“Ernest Hemingway was a keen observer of the truth. He possessed
the perception, the passion, the ability to shred deceit and to expose the
barren truth, and for those who did not share his extraordinary gifts,
he caused them to question his very sanity.”
~Bob White and Cyndi Smith
“Hemingway found ways to do things most men only dream of…He
was the most positive life force I have ever encountered.
In Hemingway, nothing was wasted.”
~Marlene Dietrich, Hemingway’s longtime friend
Few would deny that Ernest Hemingway deserves the trumpets of fame. As an artist he broke the bounds of American writing, enriched U.S. literature with the century’s hardest-hitting prose, and showed new ways to new generations of writers. He was imitated not only by other writers but by uncounted young men who, in fact or fancy, sought to live as dashingly as he. From Paris bistros to Chicago saloons, he is known as a character–not the sallow, writing type with an indoor soul, but a literary he-man.
When his plane crashed on safari in Africa years ago, for nearly a day he was believed dead. Remarkably, even people who did not like his books felt a strange, personal sense of loss, and even those who never read his novels were delighted when he walked out of the jungle carrying a bunch of bananas and a bottle of gin. With extraordinary wit, he was quoted– possibly even correctly–as saying: “My luck, she is running very good.”
Although nothing can compare to his true-life adventures; somehow when I stare at this photo, I am transported to Hemingway’s Africa.
My god, it must have been glorious.
An African Rhino grazes in Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo.
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