, elaborate images and ways of writing. Those things all have their strengths and fun, but what I found out was that the early Modernists were, like Hemmingway, radical simplifiers. In the 1920s Hemmingway was doing in prose what they had done in poetry.

[Bob Womack]

Ken Burns: when nothing but a good cry will do.

Bob

[SprintBob]

As polarizing as any discussion these days about the Civil War can be, Burns series put the most moving human face on what everyone who was affected by it went through and what a tragedy (the war and physical toll) and triumph (the end of slavery in the US) it was. I think it is his signature masterpiece of all the series he has done.

[gibpicker]

Loved it! Just about everything that Ken Burns touches turns to gold, and the Hemmingway series is no exception. His talent is unbelievable! Great man and another great series.

[Fogducker]

"He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

Some of his contemporaries had different views of Hemingway especially those that he treated poorly after he hit the "big time" .

He was a great writer and I enjoy his stories. His daily life----not so much.

Fog

[Lauren_WarEagle]

I’ll have to check this out. Sadly, the only Hemingway novel I’ve ever read is The Sun Also Rises (which was a memorable read!). I’ve always had The Old Man and the Sea and Farewell to Arms on my “Books I’ll Eventually Get Around To Reading” list.

And I still need to watch KB’s Country Music series!

[M19]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

As polarizing as any discussion these days about the Civil War can be, Burns series put the most moving human face on what everyone who was affected by it went through and what a tragedy (the war and physical toll) and triumph (the end of slavery in the US) it was. I think it is his signature masterpiece of all the series he has done.

And it gave us Ashokan Farewell!!!

[gfirob]

Why I hate Ken Burns’ shows:

1) He has never changed or improved his style. He is stylistically dead.
2) He is relentlessly middle-brow.
3) He is the greediest producer in the PBS universe, demanding many more programming hours than his material is worth. Keep in mind that every time Ken Burns rolls out some 16 hour series, that is 16 hours of programming other producers don’t get, paid for by viewers like you…
4) He really thinks of himself as an historian. He really does, he has said so in public.
5) He really thinks he is a genius.