The Ernest Hemingway Thread

[HadleyH]

^^^


My favorite of his quotes is: "Courage is grace under pressure." meaning that someone who is truly courageous is someone who can act with grace and dignity, even when "under pressure" and going through trying times.

 

[alsendk]

Indeed a Quote with a lot of power. and meaning - coming from Earnest himself....very impressive really.
I believe he has been in this position so many times in his life, that the words came naturally to him.

I read in one of the many biographies, that he landed a big sea turtle on the deck of Pilar once, and flipped it on to the shell, to suffer in the merciless sun. His guests onboard tried - in vain to persuade him to act otherwise, but with no result.
A very strange and somehow split personality I think he was....clever, gifted and yet also cruel to animals ...exept for his dogs and cats, which makes it even more un-explainable I think.

 

[Connery]

^^^


My favorite of his quotes is: "Courage is grace under pressure." meaning that someone who is truly courageous is someone who can act with grace and dignity, even when "under pressure" and going through trying times.

Indeed a Quote with a lot of power. and meaning - coming from Earnest himself....very impressive really.
I believe he has been in this position so many times in his life, that the words came naturally to him.

Hadley, your quote is very hard to reconcile with the fact that he committed suicide and fabricated many of his "tales" in his personal letters and papers according to his biographer Carlos Baker. alsendk, I take these statements from Hemingway as prose and look at the man who struggled as all men do when trying to find the courage to deal with life on life's terms. If I look at him this way, I always find a renewed and deeper respect for who he was.

 

[alsendk]

Connery...looking at him in this respect, I tend to agree with you. Whatever bad things I have read about his behavior towards animals, women, alcohol, dispelled friends like Fitzgerald, Dos Passos, and other friends to end up in some sort of bad standing, I still find this man so exiting to know more about, even that he often were using friends in a frame for his fiction, and probably cared less for them after.

On the other hand, how can a writer deal with all these celebrities, moviestars, writers in spe, and hangarounds that was always near him wherever he vent, it must have been difficult at times, to distinguish real friends, though Cooper seem to have been one.

 

[camjr]

I haven't seen any discussion of his writings from the sunset of his life. I know that Islands in the Stream can't really be considered a true Hemingway novel, but I just finished it and enjoyed it as much as some of his other master works. Thomas Hudson is a great literary character, IMHO.

Cheers.

 

[Don Tomaso]

I haven't seen any discussion of his writings from the sunset of his life. I know that Islands in the Stream can't really be considered a true Hemingway novel, but I just finished it and enjoyed it as much as some of his other master works. Thomas Hudson is a great literary character, IMHO.

Cheers.

I agree, it is one of my all-time-favorite novels.

 

[alsendk]

Why not one of his true novels?
Was it one of his unfinished novels ? if so , who finished it?

 

[camjr]

Why not one of his true novels?
Was it one of his unfinished novels ? if so , who finished it?

Yes, finished by his publisher and estate, if memory serves...

 

[alsendk]

In the same way as what happened to the garden of eden then

 

[Mark D]

I recently read E.H.'s short story "A Day's Wait" and I'm struggling with the theme here. I've searched the web and the standard interpretation seems to involve miscommunication, empathy, or concerning over trifling things.

These are all elements in the story to be sure...but, there must be something more. What was E.H. getting at? I just can't find it. If anyone has any insights I'd be grateful.

 

[HadleyH]

I recently read E.H.'s short story "A Day's Wait" and I'm struggling with the theme here. I've searched the web and the standard interpretation seems to involve miscommunication, empathy, or concerning over trifling things.

These are all elements in the story to be sure...but, there must be something more. What was E.H. getting at? I just can't find it. If anyone has any insights I'd be grateful.

I researched it and you got it right, that's all there is really . He might have based that short story in a real life event, related Bumby (his son) ....but apart from that, I couldn't find any more interpretations to it. Perhaps somebody else can add something more.

 

[Mark D]

Thanks HadleyH. This is going to eat at me. I'm convinced that there has to be something more. I'm trying to put myself in the author's mind knowing that writers choose words and create scenes and imagery with purpose...he just must have had more in mind.

