I always worry about his cats when a hurricane hits the Keys. But I know the museum caretakers always bring them inside and his house was built like a fortress meant to withstand hurricanes.
@@alphaamino the few people who had some reasonable arguments got quickly buried by the crazies dogpiling into her mentions, dragging her as if she gauged a puppy's eyes out, not made a poorly thought out comment about children's mass media.
Fun fact: Hemingway had a large amount of cats with extra toes in his house in Florida . They came to be known as Hemingway Cats. I used to volunteer at a shelter in Central Florida and we still see a large amount of them in Florida today
I’d say you’re real PBS by now; the stuff you four make on this channel is the most I’ve been invested in anything PBS since my Arthur and Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman days
The mania and depression made so much of the story behind the guy "click." I don't think someone bangs out a novel in 6 weeks while 100% neurotypical. Let alone all the risk-taking and, yes, the apparent disconnect between his interactions with friends and his vicious fiction about them. Dude was probably self-medicating for decades before the pills.
I saw an interview with his grandson John several years ago. His book, Strange Tribe, goes deep into exploding the extreme masculine myths about Ernest. It's really fascinating the lengths that both Ernest and his publisher went to prop up that image.
The preface to A Moveable Feast, and really Hemingway's entire ethos, reminds me a lot of Jeanette Winterson's theme in Art and Lies of "There's no such thing as autobiography, there's only art and lies". In her case though, this book came before her own autobiography, which was so unromanticised and dry it almost read like a Goodreads bio. It's like as if while they both knew it's pointless trying to be objective in narrating someone's life, she tried her might to mitigate it and he embraced it with a lot more humor than one might associate with grumpy macho grandpa. Not saying either was more correct, just that it's something that pays to be aware of. You can usually tell when someone has no idea how they're coming off and when they're in on it.
Haha the section in A Moveable Feast about Hemingway and Fitzgerald looking at statues together always made me laugh. Imagine confiding to your friend about such an intimate issue, only for it to be thrown into a book read by thousands.
I haven't read the book but I'm guessing what that this might have been because Ernest wasn't exactly a loyal friend, was he? It was Zelda who upset Scott by saying his tool was small. Scott apparently showed it to Ernest in the bathroom.
Sounds like the kind of man everyone secretly hates, but is successful and charismatic enough for most people to stay quiet about it and suck up to him.
I’ve read lots, and lots and lots on Hemingway. I’m more fan of his life, than his novels. Hem was bigger than life. The way he wanted it. Like a novel.
I too got into researching E.H. THEN his kids. THEN the grandkids. The Hemingway curse thing bothers me. Its genetic.. that kind of mental health illness is not uncommon to many families.
@@Moscato_Moscato like comparing similarities between two story structures, from to American ip's and being called racist is just the snake retroflexively eating itself.
@@caitlin228 considering she’s been through this before, it also might be a self-care move - an example that I think more people could benefit to follow
I have tried so hard to like Hemingway, and I have never been able to cross that bridge. His style of writing does not agree with me; his personality has always rubbed me the wrong way; his treatment of Fitzgerald, who helped and encouraged Hemingway's career, struck me as negative. But maybe one day, I'll overcome my resistance and be able to meet him halfway.
I remember struggling to read The Sun Also Rises in high school. I think if would be fair to say his work consists of plain prose, which can make things tedious if you aren't already into stories of fishing and hunting. Would others agree?
I think personality-wise he was an absolute ass, and while I don't think his style is the "End all be all only correct way to write" I have to admit, the dude was a damn good writer.
@@criticalhit009 I don't know if you are female, too, but I definitely felt that (like Joseph Conrad) he's a man's writer. It's hard sometimes to bridge that gap. But I found the insight into the male psyche interesting, if ofttimes baffling & maddening! 🤔
Waiting for Simone from Polygon to show up here XD But seriously, this is such a good video! What a fascinating man--he reminds me of Jack London in the focus on the masculine body, self reliance, and determinism. Though I wonder to what extend each author embraced the wilderness, or sought to tame it (I think its the former more for London, the latter more or Hemingway.) Excellent stuff!
Just finished the PBS documentary. Excellent. Such a tragic figure. But, I am convinced that most of the folks who truly move the needle in the world are rather eccentric and sometimes very broken, like Hemingway. Wracked with depression and insecurity. And then of course many head injuries, mental illness, and addiction. Equally fascinating, he torched so many people ... but the power of his charm kept most of them sympathetic to him. A very complicated person much larger than life. And his writing is often stunningly great.
The Hemingway family has a lot of ѕυιςιδε in it. Not just Ernest, but something like a dozen members of the family. There is obviously a genetic component.
