Some after-the-documentary thoughts
Episode 1: Thought it was well done and I enjoyed watching it, but no new data and I learned nothing I did not already know.
Episode
2: Repeat of last night in that I enjoyed watching it, but learned nothing I
did not already know about "Old Man" Hemingway.
On
the other side of the coin, from my point of view Martha Gellhorn has been the
least interesting of Hemingway's four wives and I never really paid any
attention to her. Listening to excerpts from her letters and other commentary
about their relationship as presented in the film has lifted her considerably
higher in my opinion. I liked being able "to see more
inside" Martha and, consequently, learning more. I think "old
Ernie" apparently (more than) met his match in her .... I always had sort of ignored
her as the least relevant of his wives because of her reputation, but now,
probably, will try to find some of "her stuff" to read.
Episode
3: Still another repeat. I enjoyed watching the film, but learned nothing I did
not already know about Ernest Miller Hemingway.
Once
again, however, I was "enlightened" about another of his wives .... this time
about the relationship between he and his fourth and final wife, Mary Welsh. It
is one thing to read about people arguing and fighting and being verbally
abusive to one another; it is another thing to hear and to watch the actual
words of the abusers being read while photographs of them are being shown, and
with additional commentary.
Going sideways now:
I
read "Hemingway in Love .. His Own Story" by A.E. Hotchner when it was published in 2015. To
refresh my memory, I picked it up after watching the first episode of the
Burns/Novick film. At 172 pages, it is a relatively sparse book and I reread it
sitting in a waiting room while some work was done on my car. It was helpful to
read about the Hotchner/Hemingway conversations while EMH was receiving
psychiatric treatment at the Mayo Clinic, including electric shock "therapy."
I
did a brief background check on Hemingway's four wives to refresh my memory, including skimming through Mary Welsh's book, "How It Was." I
had forgotten, for instance, that Mary had been born in Walker,
Minnesota, and had loved exploring Leech Lake as a young girl .... and that
Pauline Pfeiffer, like Mary and Martha Gellhorn, had been a journalist. Martha,
in ill-health, apparently committed suicide at age 89. Nothing else really
jumped out at me.
My
opinions and beliefs regarding Hemingway have changed very little other than in
the sense that I now think him to have been more "mentally disturbed" than I
realized. I knew that his father had
killed himself with a revolver and that his mother had given EMH the gun; I
knew that his three sons all had experienced "big-time" problems, Gregory AKA
Gloria, the most severe; I knew that Hemingway "fell in love" often and intently; I
knew that liquor and concussions were life-long problems; I understood that he turned
into a near-pathological liar as he grew older ....
Flaws and sins aside, I
still like Hemingway's writing and believe him to be the most talented and
significant fiction writer, before or during or since his emergence. I think the primary
reasons for that were an inconceivable natural talent coupled with a relentless work
ethic and a fearless approach to push beyond existing literary and cultural boundaries.
It never has been necessary to like someone to appreciate their work and to accept the quality of it ....
12 comments:
Good post Fram!
Skildringen din av programmet om Ernest
viser at det er ikke mye nytt under solen..
Men hvorfor er dem så konsentrert om hans koner?
Betyr det at alle hans kvinner har hatt betydning for hans forfatterskap?
Den siste videoen hvor det blir lest opp fra boken "The End of Something"
I belysning av hvor mangen ekteskap Ernest har hatt ,forstår en at han finner kjærligheten vanskelig.Han avslutter ett forhold som sikker ikke var lett,Det var ikke "fun any more"
Jeg skal ikke begi meg ut på noen tolkning av forfatteren da jeg selv ikke har lest noe av ham.
Ernest er an vel annerkjent forfatter over hele verden.
Jeg skal finne en bok av han og lese.
Takk for at du deler!
Anita
Thanks for summing it up here, Fram. Some of my book club members were discussing the first episode at our meeting this week. We read a historical fiction novel a few years ago about his first wife (The Paris Wife), which I'm sure inspired some of them to tune in.
You make an excellent point in your final statement. And I might add "or agree with their opinions". I can think of political figures I didn't really agree with, but still respected for other reasons.
In terms of the behavior and attitude of humankind, Anita, I tend to agree with the unknown writer of Ecclesiastes: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun."
Conversely, it is impossible to "know what we do not know," which indicates there still is much to learn in religious and scientific and probably a few other terms.
Some people explain the dilemma Hemingway had with women began with the relationship he had with his mother, who was a pious and socially strict woman. Neither parent made it a secret they disapproved of his lifestyle and much of what he wrote. To keep this relatively short and skip over some of the exact details, he openly blamed his mother for his father's suicide and frequently described her as a "bitch."
