Sexual Act / Hemingway

 

153

 

For him it was a dark passage which led to nowhere, then to nowhere, then again to nowhere, once again to nowhere, always and forever to nowhere, heavy on the elbows in the earth to nowhere, dark, never any end to nowhere, hung on all time always to unknowing nowhere, this time and again for always to nowhere, now not to be  borne once again always and to nowhere, now beyond all bearing up, up ,up  and into nowhere, suddenly, scaldingly, holdingly all nowhere gone and time absolutely still and they were both there, time having stopped and he felt the earth move out and away from under them.

From  “For Whom the Bells toll”  by Ernest Hemingway.

This is the continuation of yesterday’s paragraph.  It is probably the best literary  description of sexual intercourse ever written. Hemingway uses word repetition to describe the mechanics of sexual intercourse as he unveils Robert’s forebodings and desperation. His description of the anatomy as “a dark passage which led to nowhere” is just brilliant.