\MAG\N\NG SLlNDA'f There are many different reasons why people like to write. Students wt:re given the op– portunity to express themselves through the written word through an on-campus creat ive writing club called Scribblers. For those in– te rested, this outlet provided a n audience for student writers to have their work r ead by and to receive feed– back from. J unior Lucas Nossaman, a member of Scribblers, said that for him, writing "is a way for me to return love to my friendly neighbors, those dead writers of old who have affected me and helped me shape mean – ing in my life." This year, Nossaman shared the follOwing piece of work at the annual Fall Literary Festival hosted by the English d epartment. "Like the similarly reductive technical and pro– fe ssional specializations of our time, this style [of Hemingway] minimizes to avoid mystery. It deals wit.h what it does not understand by leaving it out." -Wen– dell Berry in "Style and Grace" In the quote above , Wendell Berry is referring to Ernest Hemingway's style in the shorl SIOry "Big TwoH ea r·ted River, " and he is criticizing it for its inability to discuss a character's wound. The wound is symbol– ized by a swampy area across the river, which the char– acter refuses to enter. By avoiding the swamp, th e style doesn't imagine a solution to the character's wound. I agree that the style is incomplete. It could have been completed by another story by Hemingway that describes a character finding healing; yet this neve r occurs in the Hemingway canon. Hem ingway is a lit – e r'ar}' classic for writing about wounds, but his work stops at the point where most of literature stops at– cyn ical, unable to imagine a solution to life 's prob– lems or wounds. Such an imagi nation, however, is possible for the Christian writer. The scriptures teach faith, hope, and love, me qualities necessary for healing wounds. The inspired Christian can complete H emingway's cynicism by imagining healing. For example, in "B ig Two-Hearted River," part of th e problem is that the character has trouble talking about his wound. There is this same unshared grief in the scriptures when, the night before his~ death, Jesus prays in the garden . His disciples don't understand his anguish, andJesus can 't fully communicate it. On Saturday, then, the g rief is switched-the disciples are confused and unable to comm unicate with j esus, who is in the tomb. H emingway is great at capturing these emot ions, but they are n ot the whole story. The next day, Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead; the diSCiples finally understand; the wounds are healed; the message ofgood news, that Jesus saves, is spread. It could have been that Hemingway did not believe in healing; h e could have believed that there is no healing ofwounds nowor after death . H e might have considered Jesus' story unrealistic, as many do in o ur time as well. Thai someone can and does heal wounds is hard to believe when so many are hurting. Yet for the Christian writer, it must be believed, and furthermore, expressed in the wr itten work. The page is another place to shar'e the good news that there is a healer. The Christian wr iter aims for truth and wholeness, so that H emingway's cynicism is balanced with hope. Lterature has enough Hemingways; it needs more Sundays. Lucas Nossaman literature 21 7
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