The author Ernest Hemingway in 1939Lloyd Arnold/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
EXCLUSIVE: The life of legendary author Ernest Hemingway is set to become a ten-part TV drama.
LA’s Avatar Entertainment has secured rights to Mary V. Dearborn‘s Ernest Hemingway: A Biography and was at MIPCOM this week shopping the project to buyers. Larry Robinson, Head of Avatar Entertainment, will exec produce the series.
Dearborn’s 750-page biography follows the author’s life from his middle-class childhood in Oak Park, Illinois, to his life as an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, his career as a journalist in Chicago, his life among other preeminent authors in Paris and the establishment of Hemingway as the world’s most famous novelists. Gersh represents the Hemingway estate, but Dearborn’s book about the author’s life sit outside of that.
The biography, which has received praise from The Washington Post as “the most fully faceted portrait of Hemingway now available,” extensively chronicles his time in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, Cuba, Geneva, Kenya, Wyoming, Key West and the Normandy landing of World War II, and explores his Nobel Prize win of 1953, his four wives, multiple affairs and, ultimately, his suicide at his Idaho ranch.
Agnes von Kurowsky, first “real” love
Hemingway’s novels include For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms have over the years been adapted for TV and film in the UK and U.S., while Across the River and Into the Trees was adapted as a feature starring Live Schreiber and Josh Hutcherson
Last year, we reported Michael Winterbottom has been putting together a remake of A Farewell to Arms alongside Fremantle, with the likes of Tom Blyth attached. The novel has previously been adapted to the big screen by Oscar-winning director Frank Borzage in 1932, with Cooper in the starring role opposite Helen Hayes, and then in 1957 by Charles Vidor and John Huston with Hudson co-starring opposite Jennifer Jones. Hamilton and Vanessa Redgrave reprised the roles in a UK mini-series adaptation in 1966.
“I see Mary V. Dearborn’s definitive biography of Hemingway to be the foundational IP for an awards-worthy, super-premium TV series that will attract major talent both in front and behind the camera,” said Robinson. “The way Hemingway lived was the personification of ‘larger than life’.”
Avatar has become increasingly active in the book-to-screen business as demand for projects with established audiences grows. Robinson this year acquired rights to spy thriller Operation Kazan (Operacion Kazan) from Spanish journalist Vincente Vallés and had it set up at a major studio, though we understand that agreement is now over. He has also partnered with exec producer Stephanie Germain on a separate novel adaptation.
Mary Dearborn is represented by George Bouchard Agency and Robinson is represented by CAA.
Seán and Colette Hemingway will introduce this opportunity to hear about the creation and content of this exciting digital project from Hilary Justice, the Library’s Hemingway Scholar in Residence.
Designed as a “living website,” the Hemingway at the JFK project offers an ever-evolving exploration of Ernest Hemingway’s life, works, and legacy. The content, written and curated by experts, draws from The Ernest Hemingway Collection at the JFK Library and from an international network of archives, museums, libraries, and historical societies.
The JFK Library stands today as the world’s pre-eminent research center for Ernest Hemingway’s life and work, with the Hemingway collection comprising over 11,000 photographs and nearly 90% of the writer’s known papers, including letters, drafts, and journals.
While Ernest Hemingway’s literary output is legendary, his love of alcoholic beverages is equally so. One drink, in particular, was said to have captivated the author so deeply that he enjoyed 16 of them in one sitting. While it’s often hard to separate myth from truth, especially when it comes to a towering figure like Hemingway, the consensus is that the writer absolutely adored daiquiris after sampling one at a bar in Havana, Cuba, albeit with a variation on the original recipe.
Spencer Tracy, Ernest and Mary Hemingway, and others at La Florida, Havana, Cuba, circa 1955. Photograph in the Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston.
