An Exercise in Bad Writing

By Amitava Kumar. Hemingway’s short story “Hills Like White Elephants” is a classic of its kind. It illustrates Hemingway’s “iceberg theory,” which requires that a story find its effectiveness by hiding more than it reveals. In “Hills Like White Elephants,” the conversation between a man and a woman waiting for a train at a station in Spain turns on the discussion of an imminent operation. Neither party uses the word “abortion.” What is omitted in the discussion adds to the tension felt by the reader of the story. More...