Life In Pieces

Ernest Hemingway: Artifacts from a Life - Michael Katakis (Scribner)

I have always loved books like, Ernest Hemingway: Artifacts from a Life, the ones that tell a story not just of written words, but by weaving together photographs, letters and telegrams, notes and snippets collected over the course of a lifetime. 

I have always believed there is a thin line between a collector and a hoarder. A collector can truly live in a world of the marvelous and magical, while a hoarder lives in a world of sickness and decay. Thank God that someone had the foresight to gather this ephemera, which could have easily been discarded along the way of Hemingway's rambling, roaming life; and put together this magical collection in a way that offers new insight into the writer/adventurers life.

Given the current state of thinking on the keeping of journals among the writer community, I was struck by the fact the Hemingway did not keep a journal or diary;  he seemed like the perfect candidate for the practice. That being said, it raises the value  of the work done curating this collection by Michael Katakis, the manager of  the Hemingway estate. Katakis does a wonderful job of utilizing two way communications to detail the story in these pages; letters, notes and  telegrams to and from Hemingway, often dashed off on whatever was handy when he jotted of a note. A formal telegram from President-elect Kennedy invited Hemingway to inauguration events, coupled with the scrawled, back of steno notebook page reply of regrets due to health issues.

This book also made me a bit sad for future generations; like many I don't have a large collection of photographs, letters or cards to gather memories. To put together a collection of this type in the future we may need to package copies of SD cards, jump drives and outdated smartphones, complete with cracked screens to tell our story. We live in such a mobile, disposable society that we will lose so much of our personal history in the futile search for the next meme or viral video. Then again it got me to ponder the endless stacks of journals and notebooks in which I have scrawled millions of words on every topic imaginable and what my family would make of them as they thumbed through the pages. 

For now I will have  to be content with this amazing collection and the insights it gives this Hemingway fan, into the storied history and ramblings, both real life and on paper.

A Fresh Look at Classic Hemingway

A Fresh Look at Classic Hemingway

The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Hemingway Library Edition – Ernest Hemingway – (Scribner)

There is something old-timey about Ernest Hemingway’s short story-telling style and it’s not just because the stories collected here were penned between 1916 and 1938.

There is a cinematic sense in that spare style, but it runs deeper than that. These aren’t traditionally visual stories; they read like old time radio dramas where you, the reader/listener is left to imagine the visual rather than having the setting, the locale and the visual space filled for you.

Hemingway builds a spare frame and allows you to fill in the blanks. I was left with an Orson Wells-y narration running through my head as I thumbed through these often familiar stories.

This collection features some nice additional bonus material including reproductions of the original typed manuscripts, illustrations of early draft versions of some of the stories and few first stabs at story ideas that would later evolve. It also features an introduction by Hemingway’s grandson, Sean and a foreword from Hemingway’s only surviving son, Patrick. This makes for both a great introduction to those new to Hemingway’s short stories and a nice addition to longtime fans of his work.