Which author is often described as having a minimalistic prose style associated with journalism?

• A. Zora Neale Hurston
• B. Ernest Hemingway
• C. James Thurber
• D. F. Scott Fitzgerald

Answer: (B)

Minimalist, journalistic prose aims to strip language to its essentials while still conveying deeper meaning. Ernest Hemingway epitomizes this approach, evolving from a career in journalism into fiction where lean, straightforward sentences, concrete diction, and a direct narrative voice dominate. His work at the Kansas City Star taught him to use short sentences and plain words, avoiding flourishes, so the writing feels immediate and unembellished. Yet the meaning often runs deeper than the surface, a hallmark of the iceberg theory: what is implied beneath the terse surface carries the emotional and thematic weight. This combination—economy of language plus depth of insinuation—gives Hemingway’s prose its enduring sense of precision and power.

By contrast, Zora Neale Hurston is celebrated for vibrant dialect and rich folkloric detail; James Thurber’s humor and wit come through in playful, cartoonish sketches; F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for lush, ornate, lyrical prose. The question’s description most closely matches Hemingway’s renowned journalistic minimalism.