A classic daiquiri recipe features rum, lime juice, and sweetener (often simple syrup) plus a lime garnish. These ingredients are added to a shaker containing ice and then strained. It’s not to be confused with frozen daiquiris, which features the same ingredients but blended with ice. Classic daiquiris have a reputation for being sweet, which Hemingway reportedly wasn’t fond of. That led to a tweak of the ingredients typically included in the drink, which was dubbed Hemingway’s daiquiri or Papa Doble (as papa was a nickname often attributed to the author).
Ernest Hemingway’s substantial appetite for liquor had much to do with his suggested variations on the classic daiquiri. The writer’s version nixed the sugar and included twice the rum as the original cocktail. While undeniably potent, the absence of sweetness in Hemingway’s cocktail makes it rather one-note when it comes to flavor. Other recipes for Hemingway’s namesake beverage include grapefruit juice and maraschino liqueur, which is derived from tart marasca cherries.
Hemingway’s boozy spin on the daiquiri wasn’t the author’s only alcoholic concoction. It’s also claimed that Hemingway invented a drink called Death in the Afternoon, a straightforward cocktail consisting of just two ingredients: absinthe and champagne (variations on Death in the Afternoon include replacing the Champagne with Chardonnay). Absinthe is a potent liquor best known for its herbaceous flavor, as well as its purported ability to induce hallucinations, thanks to the inclusion of wormwood. Hemingway’s invention even shares a name with “Death in the Afternoon,” the author’s ode to bullfighting, which was published in 1932.
While lots of tall tales surround Ernest Hemingway and his insatiable appetite for booze, one can gain insight into his favorite drinks by reviewing his literary works. To this end, the author talked about whiskey and soda frequently, which is a humble concoction consisting of, you guessed it, club soda and scotch whiskey. Other cocktails mentioned by the writer include negronis, martinis, and americanos, which feature sweet vermouth, Campari, and chilled soda water.
Writing and not drinking
There is one cocktail often claimed to be among Papa Hemingway’s favorites, with little truth to substantiate the rumor. Mojitos are commonly mentioned in connection to the writer thanks to a note posted inside a ’50s-era Havana-based bar, which stated Hemingway’s preference for the drink. As for the authenticity of the note, a friend of Hemingway claimed that it was not penned in the author’s own hand but instead forged to attract customers to the establishment. As a result, it’s not clear that the writer was truly a fan of the classic mojito. What is undisputed is that Hemingway had a real passion for imbibing and wasn’t shy about tweaking classic cocktail recipes to make them his own.
Major Publishers, Authors, Parents and Students Challenge Florida’s School Book Bans
Book Publishers, Authors, and Parents Are Fighting Back Against Florida Book Bans
It is Banned Books Week and MidPoint addressed it on September 25, 2024. Recently, Florida and Texas are the states in competition for the most books banned in public schools, according to PEN America. Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina are not far behind in the competition for which state is the most retrograde, revisionist, and racist, at least in the book-banning event of the UNWOKE Olympics. But now, the books are fighting back. In a landmark federal lawsuit filed last month against the Florida Board of Education by a group of the major U.S. book publishers, The Authors’ Guild, public school parents, and students, a challenge has been mounted to the Florida law that bans books containing sexual content deemed “pornographic.”
Classic Books Have Been Banned in Florida
As a result of Florida law HB 1069, hundreds of titles have been banned across the state since the bill went into effect in July 2023. The list of banned books includes classics such as Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, as well as contemporary novels by bestselling authors such as Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, and Stephen King. Among nonfiction titles, accounts of the Holocaust such as The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank have also been removed.
