By: Tom Becker

Tom Becker — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:41:07 +0000

Having read most of Hemingway’s fiction, and some of it several times, and then having read Carlos Baker’s biography of the author, I must say I was very disappointed. The book was interesting at times but often rather tedious, full of insignificant details that added little to the narrative but instead tended to bog it down. Every time Hemingway or one of his wives caught a cold, for example, it was duly noted, and every person they were associated with at any point was named and often discussed. When you are dealing with perhaps the greatest American writer of fiction of the Twentieth Century, these things are unimportant. My biggest complaint, however, is that Hemingway came off as a total asshole almost all through the book. Worst of all was his murderous treatment of wild animals, which he would shoot in an instant. There are hunters who are not complete idiots, but Hemingway, in this book, comes off like one of the buffalo hide hunters from the mid-1800s. He slaughters game by the hundreds and is at it continually. The way he treats people is often rather callous, as well. When you are well-read as far as his fiction goes, something doesn’t jibe here. Sure, I knew Hemingway was an avid fisherman and hunter, but nothing in his fiction prepares you for this, shooting coyotes from an airplane or prairie dogs from a passing car. This is the sort of thing that total jerks engage in. How Baker got this info is questionable. He certainly wants the reader to believe that Ernest Hemingway was a jerk, a writer who minimized revision, couldn’t spell, and complained of overwork when all he did was hand in a manuscript that may have been typed once or twice by someone else. It is a damning account of the writer’s life, both in the way he treats his wives and in the way he is continually traveling the globe, going from one adventure to another and damn the expense. One gets the idea, even in this biography, however, that something is amiss with Baker’s treatment. This modern trend of turning every biography into a sleazy expose is to be lamented. I’ve read a number of them and each one makes the subject out to be some sort of egomaniacal monster. I don’t believe any of it, or at least, will believe some of it with a large grain of salt. One thing I’m still certain of is that Hemingway is a great writer and his work will live on for hundreds of years. The works that impressed me most are not the ones that the critics went ga-ga over but some of those that they barely recognized. Like Hemingway, I don’t give a damn what most of them think. This reviewer, a woman, obviously dislikes or is predisposed to dislike Hemingway for philosophical reasons. As an animal lover, myself, I have always been uncomfortable with his attitude toward animals. However, as a writer very familiar with most of his work, I can’t help but give him credit where it is due. The reviewer needs to read some of his works before she judges this biography, which I’d give a C-.

By: Randall Radic

Randall Radic — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 04:34:31 +0000

An excellent review. And a great post!

Comments on: Review by Alvah Bessie: ERNEST HEMINGWAY-A LIFE STORY by Carlos Baker

By: Tom Becker

By: Randall Radic