Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce: a brief analysis of the modernist traits in their short stories

Abstract

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.35572/rlr.v6i1.800

This paper brings a brief analysis of the English works: “Hills like white elephants” (1927) and “One reader writes” (1933) by Ernest Hemingway and “The sisters” (1914) by James Joyce, in order to illustrate the features that emerged with the modernist movement, considering changes related to the ways of making literature. To this end, this work provides a close reading of the three short stories bearing in mind the relation between fact and fiction and how fiction depicts social, historical, and/or political facts. Hemingway‟s texts and Joyce‟s “The sisters” are powerful examples of the literary changes raised by modernism. The works of both writers are only the tip of the iceberg to provoke a reflection in the reader about the changes in the ways of making literature and how language is used in order to depict social events through fiction.