What is Hemingways theory of omission or “iceberg principle?
In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway outlined his “theory of omission” or “iceberg principle.” He states: “If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.
In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway outlined his “theory of omission” or “iceberg principle.” He states: “If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.
