My closest brush with Hemingway fame came not when I visited his home in Key West or when I walked the streets of Paris. It came in March 2008, when I went to hear writer Tobias Wolff speak at Pattee/Paterno Library on the University Park campus as part of Penn State’s annual Community Read celebration, which focused that year on Hemingway’s novel A Farewell to Arms.
Wolff’s talk was entitled, “Still with Us: No Farewell to Hemingway,” and it focused mainly on Hemingway’s lasting impact on Wolff’s and many other writers’ styles. The most exciting part of the evening was the surprise announcement that Penn State had recently acquired the last known cache of Hemingway letters from his favorite nephew and namesake, Ernest Mainland. And the nephew was there to speak! He looked just like his author uncle. (Very exciting to a Hemingway fan!)
This “last known cache” contains about 100 unpublished letters, postcards, cables and notes, written between 1917 and 1957, and amassed by Hemingway’s younger sister, Madelaine “Sunny” Hemingway, and passed on to her son, Ernest Mainland.
Penn State has long been a site of Hemingway scholarship, but most recently has attracted attention for its Hemingway Letters Project, led by Sandra Spanier (wife of former PSU President Graham Spanier). This 15-year effort will yield a 12-volume set comprehensive scholarly edition of the author’s estimated 6,000-7,000 letters (Volume 1 came out to great fanfare in the fall of 2011; Volume 2 came out in 2013).
This video gives a good sense of the project (and offers good scenes of the Penn State-UP campus and people involved in the project):
To see more about this event and project, read through some of the newspaper articles and Penn State websites:
- http://www.centredaily.com/2009/11/29/1649606/psu-correspondence-collection.html
- http://www.rps.psu.edu/indepth/hemingway1.html
- http://live.psu.edu/story/34386
- http://live.psu.edu/stilllife/1603
Something every Penn State student of American literature should know about!
jma397 says
It was very interesting to read about the Hemingway Letters Project at University Park. Also, it must have been very exciting to hear his nephew speak in person. This is just one example of why Penn State is such a great institution and I’m proud to say that I am student here!
STEVEN PAUL ROBERTS says
This is exciting news to hear. I think that these letters tell a lot about Hemingway that you can’t really see in his writing. The letter we read this week gave me somewhat of a new perspective on Hemingway, his sense of humor, and his relations with others. I hope to be able to come back and explore this collection at some point.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Glad to know that you are inspired by the Hemingway Letters Project, Caroline. There’s so much going on at Penn State that it’s hard to keep up with it all.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Glad to know that you are inspired by the Hemingway Letters Project, Caroline. There’s so much going on at Penn State that it’s hard to keep up with it all.
STEPHEN MICHAEL BURIK says
Wow, I find this Hemingway Letters Project extremely interesting. The Letter of August 18, 1918, to His Parents that we read this past week showcased a personal side of Hemingway that inclined me to look deeper into other letters of Hemingway that have been published. I found a softer side from his macho image in some letters that really portray Hemingway in a different light. I had no idea Penn State was involved in such a project, and look forward to digging deeper into the subject.
CAROLINE ELIZABETH KEATING says
Also, I found this entry fascinating, Professor, as I attended PSU Main for nearly four years, and never once heard about this Hemingway scholarship or the letters project. I am definitely interested in looking into it, especially since my affinity to his works increased greatly after reading “Snows of Kilimanjaro.” So thank you!
CAROLINE ELIZABETH KEATING says
Alicia,
Your comment relates particularly well to my blog post, as I mentioned that part of Fitzgerald and Hemingway’s appeals were that they focused on various different sides of emotional, economical effects that the war had on everyone during the time of their writings. I find it fascinating to read both of their works, as I obviously was not around during a time of war as represented in their novels, despite the recent events in our country and abroad; without reading novels like Fitzgerald’s and Hemingway’s, I would never be able to feel and understand what my grandparents went through when my grandfather was in the Air Force in WWII.
CK
ALYSSA MARIE CORNELL-BLANCO says
I agree with Angelique’s comment. I also noticed some similarities in Hemingway’s writing both in his letters and his literary works. His vivid detail in my opinion says alot about the way he viewed the particulars of everything he saw, thought and felt. As a writer I think this is a great trait to possess as you tend to pull readers in and great an empathetic window without blatently revealing it or forcing the reader into one idea in particular. His work is timeless and I would be interested to see what he would write about the world we live in today.