The First Amendment Protects the Right to Receive Ideas in Books
Our guests today to discuss this lawsuit were Dan Novack, V.P and General Counsel of Penguin Random House publishers, the lead plaintiff in the case, and Judi Hayes, an Orange County Public Schools parent suing on behalf of her sons who attend public school there. Dan Novack explained that the law was being challenged on First Amendment Free Speech grounds, primarily because it provides for the censorship and removal of any book that is alleged to be “pornographic,” even though “pornographic” is not a term with a real legal definition. According to Penguin Random House, unless a book is found to be “obscene” under the U.S. Supreme Court’s legal definition, it is lawful, but, ultimately, whether it should be available to students in schools is a determination best left to trained educators, librarians, and a child’s parents, and not to random individuals of varying sensibilities. Florida’s law instead censors and removes the targeted book first, upon someone’s objection, then keeps the book out of school libraries, all while the book goes through a vague and lengthy review process, which may vary by county and result in inconsistent determinations around the state applying to the same book. Both Dan Novack and Judi Hayes argued that the decision of whether or not a child is ready and mature enough to read certain books should be made by their parents and educators, and not by an outside individual seeking to remove access to books from all children, which is the process the law currently provides. While the State may argue that it has the right to restrict speech in schools to further “pedagogical interests,” the broad right to receive ideas is fundamental to the First Amendment; that right should be protected to the greatest extent against State restrictions.
You can listen to the complete show here, on the WMNF app, or as a WMNF Midpoint podcast from your favorite podcast purveyor.
The Blue Collar Bookseller review: The Hemingway Hoax
Kevin Coolidge
Never trust a man who doesn’t like cats…Irish proverb
Uncanny focus, curious, observant, a dislike for being disturbed — they sit for long periods of time and sleep more than they probably should. Writers are a lot like cats. Complex, unorthodox, full of personality quirks, hunting when he wills it, working when it’s time — a writer is not a herd animal.
Now, I’m not saying you have to have a cat to be a writer, but the best writers have at least one cat. Mark Twain, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein — they all loved cats. It helps to have someone to understand that writing is a process. You aren’t being unproductive or lazy. You are cultivating stillness.
Hem drinks with Boise
One of the most influential and manliest writers* of the 20th Century, Ernest Hemingway, was a dedicated feline lover. Like most cat hoarders, he started with a single cat. A ship’s captain gave Hemingway a white six-toed cat, named Snowball.
Today, the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum on Key West is a playground to approximately 40-50 polydactyl cats. Cats normally have five front toes and four back toes. Not all the cats at the Home have the extra thumb, but they all carry the gene, and can give birth to a Hemingway cat.
If you take the tour, you’ll hear that these kitties can trace their lineage back to the original Snowball, but James Nagel, a Hemingway scholar, claims that Hemingway didn’t have cats when he lived in that house.
“Hemingway liked cats but Pauline, to whom he was married, wanted peacocks. So they got peacocks for the yard … The time when he had so many cats was when he lived in San Francisco de Paula, Cuba.” The estate in Key West is just one of the many places trying to cash in on the writer and the cats associated with him, claims Nagel.
Hem with boys and cat
Regardless of where you fall on the Key West cat debate, Hemingway wrote some of his best work in this home, including the final draft to A Farewell to Arms and the short story classic The Snows of Kilimanjaro. I rather suspect there was at least one cat around.
Waiting, seeking, stalking — striking and feasting on the flesh of your thoughts to satisfy a primal need. You are a writer, and you must feed the hunger, and the cat. OK, you can get yourself a big slobbery dog**, but if you want to be a writer that is remembered, you need to get yourself a cat…
Cat in the Rain
*Hemingway ran with bulls, hunted, fished, went on safari, occasionally took a rifle with him, though he preferred his fists. He wrestled bears, rode sharks, and never shed a tear when he got a paper cut. This is also a man that named a cat Snowball…
**Don’t buy into all the cat crap. Jim Kjelgaard, Wilson Rawls, Jack London — all were dog lovers. Of course, if you have a dog, the stipulation is that you are an outdoor writer.
