I'm not a huge Hemingway fan. Too terse. Too bloody pre-occupied with killing things. Especially too into the masculine.
There was another sad creature in Missoula to add to the collection. I wonder if David Lynch used him as a role model for David Duchovney's character in Twin Peaks...sheer conjecture on my part.
You could see him on most days sitting on a bench at the courthouse.
From the Bozeman Chronicle:
(Turns out that he was) Gregory Hemingway. They eventually married making Valerie an official Hemingway herself.
In "Running with the Bulls," Valerie discusses in detail the more than 20 years she spent as Greg's wife. She describes him as a talented sportsman, a caring and charismatic father and a man with deep psychological problems including bipolar disorder. They divorced in 1987.
"I wanted to try and give a picture of the whole man and the whole family," Valerie said. "You can just take the grisly details and have an entirely different story."
Greg Hemingway was found dead of an apparent heart attack in a women's jail in Florida in 2001. He had undergone a sex change operation in the mid-1990s after living his entire life as a transvestite.
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5 comments:
yea, gregory was always fucked up like that. i actually never knew he got a sex change operation.
papa wrote some amazingly tender stuff, though. the undercurrents that run through his "masculine" boy/man tales are fabulous. towards the end of "A Farewell to Arms" he describes how the love of his life dies in childbirth--it's a HUGE chunk and a wonderful description of what a woman goes through, culminating w/her tragic death (I know...I have seen my share--we have 3 daughters). No one calloused or chauvenistic could have reached in and written something like this. trust me on this one. people have criticised Papa of being too "manly" for decades, but I think a lot of them fail to read the undercurrents and the sensitivity. you should check out his first book of short stories: "In our Time." There's some great stuff in there about WWI and--true, it's about how the war destroyed a young man (Hemingway himself), but it takes a huge amount of sensitivity for a young man to come to terms with those kinds of feelings and set them down into brilliant short stories and poetry. And...he was only 18 when he was wounded.
Hemingway, love him or hate him, has pretty much influenced every dynamic writer in the 20th Century. You name him, he'll say it was Hemingway who got him started (Mailer, Hunter Thompson, Updike, etc.).
quite sad about his kids, though. they were all fucked up--w/the exception of Patrick, who I think is the only one left alive. I think he's pretty well-adjusted.
I have to admit that my only exposure was The Pearl, The Old Man and the Sea and something else that escapes me right now. And it was in high school. So I probably haven't given him a second chance. I haven't given one to Cervantes either (Don Quixote about killed me when I was 17). If I had a conscience, I would give it a go. Maybe once I get a library card, I'll take your recommendation and run with it. I don't like being ignorantly biased.
But then again, Hemingway could possibly be a guy thing. I'll try him and let you know what I think.
The Pearl was by Steinbeck.
Hemingway was always wrongfully accused of being a "guy thing." I think his early short stories are unbelievable. Talk about sensitive and dynamic. Then, later, as he got famous and others became jealous, he got pigeonholed. You should read the description of the scene at the end of "Farewell To Arms" in which the love of his life dies in childbirth. It's absolutely amazing for a MAN to write with such vivid emotion about a WOMAN giving birth and her courageous death while helping a life come into the world. All the idiots pigeonholing Hemingway tend to forget about that scene, which clearly shows his sensitivity and understanding for a woman's plight. Having been through it myself three times w/my kids, I can honestly say that I could never ever even approach that kind of emotional writing which he achieves in the scene.
There...have I "sold" him to you yet?
j/k
Ok- So now I have to admit that I don't like Steinbeck either. Dammit man! Leave me a veil of mystery! (Actually, I'm also not so fond of Lawrence or Hardy- but I've read lots of them)
You've sold old Papa. I'll check out "Farewell" from the library post haste.I beg of you though not to try and sell me on Joyce (besides "Portrait") or Cervantes- I will probably rebel heartily.
You know, Iread Cervantes as a very young boy (maybe 9?) and loved it. But now, looking at the 900-page book I shudder. We had plenty of time back in the ol' Mother Country--no TV or radio, really.
I wasn't trying to sell you anyone; just kind of clear up misconceptions.
I'm not a Lawrence or Hardy fan either. Not even Laurel and Hardy.
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