Remembering Ernest Hemingway [Hardcover]

James Plath (Author), Frank Simons (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 1999

This volume collects thirteen extended interviews with eleven close friends of Ernest Hemingway, plus his sons Patrick and Gregory. His grand-daughter (and noted author) Lorian Hemingway provides an insightful foreword. Each interview is accompanied by one or more photographs from the period being discussed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

An important and unique addition to Hemingway lore. Extensive interviews which do as much as any biography written to date in providing a vivid portrait of this great American writer. --George Plimpton, founding editor, The Paris Review.

Hemingway fans and scholars alike will be fascinated by the interviews and reminiscences in Remembering Ernest Hemingway. In this intriguing book, Hemingway's sons Patrick and Gregory provide family insights into the legacy of their famous father, and many of his closest friends and confidants reflect on the character, work habits and dedication of one of the most important writers of the twentieth century. No one who is seriously interested in Hemingway will want to miss this valuable collection. --James Nagel, author of Hemingway in Love and War.

I recommend this book for two reasons. It is a superb, fun, illuminating journey and it is the only book about this great writer from which I came away feeling that I'd actually met the man, a man I now like very much. --Randy Wayne White, author of Night Vision and 18 other Doc Ford mysteries.

About the Author

James Plath, a professor of English at Illinios Wesleyan University, is a Hemingway scholar who has presented papers at three international conferences and was invited by the Ministry of Culture to lecture on Hemingway at the author's former home outside Havana, Cuba. Plath also directed the Hemingway Days Writers' Workshop & Conference in Key West for ten years. Frank Simons is a retired Sarasota, Florida, high school teacher who, as a grad student, traveled to Key West to interview the people closest to Ernest Hemingway.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: The Ketch & Yawl Press; 1st edition (May 18, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964173557
• ISBN-13: 978-0964173552
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,691,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Candid Look at Hemingway the Man, February 11, 2000

By 

Ron Anderson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remembering Ernest Hemingway (Paperback)

Having just finished "Remembering Ernest Hemingway," I am eager to sing its praises! I have taught Hemingway for 30 years, have read all the bios of him--Baker, Reynolds, Hotchner, etc., and enjoyed them all--but this book still manages to surprise and delight the reader with previously unheard anecdotes, unseen photos, and candid, first-person recollections of Hemingway the friend, boxer, fisherman, hunter, and writer. The book is a compilation of interviews with close personal friends and relatives of EH. For instance, his sons, Gregory and Patrick tell what life was like with EH for a father; two men remember their experiences boxing regularly with EH; Charles Thompson, who went on African safari with EH (and was featured in Hemingway's "Green Hills of Africa")tells what it was like to hunt big game with Hemingway; Valerie Hemingway remembers being with EH during wild times in Spain, etc.

Reading each interview is as authentic and fascinating as watching an old home movie. Each person interviewed offers genuine incidents in which Hemingway's candid words and actions reveal the man in his many facets. All in all, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book, a must read for all Hemingway fans. And, as frosting on the cake, the book even has rare photos, some of which I have never before seen: photos of Hemingway and Gary Cooper; photos of Hem's boat, "The Pilar,"; photos of Hemingway with the Italian woman on whom he based his novel "Across the River and Into the Trees," etc. "Remembering Ernest Hemingway" is a wonderful glimpse of the elusive writer. I most highly recommend it.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like living with Hemingway., June 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Remembering Ernest Hemingway (Hardcover)

After decades of reveling in the myth of Hemingway I now know the man they call Papa Hemingway. The book holds many intimate surprises as told first hand by those who were his friends and his sons. The book is easy and friendly like sipping daiquiries on the verando in the keys and talking among friends. But it is also voyeuristic in feeling as you listen to the interviews and hear what everyday people who knew him had to say. It is intimate in content and refreshing to the senses. I knew the myth and I now know the man. I still like him. This is a good read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alteration of Perspective, July 7, 2004

By 

Amy S. (Pahoa, Hawaii) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Remembering Ernest Hemingway (Paperback)

I've always held in high regard Hemingway's knowledge, as well as professionalism, when it came to his craft. Less impressed, through the years, I've been with what I've heard/read in regards to him, the person. A good book changes, to varying degrees, a reader's previous perspective. REMEMBERING ERNEST HEMINGWAY did that for me; and for that - to both Frank Simons and James Plath - I am grateful.