ANGELIQUE BURGOS says
I also find it interesting that Hemingway was the same age as many of the people in the military who are dying each day. It seems like such a young age to make such a life-impacting decision. Especially, when many of these young people never make it back home. I have many friends around this age to have joined the military and are getting injured left and right and each time I hear of someone being hurt, its like I can feel their pain. Hemingway was always able to capture the true feelings and emotions in his works, in my opinion, and I think that if he were able to be here now writing about the different things our country is going through, I think he would be able to properly capture the emotions and feelings behind all people affected by the war and the issues facing our country.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Wow–fascinating to hear about your grandparents, Alicia. Thanks for your comments.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Thanks for your comment and interest, Emily!
I’m not sure how Sandra Spanier scored the Hemingway Letters Project, but I know she’s long been a Hemingway scholar, and she’s been working the project for long time.
Here’s a Penn State article from 2002 that sheds a little light on the beginnings of the project: http://www.psu.edu/ur/archives/intercom_2002/Nov21/hemingway.html
ALICIA CHRISTINE BROUGH says
I find the fact that Penn State has some of Hemingway’s letters completing fascinating. It makes me want to get in my car and drive up to main campus to read them!
A Farewell to Arms is by far my favorite book of Hemingway’s. (I think my pages got wet from crying so much.) My grandfather was stationed in France during World War II while my grandmother was at home raising two children. This story made if ever more clear all of the hard times that he went through for the love of his family.
EMILY TEELE says
Hi Alison,
I agree with my classmates that the Hemmingway Letters project is a real testament not only to Penn State, but also to the English department.
In particular, this is a real honor for Sandra Spanier. I can only imagine what a career high it would be to be allowed to work on publishing such personal writings from someone as famous as Hemmingway.
Do you know how she was chosen for this prestigious task? I read online that the Hemmingway Letters is just one part of the “We The People” series, which sets about the task of publishing personal artifacts from other famous American figures like Ben Franklin, John Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt. I wonder how they chose who would work on each person’s project? Did they get to make requests. I suppose that I would not even know where to begin deciding who I would want… all of them seem amazing!
This whole concept reminds me of “The Freedom Train,” which I am learning about in my history course. To celebrate America’s 160th birthday, a train was made to resemble a moving history museum and traveled across the US to foster pride in the American people.
KATHRYN THERESE ADOLFO says
I had no idea such a project was going on right on our campus! It’s fascinating. Also, once the letters are compiled and published, it will add a whole new dimension to study of Hemingway. Will classrooms focus more on using his personal letters in lessons? I think these letters will be very helpful for students and readers to better understand the works of Hemingway.
Addison Brandt says
I was really surprised by the letter we read between Hemingway and his parents. I have always considered myself a Hemingway fan, however I had never read any of his letters.
I have always read his books and short stories and I was really shocked by how candid and frank he was about his experiences at war. I knew he had participated in the war, but I never knew very many details of his involvement.
I found it sort of funny how he worded things, because although it was quite graphic like the quote about current jelly (which really struck me when I read it, also), it was in the typical Hemingway style with a lack of superfluous details and unnecessary flourishes.
ALISON JAENICKE says
Thanks for your comments, Mark and Lindsay, and for reminding us that our Norton Anthology contains a letter from Hemingway to his parents after his injury in 1918, while serving as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Italy.
It’s interesting to think that Hemingway was only 19 or 20 years old when he was injured, the age of many soldiers over in Iraq and Afghanistan. I find myself wondering how many of these soldiers are injured after just a brief time in the country (like Hemingway).
Hemingway’s descriptions give us vivid and real picture of the “hell” of war: “The Italian I had with me had bled all over my coat and my pants looked like somebody had made current jelly in them and then punched holes to let the pulp out” (p. 1378).
I wonder how many of today’s soldiers send letters back to their families. I wonder if mostly it’s email. I do know that a number of soldiers in the current wars have published books about their experiences.
Here’s a NY Times article entitled “Six of the Fallen, in Words They Sent Home” that highlights letters of some American soldiers in Iraq: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/25dead.web.html
MARC HAROLD MERRYMAN says
I thought Hemingway’s style was more evocative of his past representations after coming home from war.When I read the letter this week, I couldn’t believe he went through that horror. Some of our soldiers today don’t see that kind of action. I wondered how he could recover from that ordeal. The letter was a nice insight into his mindset at the time. I could see how trauma like that could have lead him to abuse alcohol in his later life. I think it echoed the the character of Harry in “The Snows of Kilimanjaro,” in that they both looked back on crazy times and probably didn’t recover fully from those ordeals. My thoughts on that: “Poor guy.”
LINDSAY A KEAGY says
I think the Hemingway Letters Project is very interesting. I really enjoyed the letter we read this week from Hemmingway to his parents; it gives a very unique perspective on his writing. I look forward to hearing more about this project in the future!