Hemingway made it possible
Collection of columns coming in June
The Front Page
Evening update
Thursday, April 8, 2021
By Ken Tingley
For the past three evenings, I’ve immersed myself in the life of Earnest Hemingway, thanks to documentary film maker Ken Burns.
I thought I knew the great writer, but it turns out I did not.
When you grow up in a factory town like I did, you are not exposed to literature very often. Sure, we read Shakespeare and some other classics i n those early years of high school, but they were indecipherable to most of us teen-agers.
But Hemingway was different.
He was bold and daring with his writing, introducing us to African safaris, bullfighting, deep sea fishing and what war is really like.
Hemingway made literature accessible, at least he did for me. He planted the seed that I could write, too.
I didn’t get around to reading “The Old Man and the Sea,” until after college, but when I did it took me just two days to consume the short novel. Hearing his words pouring out from the television over the past three nights made me want to return to those novels again.
Hemingway’s direct approach, his to-the-point dialogue made it seem like even someone like me could be a writer. He made it look so easy and he did start out as a newspaper writer. He has now influenced a couple generations of writers like myself. It’s not that I consider myself in Hemingway’s class, just that he made it acceptable for me to finally put pen to paper and then ask my parents for a typewriter as a birthday present.
I’ve come to know his life as a grand adventure that was mirrored in his books, but we now know he was also womanizer, a borderline alcoholic and a man who took way too many risks.
He was an ambulance driver in World War I, fought in the Spanish Civil War and then covered World War II as a correspondent. He was in a landing craft off the coast of Omaha Beach on D-Day, flew on bombing missions over Europe, spent time with General Patton and his tanks before being seen fighting with the infantry in France. Journalists aren’t suppose to do that.
He was also 45 at the time.
We now know he suffered a series of brain injuries over the course of his life and was later treated for mental illness and depression. Burns showed a video of an interview Hemingway did where he repeatedly looks down to read the answers to the questions.
It is sad to see him in this reduced state.
Hemingway, this man so much larger than life, eventually faded away, finally killing himself at the age of 61.
But his works live on, and perhaps that’s what makes writing so attractive to so many of us. It provides a certain bit of immortality. I’m sure Hemingway knew that.
Collection of columns
I’m happy to announce that Something or Other Publishing will be releasing a collection of my columns previously published in The Post-Star this summer.
Pre-orders may begin over the next month or so.
Thank you all again for all your support.
https://soopllc.com/blog/book-ideas/the-best-of-ken-tingley-by-kenneth-tingley/
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