If I read a dating profile like that, I'd probably assume they were lying their heads off. Must say, I never finished the only Hemingway book I ever started. That is not a common occurrance for me
not the biggest fan of hemingway myself, but have you tried the old man and the sea? it's one of his shorter works and the hemingway hero in that one is much less machismo and more like humble and dogged :D
I tried to read for whom the bell tolls and every chapter I was thinking when in the heck are they gonna blow up that bridge?? Also how old is this "girl" because I'm about to puke all over this book and throw it in a dumpster fire. Turns out they don't blow it up until the very end of the book and everything in-between is insufferable. I couldn't do it either.
Zelda was a jealous lunatic , insecure drunk, who tried everything she could think of to prevent F. Scott from writing. Fitzgerald allowed her to ruin his life. He was pathetic in that regard. Hemingway never let anything/any woman interfere with his writing. Fitzgerald admitted that he was going to parties every night for years , getting drunk with Zelda...and not writing a word. Hemingway was writing everyday.
It didn’t take but a few seconds to recognize this woman has no idea. She couldn’t be a reliable source of information if she tried. Her filters of processing information are boring and predictable and childish.
Just read "Hills like White Elephants" and after watching this video I am all the more interested in reading his work. Excuse me while I manically read everything he's ever written and learn trivia which shall never leave my mind.
I did an in-depth study of him last year. All the novels, all the short stories, A Moveable Feast. I felt that For Whom the Bell Tolls was a masterpiece. Absolutely authentic & gripping. I would gladly read it again any time. The short stories are more like snapshots of a feeling, a moment, a personality, than a narrative. Just my impressions. I enjoyed the study, overall, & hope you do, too! 📚
Have always loved the Kat Stratford quote from 10 Things I Hate About You. "Hemingway? He was an abusive, alcoholic misogynist who squandered half of his life hanging around Picasso trying to nail his leftovers."
How do you begin to trash a literary icon? Probably with facts. One cannot minimize Hemingway’s literary accomplishments. However, his ego is fruit for his eventual demise.
If you've ever been to Key West, you get the same vibe. The fact that he lived there is a gigantic selling point. On the bright side, there are more cigar stores than any other place I've been to, so that's cool.
When I was 15, I read started reading ‘the old man and the sea’. But quickly I developed a totally unfunded antipathy against the author of the book. Did’t know why. Your video made me think that maybe he is was narcissist, and I felt that through the story.
You don't like Hemingway, do you, Lindsay? You might as well quote Kat Stratford from "10 Things I Hate About You" and say "Ernest Hemingway was an abusive, alcoholic misogynist who squandered half of his life hanging around Picasso trying to nail his leftovers."
Eh, not exactly. He went to Spain as a reporter for the North American Newspaper Association. For Whom The Bell Tolls though pretty much was about an American going to fight for the Republicans in their guerilla units. I believe this guerilla unit either referred to the POUM, which had its own share of international volunteers. Or the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, which is one of the most famous units in Spain, consisting of American Communists who left their country to fight for the Republican cause. So Ernest Hemingway was brave as he did go to Spain during the civil war and met with Republicans even on the battlefield. But he wasn't a volunteer or a fighter, though I guess that is the point of this video. :D
That summary of Hemingway's childhood missed something *very* important. He was forced to dress as a girl by his mother, and could only be himself when he was out on hunting trips with his father. Manly activities were basically his only comfort. But, his father was also very abusive, so the only thing Ernest could enjoy was the activity itself. It was his *only* outlet. Then, his father killed himself. In a way, I see both his adventuring and writing as Hemingway trying to figure himself out. I'm still not sure if he ever did, but I hope so.
Thank you for this nuanced and entertaining summary of one of my favorite writers! I’m still finding new aspects of his work to pick apart and enjoy, both on a service level and with more academic scrutiny.
Amazing video, guys, congratulations. I love all the videos of this series but this might be the best, Th Sun Also Rises of the It's Lit videos, one might say.
I know Hemmingway is probably a better author than I give him credit for, but I will never EVER read a book of his based on principle. It's not something I'd say of a lot of people but I'd read Ayn Rand and H.P. Lovecraft before I'd read Hemmingway.
I much prefer Martha's writing to his. I think she was the better writer, and the more impressive adventurer. Which would probably infuriate Ernest, all the better.
@Janey Cat29 this was my thought as well, he's s living legend, in the best and worst ways haha But other than him I can't think of anyone (lots of people with the drama but not necessarily the accolades)
Here's my subjective opinion: Honestly I just don't get the massive hype behind Hemingway and why he's so highly regarded in the literary world. I DNF two of his books ( The Sun Also Rises and The Old Man And The Sea) because it was so bland and boring. I mean his characters and plot are not even compelling nor progressing! When I'm reading his books is like i'm reading a diary, travel guide or even a manual book.
Great video. I hadn't known about Hemingway's habit of talking himself up. I would have loved to have known about his manic depression/bipolar disorder earlier in the video - the grandiosity that often comes with manic episodes would explain a lot about why he would exaggerate/fabricate his greatness so much. His depressive episodes would probably give him a reason to try so hard to maintain that illusion, too, for himself as well as others.
