SOURCE: Quinn, Patrick F. “The Measure of Hemingway.” Commonweal 57, no. 3 (24 October 1952): 73-75.

In the following review, Quinn asserts that Baker repudiates many of the critical perceptions about Hemingway and his work in Hemingway: The Writer as Artist.

Perhaps the most important generalization that can be made about modern literature, fiction as well as poetry, is that its method is dramatic rather than expository. It seeks not to explain but to imply.

Some day this axiom will be taken for granted. Ignoring it, many people are baffled by the apparently inflated reputation of Hemingway. The man can write—obviously. But what a narrow range, and how little depth! The smallness of his talent compels him to deal with sensational material. His writing is almost invariably concerned with war, sex, and violence. No doubt these subjects have an immediate and widespread interest, and so the man's audience is large. But...