Every male writer with an ounce of testosterone owes a great debt to dad. For example, without your example, how would James Jones, Norman Mailer, Hunter S. Thompson or John Milius have known to pose for their publicity photos in safari jackets? I bet they would have shown up in some sort of Tom Wolfe ice cream outfit! With a pocket square!

To be sure, the faithful adulation of Hemingway’s literary style has done much for American letters. Before Hemingway bravely challenged the right of every word to exist on its pristine blank page, popular fiction was engulfed in disgustingly baroque convolutions. Overly precious authors such as Henry James and Edith Wharton spun phrases like brocade, twisting and turning them until their poor readers were so giddy they had to commit the unforgivable sin of leaving the book. Speaking for the simple man who wants no word other than the plain truth, Hemingway advocated a sparse and minimalist construction. Cut, prune, cut, tailor – cut, if necessary – until the reader’s eye can plow through those sentences like a plow through straight straight furrows. Write so that the text passes like a lightning bolt. Don’t give them an excuse to pause, much less to think or reflect. They will forgive you if they pee in their pants because they “couldn’t put it down.”

Better yet, remove any personal voice from your prose style. Strictly adhere to the same minimalist set of rules so that your prose does not read differently than the next author. Save the reader the tedium of having to familiarize yourself with its eccentricities. Give them what they came for: a good, forgettable story, told quickly.

Hemingway was, first and foremost and perhaps best of all, a journalist. And it is in the field of journalism where his influence has been most beneficial. In news reports, direct conversation is key, as it is in any type of expository writing, such as textbooks, divorce settlements, and travel guides.

But I appeal to all English instructors who preach Strunk & White like it’s the new King James Version: let the young storytellers cultivate their unique styles and find their voices!

If you don’t know what I mean, listen to sportscaster Frank Deford on the radio. His style was inspired by the likes of Heywood Hale Broun, Walter Winchell, Robert Benchley, and a host of other wackos of yesteryear who were probably knuckle-struck at school for not following directions.

(The point, sentence fragment. Sin sin, in my opinion).