Much of Hemingway's writing was autobiographical to a large degree: ".... only write about what you know." I think the short story in the video made it clear that he thought himself superior to women. His first wife accepted that role; his second wife not only accepted it, but worshipped the ground he walked on; the third wife was her own individual and expected to be treated as such; the fourth wife was her own individual, as well, and constantly was threatening to leave EMH. There is a strong argument to be made that "The Old Man and the Sea" would not (could not) have been written without the presence of the fourth wife, Mary.
A.E. Hotchner likes to write that Hemingway experienced poverty. How many children live in a big house with a family which has a cabin on a lake up north? Hadley had some money of her own through inheritance. I think the Pfeiffer family "wealth" was among the reasons EMH left Hadley for Pauline. "Uncle Gus" Pfeiffer put up $25,000 for the Ernest African safari in 1933. Martha and Mary also had their own incomes, on top of the fact that by the time of their appearances in EMH's life he was earning significant book royalties.
The women Hemingway did not marry also are part of the complete portrait. His World War I nurse, Agnes Hannah von Kurowsky Stanfield, who inspired the character Catherine Barkley in "A Farewell to Arms," dropped him, which sent him into a downward spiral of deep depression and heaving drinking.
Another love affair was between a 50-year-old Hemingway and an 18-year-old Italian countess, Adriana Ivancich. It began after they met at Harry's Bar in Venice. The two exchanged love letters which were not published until years after his death. She was the model for the female character, Renata, in the novel "Across the River and Into the Trees." That relationship never materialized into the marriage he hoped would happen. She was a suicide in 1983 by hanging herself. His third wife, Martha, once again, was a suicide by poison in 1998.
Anita writes: "Does that mean all his women have been important to his writing?"
Fram replies: Yes, absolutely .. unequivocally .. for sure ....
This has been written in sort of a scattered, haphazard manner, and I hope it is clear enough. I could go on and on and on .... but, for now .... thank you and later, Bergen girl ....
I began reading "The Paris Wife" in 2011, Kelly, but for some reason I no longer can recall, put the book down after a few pages and never picked it up again. Perhaps, I will pick it up again now. I think possibly that I did not want to mix fiction with biographical material, which my head is (at least was) filled with to the brim.
"Ernest Hemingway .. A Life Story," by Carlos Baker has been a primary source of biographical material for me over the years. New information, such as the Adriana Ivancich "affair" in the form of published love letters occasionally rises to the surface, but the "essential Hemingway story" has been known for a long/long time.
For a few reasons, I trust the words of Baker more than I do those of A.E. Hotchner, for instance, but value the "personal closeness" of Hotchner's viewpoint, if not always his conclusions.
I agree with your addition of "opinions" to my last paragraph and feel that way, too. The military formula of saluting the uniform and the rank, but not necessarily the individual, is a simple and effective way to handle many situations.
I am not sure what your custom might be in terms of reading comments and replies to comments from others than yourself, but I hope you will read my reply to Anita's comment. It adds to information regarding Hemingway and my thoughts about him and those around him. I believe he fostered and thrived on the persona within the myth about him, as witnessed by the lies he told the older he became.
Here we are again. I do go to your blog and see all your puzzles. Some, I would like to comment on .... later, Mrs. Arkansas .... take care and be safe and stay out of mischief ....
Aha!!
Nå forstår jeg mer av Ernest
Så han brukte sine kvinner i sine romaner..God ide!
Jeg har lært mye av denne posten og skal kjøpe en bok på mandag.Bare for å se og lese hvordan denne kjente mannen fører pennen..Litt stygt av ham å bruke kjærligheten for å oppnå en pen formue .Men det er ikke første gang slikt skjer,og heller ikke den siste
Tragisk med to av hans svermerier som tok livet av seg..En kan begynne å lure..
Ok min venn.Her skufles og brøytes det på snø i store mengder.Vær glad du har vår hos deg.Vi snakkes😊
Anita
Glad to see you back, Anita of the Far North ....
Most of Hemingway's characters are based on himself or people he personally knew, which is true of many fiction writers. He himself is "sort of" Frederic Henry in "A Farewell to Arms" and Robert Jordan in "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and Nick Adams is his own semi-autobiographical-self. Remember, one of EMH's axioms was ".... only write about what you know."
In "The Sun Also Rises," the principal female character, Lady Brett, is modeled from British aristocrat Lady Duff Twysden and the real-life bullfighter Cayetano Ordonez turns into the novel's bullfighter Romero. Other characters in "Sun" had their real life counterparts. The character of Cohn is based on Harry Loeb, a fellow-expatriate in Paris, and the character of Mike is the fictional equivalent of Pat Guthrie, Lady Tywsden's fiancée.
As for suicide, the Hemingway family has no shortage of it among its members and acquaintances, which "bleeds" over into psychological studies.
I would suggest you look for a book of his short stories, rather than one of his novels to learn more about him and about his writing.
