Three Things About Ernest Hemingway

By Richard Carroll

photos of Ernest Hemingway through the years — Top Left: Ernest Hemingway in Paris (1924). PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM, BOSTON, PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Top Right: Hemingway posing for a dust jacket photo by Lloyd Arnold for the first edition of ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ at the Sun Valley Lodge, Idaho (1939). PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Bottom Left: Hemingway with the persons depicted in his novel The Sun Also Rises; Harold Loeb, Lady Duff Twysden, Hadley Hemingway, Ogden Stewart and Pat Guthrie. (Pamplona, Spain, July 1925). PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM, BOSTON, PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Bottom Center: Hemingway’s passport photo (1923). UNKNOWN AUTHOR, PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS. Bottom Right: Hemingway, American Red Cross volunteer, recuperates from wounds at ARC Hospital, Milan, Italy (September 1918). PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM, BOSTON, PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

With the Ken Burns and Lynn Novick three-part, six-hour documentary film series, devoted to the life of Ernest Hemingway, much excitement has been generated about the legendary writer and his enduring influence on literature and culture.

So, the time is ripe for Three Things About Hemingway, courtesy of T-Boy writer, Richard Carroll.

Mr. Carroll has been involved with Hemingway his entire adult life, and is a member of The Hemingway Society.

French plaque on a building at the Left Bank in Paris honoring Ernest Hemingway — French plaque honoring Hemingway – Left Bank of Paris. PHOTO BY HALINA KUBALSKI

Three Things You May Not Know About Hemingway

By Richard Carroll

With hundreds of books and articles covering Hemingway, his life, and international travels, I’m including a few details that Hemingway aficionados might have forgotten or overlooked.

Ernest Hemingway at the Finca Vigia, Cuba, 1946 — Ernest Hemingway at the Finca Vigia, Cuba (1946). PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION, PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

Hemingway lived in Cuba a total of 22 years of his 61 years in a rambling converted farmhouse on a hill overlooking the small town of San Francisco de Paula. The home called Finca Vigia offered distant views of the lights of Havana and was renowned in the world of international letters.

Hemingway in Havana Harbor after catching a marlin, 1934 — Hemingway in Havana Harbor after catching a marlin (1934). UNATTRIBUTED, PUBLIC DOMAIN, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.

statue of Ernest Hemingway in Floridita bar, Havana, Cuba — Statue of Hemingway in Floridita bar, Havana, Cuba (2006). PHOTO BY FREDERIC SCHMALZBAUER, VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Hemingway was adored by the Cubans and to this day the Havana Hemingway Tour is the most popular. Hemingway once said in a speech who spoke perfect Spanish with an American accent, that he would give the medal from his Nobel Prize for The Old Man and the Sea, to “Nuestro Senora de la Caridad del Cobre,” who is the virgin saint of Cuba. Throughout his years in Cuba Hemingway and his wife Mary briefly met Castro only once at a Hemingway Fishing Tournament, though Castro was an avid Hemingway aficionado.

Ernest Hemingway with his family, 1905 — Hemingway with his family; Marcelline, Sunny, C. E. Hemingway, Grace Hemingway, Ursula, and Ernest standing at the far right (1905). PHOTO COURTESY OF US NATIONAL ARCHIVES COLLECTION JFK-EHEMC: ERNEST HEMINGWAY COLLECTION, PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Hemingway was not close to his mother Grace, was deep into his cups except when on deadline or composing, never smoked though it was the fashion during his day, and had a great ear for crisp dialogue, and believed that the adjective was the enemy of the noun.

Don’t miss Richard Carroll’s A Magical Walk Through Hemingway’s Paris.