Hemingway's guns

[Kensal Rise]

Delk & McCarthy:
Kudos to you both. And no... there is little left hanging around for. Everything is a disappointment in the end. Papa knew that. And he sadly decided to deal with it. But please excuse me. I might have had a pint. And I'm in the same business he was. On the other hand, "cheers!" Why the heck not!

Best, Kensal

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by Kensal Rise

Delk & McCarthy:
Kudos to you both. And no... there is little left hanging around for. Everything is a disappointment in the end. Papa knew that. And he sadly decided to deal with it. But please excuse me. I might have had a pint. And I'm in the same business he was. On the other hand, "cheers!" Why the heck not!

Best, Kensal

The existential concept, that life is what one makes of it, may have been the source of EH's "get'r done" motif. I find his masculinity, which has fallen from vogue in the US today, refreshing. I think he killed himself because his over the top male image, which was so important to his make up, had slipped. In addition his thinking may have been muddled.

Is there something worth "hanging around for"? In the mind of the existentialist, there is only if one is capable of making life worth living. EH thought not. He blew the entire top of his head off. His death provided a stange sort of continuiety with his beginning and middle. He went out in a flash of gunfire and gore, somehow it fits.

[Mills]

This is a good thread and has me interested in getting the Hemingway book now.

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by Mills Morrison

This is a good thread and has me interested in getting the Hemingway book now.

EH's life is compelling because so many "real men" would like to mimic Hemingway's. Certainly Hem thought that he lived a near perfect existance, but did he? That is the rub and to find out if he did, many of us are drawn to his writings and bios.

I think it was Hotchner, a Hemingway Pal and a biographer, who said, "All real men either want to be like Hemingway, or be liked by him." I wonder. But I have to admit, I would have enjoyed hunting with him and running around the Carib hunting for Nazi subs and attending bull fights sitting next to him listening to his running dialogue.

Was Hem a "nice guy"? Not sure. I suspect that he only liked people who also liked him.

[charlie cleveland]

boys if these parker threads dont want to make you hang around then......lifes to short as it is im trying to enjoy every moment even though a rock gets in the road every once in a while... charlie

[George Lander]

EH always struck me as being the same as the principal male character in his writings. Somewhat aloof, a hard drinker & womanizer and very hard on the few friends that he had. His life and thoughts were, for the most part, contained within himself and very seldom did he allow others to see the true EH. JMHO

George

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by George Lander

EH always struck me as being the same as the principal male character in his writings. Somewhat aloof, a hard drinker & womanizer and very hard on the few friends that he had. His life and thoughts were, for the most part, contained within himself and very seldom did he allow others to see the true EH. JMHO

George

Hem was a self made creation. He taught us who he either was, or decided he wanted to be. He was also "full of himself", something that makes him seem borish today. In his day a man's man was accepted, sadly not so much in the modern era.

Did he keep his real self secret? I don't think he had much to hide. He wasn't for instance, a closet gay, or cross dressor (as was one of his sons). I do think he was a braggart and demanded that his friends genuflect before his throne.

Would he be fun to partner with on a hunt? Only if one loved and admired him. Since I don't, I think the outing would be problematic. I think Ruark would have been easier to get along with while on safari. Not sure I could handle his bush martini's tho...warm gin served in a plastic cup....with lunch.

[Kensal Rise]

Steve:
Whoever Hemingway "was," he was certainly a man of importance, as this thread testifies. And a damn good writer. Ruark, on the other hand, fancied himself a bush league Hemingway -- but never quite lived up to Papa's towering image.
Nonetheless, warm gin is better than no gin. Cup composition aside.

Best, Kensal

[Steve McCarty]

Originally Posted by Kensal Rise

Steve:
Whoever Hemingway "was," he was certainly a man of importance, as this thread testifies. And a damn good writer. Ruark, on the other hand, fancied himself a bush league Hemingway -- but never quite lived up to Papa's towering image.
Nonetheless, warm gin is better than no gin. Cup composition aside.

Best, Kensal

Yes indeed Hem lived a larger than life, life. So, but to a lessor extent, did Ruark. I agree that Ruark felt as if he lived and worked in Hem's shadow and one seldom considers him without comparing him to EH. Last year and for the third time I re-read most of what both men wrote. I found Hem somewhat dated and Ruark not so much. Some, IMHO of Hem's work is unreadable, Death In the Afternoon being one that I have never been able to dig through. Nor have I been able to stick with Ruark's The Honey Badger.

Ruark's best is Something of Value and I love the work. Hem's early books I read for their style, the stories IMHO hackneyed. My fave Hem book is one of his least important, A Moveable Feast which has been published in several versions....the latest is the best.

I think that both men were great writers and maybe great men. Hem is unique and people will be reading about him for a lot time to come. Stephen Crane was a better writer than either tho. So was Fitzgerald when in his prime.

[Grantham Forester]

Originally Posted by Kensal Rise

Steve:
Whoever Hemingway "was," he was certainly a man of importance, as this thread testifies. And a damn good writer. Ruark, on the other hand, fancied himself a bush league Hemingway -- but never quite lived up to Papa's towering image.
Nonetheless, warm gin is better than no gin. Cup composition aside.

Best, Kensal

Well said indeed. Two somewhat "obscure" books written about Ernest Hemingway that are quite telling, IMO anyway: "Hemingway in Cuba" by Hilary Hemingway and Carlene Brennen and "The True Gen" by Denis Brian. Strange that in mentioning Robert Ruark, who died in Spain in 1965, no body has mentioned his "The Old Man and The Boy" series for Field and Stream. Top shelf work there. And his "The Honey Badger" has Alex Barr as Ruark with his hand-to-mouth existence as a newspaperman, as much as Hemingway's "Islands In The Stream" has Thomas Hudson (painter) as Hemingway's alter ego.