Kevin Coolidge is currently a full-time factory worker, and a part-time bookseller at From My Shelf Books & Gifts in Wellsboro, Pa. When he’s not working, he’s writing. He’s also a children’s author and the creator of The Totally Ninja Raccoons, a children’s series for reluctant readers. Visit his author website at kevincoolidge.org
Hemingway’s Worst Novel Is Now a Slightly Better Movie
By Bilge Ebiri, a film critic for New York and Vulture
Enzo Cilenti and Liev Schreiber in Across the River and Into the Trees. Photo: Level 33 Entertainment/Everett Collection
In Across the River and Into the Trees, Liev Schreiber, a very fine actor whom I’d never thought of as resembling Ernest Hemingway, has been made up to evoke, if not exactly mirror, the legendary American author. With his wide face, white beard, sad eyes, and a chest somehow both barrel-shaped and concave, the actor brings a hint of the wounded, rueful poet to the part of the weary Colonel Richard Cantwell, an American veteran of both World Wars now wandering aimlessly through postwar Venice. Cantwell is a tough old soldier, but he seems more like a guy who’d rather talk about art and literature than war and conquest — or, for that matter, duck hunting, an activity he tells everyone he’s hoping to do a lot of during his Venice sojourn, but which he seems not particularly enthusiastic about.
The creation of this spiritual and visual bond between author and protagonist in the film makes sense. Cantwell was based on a couple of people, but he was also the most autobiographical of Hemingway’s characters, in ways both touching and prophetically ominous: About a decade after the novel’s 1950 publication, Hemingway would commit suicide in the same way Cantwell does at the end of the book, thus giving the character’s enveloping sadness a heartbreaking historical resonance. (Hemingway’s own father had done something similar, and the idea haunts much of his work.)
having a meal with Ingrid Bergman
One doesn’t need to know all this to understand or appreciate Paula Ortiz’s film of Across the River and Into the Trees, which takes Hemingway’s ambling, memory-inflected tale and fashions it into a melancholy love story, focusing largely on Cantwell’s romantic conversations and wanderings through Venice with a young, questioning countess, Renata, played by Matilda De Angelis. But in so doing, Ortiz (and screenwriter Peter Flannery) remove what made the novel, for all its massive flaws, unique. The book is built around Cantwell’s memories, as expressed through his own fleeting flashbacks and his interactions with Renata. In these moments he speaks not just of his own life but of any number of things: authors, art, alcohol, battles, generals, the relative quality of French soldiers, the need to forgive your enemies. And it’s all rendered in language of almost unbearable simplicity — even for Hemingway — perhaps in an effort to evoke the cultural differences between the weary American and the young Italian.
There’s no real way to adapt all that without getting laughed off the screen, so Ortiz and Flannery opt for more naturalistic dialogue. But they also keep the memory-play to a minimum, opting instead for a couple of brief, key flashbacks to a bloody wartime encounter in the forest between Cantwell’s soldiers and the enemy. It all makes perfect sense, craft-wise, but it also results in something pedestrian. The movie plays at times like one of Richard Linklater’s Before films, but without the improvisational verve that gave those works such urgency and heart.
Ortiz’s film does have its charms. The Venice locations are presented with all their nocturnal mystery intact, their shadows and deep colors allowing us to imagine beyond the frame. De Angelis is radiant — veteran Spanish cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe contrasts the smooth, luminous beauty of her features with the grizzled, combat-zone roughness of Schreiber’s — and the actress has captured the ethereal nature of Renata, who serves in the novel as a figure of both emotional reconciliation and death. The filmmakers even give her something to do besides just be a vessel for Cantwell’s reveries: He first meets her when she gives him a ride in her gondola. Schreiber is of course always interesting to watch. He’s one of those actors who has become more compelling with age, even as the big parts seem to be drying up. It’s nice to see him take center stage in a movie again.
This is tough, tough material. The novel of Across the River and Into the Trees got vicious reviews at the time, and although its reputation has been somewhat redeemed over the ensuing decades (partly because several of Hemingway’s many posthumously edited and released works are so, so much worse), it’s never really found an audience comparable to the writer’s beloved classics. It doesn’t have much of a story, and a lot of it reads like self-parody. Hemingway’s characteristic minimalism feels less like poetic concision this time around and more like an inability to find the right words; the meter and personality are there, but gone are the depth and dimension, the seemingly effortless shading that made Hemingway’s other characters pop off the page. The result is that while Cantwell might be the most haunted of the author’s literary avatars, he’s also the most one-dimensional.
