I attended this book talk, on “Hidden Hemingway,” yesterday at The Writer’s Block in Las Vegas.. enjoyed it very much, and a short review, some photos, and my commentary is below the entry paragraphs below.. I made a short video of the introduction by Stephen Gilbert Brown (UNLV), and it’s available on YouTube.. You can follow the book information and updates on Twitter (@HiddenHemingway) or the Web at
http://www.hiddenhemingway.com/

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A reading and conversation with Mark Cirino, Author of Hidden Hemingway, with Stephen Gilbert Brown.  “Hidden Hemingway: Inside the Ernest Hemingway Archives of Oak Park” is part time capsule, part biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author. This hardcover coffee table book features . . .

Source: AN EVENING OF HEMINGWAY WITH MARK CIRINO — The Writer’s Block

DrWeb’s Notes on the talk:

There was a mention (me) of The Hemingway Society conference in 2018 in Paris, and Mark said he didn’t think he’d be attending; I offered I was going to try and go…

Mark noted that surprisingly, Hemingway wrote little about Oak Park (his birthplace home).. and actually, little in America –exceptions were Michigan and Key West…

It occurred to me someone should write “Hemingway & Sea,” about his time and writings at the sea/oceans/islands, different homes he had near water, etc.  There’s more than just his book “The Old Man and the Sea,” to still be explored.. IMHO…

Much of the archival items in Oak Park had to be chosen to include, or not.. the co-editors had debates and discussions about what to include and what they had to leave out.. much of his early years writing success was shared with his parents, seeking their approval, which really did not ever come…

Mention of the Kenneth Lynn biography came up in the discussion of dressing Hemingway as a girl (by his mother, Grace), see more on that book, here .. comments made suggested that the “trauma” of this, among other traumas in his life, influenced him more than has been covered previously in articles and biographies, and was he was trying to heal himself with writings from the traumas…

On a slide, we saw the “Dear Ernest” (Dear John) letter he got from Agnes, where she called him “Dear Boy” and “kid” .. must again have traumatized him to have this older woman speak to him as she did.. he was 19 when he got that letter…

Mark noted there’s a scene in one of the books where the detailed notation of his spending, purchases, etc. (that he’d started as a habit as a young man) is suggested by the scene showing a character balancing his checkbook, and no real plot or story reason for it except to show he was that type of man (as was Hemingway)…

A letter to a childhood friend, during time he was at Mayo Clinic, around 1961, was signed “Ernie,” as he was known to his Oak Park friends…

He was around 30 when he was calling himself, and others were calling him, Papa…

A wonderful talk, useful slides, and a good discussion after as Stephen joined him and we talked Hemingway until it was time to go.. Thanks to Mark for signing my book, and to The Writer’s Book for hosting, and Stephen for his introduction and discussion and comments.. A grand night celebrating Hemingway’s life and literature….

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