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The writer's job is to tell the truth. However, truth be told, this was a dull book.
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Hemingway and the Mechanism of Fame: Statements, Public Letters, Introductions, Forewords, Prefaces, Blurbs, Reviews, And Endorsements
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Ernest Hemingway was famous for being famous. He assiduously cultivated different and sometimes divergent personae--sportsman, soldier, aesthetician, patriot, drinker, womanizer, intellectual, anti-intellectual, sage, brawler, world traveler, war correspondent, big-game hunter, and even author--each chosen to foster his place in the American cultural consciousness and support the sales of his books. In every role he projected the insider's air of authority and expertise that was presumed credible, even when not wholly deserved. His success in these self-legendizing efforts to couple nonliterary celebrity with literary stature is evident in his continued fame among those familiar and unfamiliar with his books. Hemingway and the Mechanism of Fame assembles Hemingway's public writings about himself, all framed as documents of support for or criticism of other people and other products. Comprising fifty-four public statements and letters; twenty introductions, forewords, and prefaces; and twenty-nine book blurbs, reviews, and product endorsements, the collection chronicles the means by which Hemingway advanced his own standing through these literary and extraliterary writings. From his commercial endorsements for the Parker 51 pen and Ballantine ale to his Nobel Prize acceptance statement and commentary on President Kennedy's inauguration, Hemingway shows himself to be an expert marketing strategist, infusing each piece with thoughtfully crafted autobiography designed to engage his public and promote his image. Arranged in chronological order and spanning more than forty years, the selections in this volume map the development of Hemingway's most complex, studied, criticized, parodied, andcelebrated fictional character: Ernest Hemingway himself.
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Genres
184 pages, Hardcover
First published November 30,2005
This edition
- Format
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184 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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November 7, 2005 by University of South Carolina Press
- ISBN
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9781570035999
- ASIN
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1570035997
- Language
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English
About the author
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Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Best known for an economical, understated style that significantly influenced later 20th-century writers, he is often romanticized for his adventurous lifestyle, and outspoken and blunt public image. Most of Hemingway's works were published between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s, including seven novels, six short-story collections and two non-fiction works. His writings have become classics of American literature; he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature, while three of his novels, four short-story collections and three nonfiction works were published posthumously.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he spent six months as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star before enlisting in the Red Cross. He served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in World War I and was seriously wounded in 1918. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. He married Hadley Richardson in 1921, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926.
He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had worked as a journalist and which formed the basis for his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. He and Gellhorn separated after he met Mary Welsh Hemingway in London during World War II. Hemingway was present with Allied troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. He maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida, in the 1930s and in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. On a 1954 trip to Africa, he was seriously injured in two plane accidents on successive days, leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, in mid-1961, he died of suicide.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he spent six months as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star before enlisting in the Red Cross. He served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in World War I and was seriously wounded in 1918. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. He married Hadley Richardson in 1921, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926.
He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had worked as a journalist and which formed the basis for his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. He and Gellhorn separated after he met Mary Welsh Hemingway in London during World War II. Hemingway was present with Allied troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. He maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida, in the 1930s and in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. On a 1954 trip to Africa, he was seriously injured in two plane accidents on successive days, leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, in mid-1961, he died of suicide.
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A collection that showcases Hemingway penning book blurbs is truly an interesting find. Hemingway's writing style in these blurbs was rather petulant, often meandering in a way that might seem disorganized at first glance. Moreover, it was filled with insider jokes that only those in the know could fully appreciate. Surprisingly, the book blurbs were not so much about the author or the book itself. Instead, they seemed to be Hemingway's way of settling old scores or attempting to outshine another writer's expertise. It's as if he used these blurbs as a platform to assert his own superiority and show off his literary prowess. This collection offers a unique glimpse into Hemingway's personality and his competitive nature within the literary world. It makes one wonder what other hidden motives and emotions were at play as he crafted these blurbs. Overall, it's a fascinating exploration of Hemingway's writing beyond his well-known novels and short stories.
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Hemingway-iana for the Hemingway-phile.
This compilation is not intended for the casual Hemingway reader. However, if you are a die-hard Hemingway-phile who is aware that he penned introductions to books like Kiki of Montparnasse's "Kiki's Memoirs" and Jimmie the Barman's "This Must Be the Place", then this collection is a convenient resource. It contains a wide variety of shorter pieces, ranging from brief one-sentence book blurbs to full-length articles such as "Who Killed the Vets?"
Nevertheless, it is not entirely complete. A short list of the missing items would have been beneficial. For example, the chronology in the book mentions an introduction to the 1942 book "Men at War", but that introduction is absent from this collection. Still, it encompasses most of the other works that I have ever come across in Hemingway biographies and much more besides.
Therefore, this is recommended for those who have devoured everything else and are in need of a literary fix before the next volume of the Hemingway Library Edition (such as the expanded edition of "Green Hills of Africa: The Hemingway Library Edition" due in Summer 2015 or Volume III of "The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 2, 1923 - 1925") is published.
This compilation is not intended for the casual Hemingway reader. However, if you are a die-hard Hemingway-phile who is aware that he penned introductions to books like Kiki of Montparnasse's "Kiki's Memoirs" and Jimmie the Barman's "This Must Be the Place", then this collection is a convenient resource. It contains a wide variety of shorter pieces, ranging from brief one-sentence book blurbs to full-length articles such as "Who Killed the Vets?"
Nevertheless, it is not entirely complete. A short list of the missing items would have been beneficial. For example, the chronology in the book mentions an introduction to the 1942 book "Men at War", but that introduction is absent from this collection. Still, it encompasses most of the other works that I have ever come across in Hemingway biographies and much more besides.
Therefore, this is recommended for those who have devoured everything else and are in need of a literary fix before the next volume of the Hemingway Library Edition (such as the expanded edition of "Green Hills of Africa: The Hemingway Library Edition" due in Summer 2015 or Volume III of "The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 2, 1923 - 1925") is published.
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