The Killers (short Story) - Minimalist Style in "The Killers"

Minimalist Style in "The Killers"

The basic characteristics of minimalism are:

  • ordinary subject matter
  • effaced authorial presence
  • passive and affectless protagonist
  • very little plot (in the traditional sense)
  • use of historical present tense
  • spare, emotionally restrained writing style

"The Killers" fit within this style in many ways. There is nothing extraordinary about the story. It is, in plain sense, simple. There is hardly any plot, virtually no character development, and very little description of the setting in the story. Hemingway also gives an objective view to the story, an "effaced authorial presence"; his minimalistic approach influenced American writing.

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