“They wanted to know why I did what I did:” Reading Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” through Ernest Hemingway’s Iceberg Principle

By Timothy Penner

Abstract

Bruce Springsteen and Ernest Hemingway, two masters of their respective forms, are rarely spoken of in conversation with each other. One rose to fame as a serious-minded author before parlaying that recognition into a macho persona that became a cultural icon of the early twentieth century; the other, gained notoriety as an electrifying performer known for his lyrical verbosity and blue-collar work ethic who has sustained a successful musical career for over 50 years. Yet, on the level of artistry and technique, we can see that as Springsteen moved into his second decade in the early-1980s, his lyrical style, especially on 1982’s Nebraska, shifted into a mode that could be considered Hemingwayesque. This essay examines the song “Nebraska” through the tenets of Hemingway’s theory of writing, the Iceberg Principle, which denotes the idea that if writers are “writing truly enough” they can show only the tip of their metaphorical icebergs, and the reader will intuit the rest. Reading “Nebraska” through this principle exposes the dense layers of narrative execution, character development, and complex thematic resonances that reverberate underneath the mere 167 words Springsteen uses to tell the story of serial killer Charles Starkweather. In doing so, this study reveals the audacity, and considerable skill, of Springsteen’s poetics.