"You don't have to stay here with me, Papa, if it bothers you." The 'if it bothers you' line is used twice. For E.H. that line must have been significant. The hunting scene, certainly written with purpose, but what?

So far, my best guess is that E.H. was trying to treat how one deals with death. Even the title..."A Day's Wait" Wait for what? Death.


After a while he said to me, 'You don't have to stay here with me, Papa, if it bothers you.'
'It doesn't bother me.'
'No, I mean you don't have to stay if it's going to bother you.'

If what bothers him? death? I'm reaching perhaps but I'm having fun trying to figure it out.

 

[Connery]

Thanks HadleyH. This is going to eat at me. I'm convinced that there has to be something more. I'm trying to put myself in the author's mind knowing that writers choose words and create scenes and imagery with purpose...he just must have had more in mind.

"You don't have to stay here with me, Papa, if it bothers you." The 'if it bothers you' line is used twice. For E.H. that line must have been significant. The hunting scene, certainly written with purpose, but what?

So far, my best guess is that E.H. was trying to treat how one deals with death. Even the title..."A Day's Wait" Wait for what? Death.


After a while he said to me, 'You don't have to stay here with me, Papa, if it bothers you.'
'It doesn't bother me.'
'No, I mean you don't have to stay if it's going to bother you.'

If what bothers him? death? I'm reaching perhaps but I'm having fun trying to figure it out.

It represents much more to me. The boy dismissing the father while appearing to be stoic in his view of certain death also mirrors the father's attitude towards "Schatz". Even calling the boy "Schatz" there is nothing emotional, but, more objective or flat. The word "schatz" in German means treasure and is more possessive than endearing.

There is a distance between the father and the boy, with the boy assuming the role of protector to others as we see when he does not want to allow others in his room so they do not catch the "influenza". This seems to be the boy's first foray into thinking about death, at least his own. He does this without his father and conjures up his own views based a very limited experience in life. Dismissing the father, twice, gives a clear indication of how the boy has ventured in his life and how he perceives what the father can provide his son, this when the boy thinks he will die is poignant. It appears this will be his path into adulthood. The father corrects him, without more, he tells the boy not to think, but, blindly accept things. Shatz's acquired knowledge is from a school in France, but, he lives in America where things like temperature is calibrated differently is yet another indication of how the boy must navigate in this world alone, in many respects, as his father appears to be detached from his son and only provides the basic necessities on a superficial level.

 

[Mark D]

Connery. You have opened the door for me! Thank you...yes! and there is such a bravery on display as he faces what he believes to be imminent death. We are, among other things, being presented with a boy's first foray into manhood. Then when he is restored and realizes that he will not truly die he is again his boyish self.

"The hold over himself relaxed too, finally, and the next day it was very slack and he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance."

There is more to be sure but you have pointed me toward the path!

 

[HadleyH]

Happy New Year Papa~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:kiss:

 

[HadleyH]

Want to write in Hemingway's Oak Park home? Here's your chance.

March 27, 2013
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local/mathie&id=9043728

 

[HadleyH]

Ernest Hemingway’s papers on display in U.S. for first time

Agreement with Cuba allows 2,000 digital documents transferred to JFK Library in Boston


Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/enterta...y+first+time/8350583/story.html#ixzz2SftVnH6K

 

[Peacoat]

Good article about an important project. Thanks. Also thank you for the photo of the young Hemingway. Do you know when that was taken? I'm guessing the 30s.

My wife and I have been to the Bahamas several times. When we were in Bimini, I believe it was, we would to to the Compleat Angler, where Papa lived when he was in the Bahamas. His room was up the steps, and the first door on the right. A lot of history was in that restaurant/bar.

I heard a number of years ago that the Compleat Angler had burned, and all the pictures and memorabilia were lost. Too bad.

 

[Harp]

Want to write in Hemingway's Oak Park home? Here's your chance.

I occasionally went past the house while in college, and sometimes still do; just for a literary lark. :rip:

 

[Bushman]

I just got "A Moveable Feast" in today, and along with my first edition copy of "Old Man and the Sea", I've been happily reading some Hemingway I've always wanted to read while I tackle "Moby-Dick".