So, it’s a problematic work but an intensely readable one; I think it’s the worst thing Hemingway published in his lifetime and yet I’ve somehow managed to read it four times. As S.F. Sanderson, one of the book’s defenders, said at the time: “[It] reads, in many passages, as if Hemingway-the-legend were being interviewed by the press.” Is there any way to translate that to the screen? Is it even worth trying? Across the River and Into the Trees gives it a shot, and it doesn’t succeed, but there’s a nobility in such failure, too. A certain long-deceased Nobel laureate might have had something to say about that.
Stories often echo the realities of life in the world of literature. Christine M. Whitehead [https://christinewhitehead.com/] is a seasoned author and practicing divorce lawyer from New England, who has recently invited us to glimpse into her emotionally resonant novel, “Hemingway’s Daughter [https://christinewhitehead.com/about-the-books/].” This novel takes you on a journey that makes you witness the aspirations and struggles of a character who seeks to redefine her destiny against the background of a legendary literary legacy.
This fictional story is set in a time when gender roles were being defined rigidly. “Hemingway’s Daughter” tells us the story of Finn Hemingway, a character who is born out of time and expectations. She is a woman with dreams that are too large for the confines of her reality – a reality where Ruth Bader Ginsburg is being marginalized and a woman’s achievements in law are overshadowed by her male counterparts. Here, Finn embodies the spirit of every woman who dared to dream big in a world that tried to keep her small.
Finn has aspirations that are threefold: to become a trailblazing trial lawyer, to find true love despite a family curse that has doomed the Hemingways to tragic endings in romance, and most importantly, to leave an unforgettable mark on her father’s writing. Ernest Hemingway is a towering figure in literature who yearned for a daughter, and Finn Hemingway is the living manifestation of that longing. Her journey is not just about reaching her goals but also about experiencing the complexities of familial expectations and the burden of a famous surname.
Having a vast background as a divorce lawyer and living on a rural farm in Connecticut, Christine Whitehead fills this story with raw authenticity and heartfelt emotion. Her love for animals and nature adds a special charm to her storytelling, which is reflected in her idyllic farm life surrounded by dogs, horses, and a brave cat. The novel does not just have a compelling plot but also explores themes like gender inequality, the pursuit of love, and the quest for personal identity.
In “Hemingway’s Daughter [https://www.amazon.com/dp/1916965636/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=Hemingways+Daughter],” readers will find a story that connects with the struggles of every individual who has ever dared to dream in the face of adversity. It is a story that defines the enduring spirit of determination and the belief that the word ‘almost’ can be a light of hope in the pursuit of one’s dreams.
“Hemingway’s Daughter” goes beyond being just a mere novel. It inspires and mirrors the obstacles that women have faced throughout history. It pays homage to the everlasting impact of one of the most influential writers of all time. This fictional book is not just for fans of Hemingway but for anyone who believes in the potential of dreams and the strength it takes to chase them.
Media Contact
Company Name: Audiobook Publishing Services;
Contact Person: Christine Whitehead
Email:Send Email [https://www.abnewswire.com/email_contact_us.php?pr=christine-whitehead-releases-a-new-fictional-novel-hemingways-daughter]
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Website: http://www.christinewhitehead.com
Novel and Biography Shed New Light on Famous Author
Interest in Hemingway ebbs and flows, but he seems to be achieving a new level of enthusiasm from younger readers.”
— Dermot Ross
HENDAYE, FR, August 8, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — Two new books about Ernest Hemingway—one a novel and the other a biography—have been released earlier this summer. The first book, entitled “Hemingway’s Goblet,” is a debut novel by a New Zealand lawyer that will challenge readers’ perceptions about Ernest Hemingway and also modern relationships in the #MeToo era.
