Hemingway
One of the most famous and influential American writers of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway was a complex and troubled figure.
He is known not only as a hugely talented literary legend but also – and probably more widely – as a macho adventurer, a hard drinker, a womaniser, a depressive whose life ended tragically in suicide. Often the myth obscures the man and this exhaustive six-part documentary by filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick aims to address that.
As one contributor, writer Michael Katakis, comments: “The man is much more interesting than the myth.” The opening episode deals with his early life and childhood – his father was a doctor prone to bouts of severe depression and his mother a would-be opera singer who gave up her career to raise her six children, something she never let any of them forget.
Family life was not easy – and the young Ernest “escaped” to the First World War at just 18. As a Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy, he was severely wounded when an enemy mortar exploded next to him. He survived but was clearly traumatised by the experience.
With contributions from several contemporary writers – including Tobias Wolff and Edna O’Brien – and academics, the first part of this very fine, considered portrait covers Hemingway’s early career in journalism, his first marriage to Hadley Richardson and their life in Paris where they met and socialised with Picasso, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein. Patricia Clarkson, Jeff Daniels and, later, Meryl Streep are among the A-list actors reading Hemingway’s work and letters.