Ernest Hemingway – the Man, the Myth, and the Work

Moderator: Gerald Goldman
Role of participants: Participants will lead a one hour discussion of chapters they will choose from Hemingway’s work.
Number of participants (including the moderators): 17
Time: Wednesdays, 1:30–3:30 pm [Note: Seminar begins on September 30 and concludes on December 1. No class during the week of Thanksgiving.] Place: National Yiddish Book Center, 1021 West Street, Amherst
Parking: Ample parking on site

In this seminar we will read three works by Ernest Hemingway: The Snows of Kilimanjaro, a collection of short stories, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and The Sea.

Our purpose will be to reconsider the myth which surrounds Hemingway’s life.

That he was a man of action is well known. Severely wounded as an ambulance driver in Italy during WW I,  a hard drinker, a disciplined writer and friend of Gertrude Stein, Fitzgerald, Pound, and Joyce in 1920’s Paris, four times married, runner of bulls in Pamplona and expert in the craft of bullfighting, journalist who covered the rebel side during the Spanish Civil War, correspondent embedded with American troops in Europe, spotter of German subs, big game hunter in Africa and deep sea fisherman in the Gulf – all surround his life with the myth that he was solely a man’s man.

But can we find in his work a different Hemingway? Will our reading reveal a Hemingway both contemplative and compassionate, a man who understood the fullness of love?

Format: Seminar

Resources: The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea: the author Ernest Hemingway. Available in paperback, and used on Amazon.

The Moderator: Gerald Goldman is a retired rabbi who loves literature and is fascinated by Hemingway’s powerful writing.