Hemingway: His Life and Work [Paperback]

I have had the pleasure of reading several (actually, quite a few), biographies concerning Hemingway over the years. Some were good, others not so good and some were absolutely horrible. With each book tough, good or bad, I did learn something new about E. Hemingway and/or his writing. This is a good thing. This particular biography by Kenneth S. Lynn is yet another take on the man and the ledged who was Ernest Hemingway. No I am not a big fan of Hemingway's novels, but am a great fan of his short stories, but overall I find that the "man" Hemingway is actually more fascinating that the "writing" of Hemingway. That being said....

This work by Kenneth Lynn probably addresses Hemingway's actual work more than most of the biographies I have read. Most of his major and quite a number of minor works are covered here. The author discusses these works in conjunction with what the author knows, or has speculated, of Hemingway's life. It has been mentioned by a couple of reviewers that this is a revisionist view of Hemingway and his work. I personally do not look at it as such. Even a cursory review of Hemingway's work reveals a very troubled man behind the words and the story. There is really nothing "new" here, only a different way of looking at the facts we all pretty well can figure out for ourselves with a bit of attention. This work, like all works of this nature has pros and cons. First the pros:

The work is well done, well written and certainly holds readers attention. As far as I can tell, the author has done his research and done it well. The author has given us some great food for thought as we read Hemingway's work and I know, I for one, will read EH in a bit of a different light from now on. This is good. The author has presented his arguments and observations in a very forceful and convincing way. Each statement he makes, each speculation, is backed up with quite sound logic. The author has written an interesting biography, one well worth the read. The Background information, in particular that of the literati establishment in Paris during the twenties and thirties, is quite well done in this work. We get great glimpses of some very famous people. I think most readers will learn a lot from reading this work. I know I did. Now for the cons:

Like another reviewer here, I simply do not know the qualifications of Kenneth S. Lynn as to the validity of some of the speculations he makes about the influences Hemingway's family had over his work. I do not know what the qualifications are of the author as to how he can speculate what was actually going on in HM's mind as he was writing a certain piece. It would seem that everything that HM ever put on paper had some sexual deeper meaning to it, according to Lynn. I find this difficult to fully believe. Some times a story is just a story and nothing more. Next, I felt the author was one of those that jumped on the "lets bash Hemingway" band wagon that seems to pop up about every twenty years, as this certainly is not a book that admirers of HM will appreciate. (It is childish of me, I know, but I would love to be in a room with Lynn and Hemingway as Lynn reads this book to Hemingway). Everyone the poor man ever knew or spoke to, seems to have written a book about him or is trying to. (At least Lynn did not rant on for over 600 pages trying to prove that HM was a homosexual as Mellow did in his work "Hemingway, A Life Without Consequences." This author, Lynn, as far as I can tell, feels HM is only suffered from gender confusion, or something like that.

All in all this book is well worth the read. It gives us just one more slant of the life of a fascinating man. I do recommend though, that the reader check out, read and discover several other biographies on HM as this one being reviewed here is certainly not the beginning and end of all Hemingway biographies. I would also suggest you read the fine work by Noel Riley Fitch, "Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation." Some of the folks, writers, artists, publishers, etc. are not all that well know today to the general public, are pretty obscure now, and a bit of knowledge of these people will make reading Lynn's work much more pleasurable.

Overall, recommend this one highly. I am giving it five stars, not because I agree with or believe everything the author has written, but because he, Lynn, has written it well and it has given me something to think about...something I always appreciate.

Lovers of Hemingway as the macho, confident, larger than life hero may not like this book, but anyone who wants a vision of objective truth with the good and bad falling where the details say they should, will love this meticulously researched story of the real Hemingway. The author weaves the stuff of Hemingway's fiction into the record of his life, upsetting the hero worship attitudes of some earlier biographers by showing clearly how what Hemingway revealed himself to be was rarely truthful, and what was fiction often was his inner truth disquised. Although the book is over 700 pages, the author's easy narrative style holds the reader's attention and no where do we get lost or feel overwhelmed with detail. Stories of how Hemingway interacted with other great writers of his day ae fascinating, and where he did accomplish interesting adventures, Lynn gives him easy credit. For example, where would Joyce's Ullyses be today had Hemingway not subsidized it's publication and planned how to smuggle it into the country? The book is more than a biography, it is a slice of Hemingway's time and literary community. Most refreshing is how easy it is to tell the facts from the author's astute speculation and escape the myth written as biography we have read in so many other places.

Kenneth Lynn's biographical treatment of Ernest Hemingway is thorough and magnificent. It satisfied me for several reasons--not the least of which was the cheap z shop price I paid for it. What I liked about the narrative best is Lynn's habit of discussing Hemingway's work and life simultaneously. Just as with the man, the fiction blends in seamlessly with the non-fiction. The body of the text is almost 600 pages long and a solid half is devoted to those halcyon years of productivity; that wondrous decade of artistic bliss between 1920 and 1930. Due to the expansiveness of the biography and literary analysis I found those pages to be highly addictive reading. Indeed, I've just purchased Finca Vigia edition of his short stories and will devour them with a keen level of appreciation due to the efforts of Mr. Lynn. Personally, I did not find this biography to be revisionist. There was a great deal of atmospherics inherent to the masculinity of Ernest Hemingway. How much the macho corresponded with his true essence will always be subject to debate. This is not a controversial statement as Gertrude Stein, Zelda Fitzgerald, and countless others noticed the disingenuous, "tries too hard" aspects of his personality. He was a caricature in many ways, but I continue to find his style beguiling and life mesmerizing.