Take care and be safe and .... for all del, les litt av Papa Hemingway ....
Du "snakker" så godt norsk nå..Det er faktisk mulig diskutere med deg..Foresten så ser jeg "Papa Hemingway"..Faktisk er en bok..Hmmm..
"Papa Hemingway" is a biography by A.E. Hotchner, whose work, I think, must be taken with a grain of salt. He was relatively close to EMH, which makes much of what he writes more interesting, but he also has a tendency to exaggerate things, so it is necessary to read his stuff with a bit of knowledge of your own and not be shy about checking other sources.
It is easier to read and write other languages than it is to speak them .... for me, anyway, who largely relies on memorization rather than actual understanding. Regional idioms and accents are challenges even with my native language, much less some other language.
Sov godt, Anita i det fjerne / fjerne nord ....
Hi, Fram :)
I enjoyed watching the series very much and I thought it was well done. I love the simple and straightforward nature of Hemingway's writing. It was fascinating to learn of his upbringing and how those familial relationships played in the making of the man, Hemingway, the storyteller, newspaperman, and author he became. His relationship with his mother, his father, the head injuries, his own struggles with what I believe was mental illness and the women he loved, his controlling nature... It seems he thrived on the chaos he created in his life. The bipolar nature of the manic highs and super lows both elevated his art and ultimately brought his demise. It is really rather sad what mental illness and alcoholism can do to a person. He certainly lived...no sitting on the sidelines for Hemingway. To watch a person pursue their passion with such determination is inspiring. One thing I enjoyed about the series was the quotes of those perfect sentences he wrote. Like you quoted above, "write what you know." He lived to write. The one thing I hated and it upset me to watch was the bullfights. To torture an animal and watch it die before your eyes is really barbaric and I just don't get that at all, nor do I want to get it. I don't like it. It was so sad to see the bull stabbed so many times and fall dead in the ring as people cheered. What a terrible sport...
I hope all is well with you. I see on the news that things are going crazy again in Minnesota. I wish we could all learn to respect one another, cherish our differences, and just get along...
Stay safe and well :)
Kelly
I began to lose myself in Carlos Baker's biography of Old Man Hemingway yesterday afternoon. I have read it cover-to-cover twice and segments of it countless times, but it has been a decade since my last reading and I have been trying to compare points made by Baker with material in the Ken Burns / Lynn Novick documentary.
Then, I realized it would take a life time to try to learn all there was about EMH, meaning it would take an extra lifetime if a person wished to live his own. Next, I realized I have given more than my share of time toward deciphering and understanding him and, at this stage of my life, it was stupidity to spend more time on his trail.
So long, Ernie .... until the next time, anyway ....
I really learned nothing new about Hemingway from the documentary, Kelly, but learned more about his four wives and came to have a greater appreciation of them. Hadley had been the only "winner" in my eyes, and I now feel I can see the foils and foibles of the other three much more clearly. My own posts would not have occurred this time were it not for the Burns/Novick program and, in a sense, are the results of an ad lib stew = toss several ingredients into a kettle and see what results.
Kelly writes: "It seems he thrived on the chaos he created in his life."
Fram replies: I think that is exactly right, until it wore him down and consumed him. You see that with regularity in people: Living life until it burns them out and, in the instance of EMH, the burnout was cataclysmic.
I frequently describe myself as a "jack of many trades and a master of none." I never have been able to remain focused on a single thing long enough to truly master it, and, actually, never have been able to understand people who can and do. Life has so very many "foods" to offer that I have wanted to taste as much of them as I possibly can, rather than stay in the same kitchen preparing the same "meal" over and over attempting for perfection.
I agree with you about the bullfighting. I saw a couple in Tijuana when I was in the Marine Corps and thought them repugnant. I also cannot understand how Bwana Hemingway could remain an avid hunter throughout his life. To describe him one way, he seems to have been completely enraptured by the triumvirate of writing / hunting-fishing / womanizing.
I am glad that writing seems to have been primary in that group.
What is happening in Minnesota at this point in time is a demonstration of what a façade the words "Minnesota Nice" really amount to and simmering just below the surface is the same volatility going on everywhere else in the world. Authorities actually have blockaded bridges at times to keep the "bad guys" away from the western and southern suburbs. Riots and pandemics be damned .... life goes on same pretty much undisturbed and unchanged on this side of the rivers. Hmmmm .... I wonder what is simmering just beneath the surface?
Winter has returned for me for a few days, but it is easier to take in April and I sort of like it.
You, too, Kelly of the Ocean Blue. Be safe and well and take care and, first and foremost, be a good girl ....
Aww, Fram, don't you know, I'm always a good girl ;)
Later Alligator :)
My dear young lady .... I was a very small town, country boy from the Midwest the first time I was warned about California girls, but that aside, think of it as a friendly reminder ....
Post a Comment