The second book is a biography by retired professor Curtis L. DeBerg. “Wrestling with Demons: In Search of the Real Ernest Hemingway” is a poignant and inspiring work that offers readers a deeply personal glimpse into Hemingway’s life journey, focusing on those things that haunted him most: parents, wives, pain, anguish and, in a surprisingly new twist on the Nobel prize-winning author, rivalry with others who were wounded in World War I.
Ross’s book has featured at the top of New Zealand bookseller lists in its first weeks following its release. An example of one of his reviews reads, “Hemingway’s Goblet is a fascinating debut novel blending historical fiction, adventure, psychological thriller, mystery, and romance. The story unfolds in London, England….This novel is of amazingly high quality, which is unusual for a debut. The unique storyline, the awesome intrigue, the perfectly balanced suspense, the sophisticated characters, the psychological depth, and the exhilarating travel adventures kept me turning pages.”
The book by DeBerg has also been met with early positive reviews. The Nonfiction Authors Associationawarded DeBerg a prestigious Gold Award. In presenting the award, the lead reviewer said, “This book was such a wonderfully informative and enjoyable read I didn’t want it to end. And it was hard to put down! I feel like DeBerg is very knowledgeable regarding all things Hemingway and as an author that does have so much knowledge about the subject, the book was absolutely amazing.”
Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. He committed suicide in 1961 after spending several months in the Mayo Clinic’s psychiatric ward.
“Interest in Hemingway ebbs and flows, but he seems to be achieving a new level of enthusiasm from younger readers,” Ross said.
DeBerg added, “Ever since the Ken Burns documentary on PBS in 2021, membership in Hemingway groups on social media have been constantly growing.”
DeBerg’s book can be found at http://curtdeberg.com. It is available in hardcover, paperback, and eBook on Amazon and other online retailers like Barnes & Noble and Walmart. He can be reached at +33 6 7226 1008 for interviews.
Curtis Lynn DeBerg
California State University (Retired)
+1 530-815-8840 email us here
Wrestling With Hemingway’s Demons Video Trailer
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Cannes: Liev Schreiber, Josh Hutcherson-Led Ernest Hemingway Adaptation Lands at Bleecker Street
Kayla Cobb
·2 min read
Bleecker Street has nabbed the North American rights to “Across the River and Into the Trees,” an upcoming movie starring Liev Schreiber (“Ray Donovan”) and Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games”). The film is directed by Paula Ortiz, who is best known for her work on “The Bride,” and is expected to debut in the fall of 2023 for a theatrical release.
An adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s last full-length novel that he published in his lifetime, the movie is set in post-World War II Italy. After American Army Colonel Richard Cantwell (Schreiber) survived the war and emerged as a war hero, he has to grapple with a new battle: his own illness. Determined to find some peace, he enlists a military driver to bring him to his old haunts in Venice. But as his plans unravel, a budding relationships with a young woman teaches him to hope again.
In addition to Schreiber and Hutcherson, “Across the River and Into the Trees” stars Matilda De Angelis (“The Undoing”) and Danny Huston (“The Aviator,” “Succession”). The screenplay adaptation comes from BAFTA Award Winner Peter Flannery (“The Devil’s Mistress”).
The upcoming film is executive produced by William J. Immerman, Laura Paletta, David Beckingham, Justin Raikes, Simon Fawcett, Jonathan Taylor, Hani Musleh, Harel Goldstein and Rick Roman. Additionally, Robert MacLean and Michael Paletta for Tribune Pictures, alongside John Smallcombe, Kirstin Roegner, Ken Gord as well as Spring Era Films’ Jianmin LV and Daxing Zhang will produce. Andrea Biscaro serves as the Italian line producer.
This film will continue Bleecker Street’s push to support female filmmakers. Its 2023 slate alone consists of 80% female-directed films, including Frances O’Connor’s “Emily,” Catherine Hardwicke’s “Mafia Mamma,” Laurel Parmet’s “The Starling Girl,” Alice Troughton’s “The Lesson” and Meg Ryan’s first feature film in eight years, “What Happens Later.”
