In Death in the Afternoon, Hemingway’s nonfiction book on bullfighting, he describes his “theory of omission” or “iceberg principle”:
“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.”
I think this quote means that if a write omits words or sayings but he gives a good description of the scene then the reader will feel what that the author is saying without actually having to write down every word down. I guess the 1/8 above the water means that the author is suppose to have a clear, focused story for 7/8 and the other 1/8 is for the reader to intrupt it.
Hemingway’s Theory of Omission states that if a writer has enough knowledge on a topic he is writing about, and gets his point across in the simplest way, then that is when the reader is able to appreciate and understand the story the best. Hemingway feels that when a writer includes omissions or breaks in their writing, this gives the reader a chance to see things in their own perspective. These breaks allow the reader to think about the kind of tone and setting the story may have.
I also agree with diana about the reader having one-eighth of the story for their own interpretation and the other seven-eighths for the writer to display.
Hemingway’s theory is about two types of writers. one is about a regular writer, who has a decent amount of knowledge about a topic, he/she can only write facts about such topic, being the top of the iceberg. But a writer that’s passionate about his/her topic, does not need to write all the facts out, because his/her passion will let us know his point of view, without showing us every fact, but in someway letting us know is there, that being the bottom of the iceberg.
Hemingway’s Theory is saying that a writer that already knows the main points in his story doesn’t have to include specific details that normal users would need to understand the writing. Also writers who leave out important details and end up confusing themselves are bad writers.
What i think Hemingway is trying to say is that there is two types of writers. There is the writers that know and believe about what they are writing about and there are the writers that don’t know what they are writing about and when they take material out of the text its like leaving a blank for the reader. I think he also says that you have to be passionate about what you are writing for.