"In Art Matters, Robert Paul Lamb provides the definitive study of Ernest Hemingway's short story aesthetics. Lamb locates Hemingway's art in literary historical contexts and explains what he learned from earlier artists. including Edgar Allan Poe, Paul Cezanne, Henry James, Guy de Maupassant, Anton Chekhov, Stephen Crane, Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, and Ezra Pound. Examining how Hemingway developed this inheritance, Lamb insightfully charts the evolution of the unique style and innovative techniques that would forever change the nature of short fiction."--BOOK JACKET.

Historical genre, dispassionate presentation, and authorial judgment : the legacy of Maupassant and Chekhov -- Minimizing words and maximizing meaning : suggestiveness, concision, and omission -- Depicting consciousness in modern fiction : expressionism and impressionism from Crane to Cather and Hemingway -- Who sees and who speaks : Hemingway's art of focalization -- Repetition and juxtaposition : from Stein to Hemingway -- Openings, endings, and the disjunctive bump -- The normative center, the illustrative stamp, and the Joycean epiphany -- The new art of constructive dialogue : from James to Hemingway -- Plot, characterization, and setting.