| dc.description.abstract | Although Islands in the Stream is a flawed novel and has received very little serious critical attention, it is valuable because Hemingway makes two important artistic statements in it. First, through the character of Thomas Hudson, Hemingway questions the decision to devote himself to art. Hudson affirms his devotion to art in Book I and discovers that art is in his heart, in his head, and in every part of him. Hemingway, however, moves beyond affirming his devotion to art towards searching for the fundamental source of artistic vision. Islands in the Stream is a searching novel, and in it, Thomas Hudson searches for renewed artistic vision. He achieves this renewed vision after he comes to terms with five elements: 1) an ability to accept death, 2) an ability to care about mankind, 3) an ability to find meaning in the words "honor" and "duty," 4) an ablity to remember, and most important, 5) an ability to give and receive love. Thus, in Islands in the Stream, Hemingway seems to suggest that without love, there is no art. Consequently, it appears that for Hemingway, love is the fundamental source of artistic vision. | en |
