Hunting with Hemingway - Softcover

Hemingway, Hilary; Lindsay, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1626819165 ISBN 13: 9781626819160

Publisher: Diversion Books, 2015

Synopsis

"Hemingway and Lindsay carry the Hemingway traditions of hunting, family, and storytelling into the new millennium." ―KIRKUS
Fifteen years after her father's death, Hilary Hemingway receives a curious inheritance: an audio-cassette of Les, her father, telling outrageous stories about hunting with his famous older brother, Ernest Hemingway. Les clearly aims to amuse the listeners with tales of the Hemingway brothers hunting vicious ostriches, hungry crocodiles, and deadly komodo dragons, but where Les Hemingway gets serious is in defending and explaining his brother’s reputation to a contemptuous Hemingway scholar. Hilary transcribes these stories, revealing the bond between two larger-than-life brothers―and tells of her own quest to make peace with the painful parts of the Hemingway legacy.

About this title

Review:

Hilary Hemingway's father, Leicester Hemingway, committed suicide in 1982, 21 years after his famous older brother, Ernest. In 1997, Hilary's mother died and left her a mysterious audiocassette of Leicester telling hunting stories at the family home in Miami Beach. Are the stories true? Interjections by Leicester's wife and a good friend suggest they are well-polished yarns, designed to deflect Ernest idolaters like the unnamed English professor whose nervous laugh and awkward questions punctuate the recording. Does it matter if they're true? "These stories are really good," says Hilary's 7-year-old daughter. "I even like them and I really hate hunting." Indeed, Leicester's suspenseful tales of stalking crocodiles, ostriches, and tigers with his adored big brother evoke the glamorous Hemingway world of men pitted against beasts as a test of courage and grace under pressure. Listening to the recording on her daughter's purple Barney tape player, the author rediscovers "the big, laughing man" who taught her "to enjoy whatever life might throw at me"; she then comes to terms with his suicide in the face of a debilitating illness. Skillfully interweaving her father's voice with her own reflections in her meditative text, the author reminds us that the Hemingway legacy is not just one of swaggering machismo, but of love for family and pleasure in the physical world. --Wendy Smith

About the Author:

Hilary Hemingway, an award-winning screenwriter and a writer for The Miami Herald, Interview, and Harper's Bazaar, is the executive director of the International Hemingway Festival.
Jeffry P. Lindsay writes a syndicated column called "Fatherhood" and is the director of the Ernest Hemingway Literary Conference. They live in southwest Florida.

About this edition

• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1626819165
• ISBN 13: 9781626819160
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 246