Nihilism according to Hemingway

Okay, I've been reading a bit of Hemingway now,

and I can positively say that I like it quite a bit.

But now, after reading an analysis by Annette Beneri (yeah, I never heard of her either) I have this to say about it.

Now, if you're not into literature, stop now, mkay?

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

It's short. It's powerful. More powerful than I thought at first.

If you're interested, here it is, in all its 4-paged glory: http://ul.to/nj46yf

Now it's deeper than one might think at first glance. An deaf old man, sitting on a terrace, getting himself drunk, trying to forget who knows what. Apparently tried to kill himself last week. Nobody knows why.

But what struck me in this story is one character's nihilism. The old waiter's nada-prayer, a parody, a satire, on prayers, made empty with nada.

Purposefully making a prayer empty, to accentuate the fact that it already is.

He doesn't gain anything from this prayer.

and exactly in doing nothing, he gains everything (or a lot)

Because nothing is worth anything, a prayer with no content, for no reason, with nothing to gain, makes one fully aware of his nothingness, the nothingness of religion in general, of anything, really.

He can smile, and stay upright, because he is fully aware of his nothingness, and his awareness might allow him to transcend it.

Just thought I'd share this with the world ^^

to brighten the spirits:

Batman beating the crap out of superman