Tag: Ernest Hemingway

In Celebration of the Daiquiri

It’s been 100 years since the daiquiri—now practically the official drink of the warm-weather getaway—first made its way from Cuba to the United States. The Daily Beast takes a look back at its origins and many more modern variations, including the El Floridita daiquiri, reportedly Hemingway’s favorite.


The Book Bench: ‘Let’s all Move to Berlin’

The Book Bench: ‘Let’s all Move to Berlin’ Photo by wit via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by wit via Flickr (Creative Commons)

I’ve had a longtime fascination with the Parisian expat writers of the 1920s. Books like “A Moveable Feast” or “That Summer in Paris” never fail to make me wish I was sitting in a Left Bank cafe, making a cup of coffee last for hours while I wrestle with a short story or pause to chat with other struggling writers who’ve wandered by.

Of course, Paris is hardly the place for impoverished creative types anymore, but—say the New Yorker’s Book Bench bloggers—there’s a viable European alternative if I ever decide to attempt a modern-day recreation of my Hemingway daydreams: Berlin.

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Anthony Hopkins Takes Lead in Upcoming Hemingway Movie

Anthony Hopkins Takes Lead in Upcoming Hemingway Movie Photo by Samuel Negredo via Flickr (Creative Commons)
Photo by Samuel Negredo via Flickr (Creative Commons)

The veteran, Oscar-winning actor has been cast as Ernest Hemingway in an upcoming indie titled “Hemingway and Fuentes,” Hollywood.com reports. Andy Garcia—who will also co-write and direct the movie—will play Gregorio Fuentes, a friend of Hemingway’s in the author’s final years who is said to be the real-life inspiration for Santiago of The Old Man and the Sea fame.

As always when a beloved literary figure or book is involved in a Hollywood production, my first reaction to this news is gut-clenching anxiety. Hemingway’s stories and novels—not to mention his Paris memoir, “A Moveable Feast”—have done as much as the “official” travel literature canon to make me curious about the world over the years, and unfortunately the movie industry has let book-lovers down too many times. But on the other hand, Anthony Hopkins is a fabulous actor who makes smart script choices more often than not, so I suppose there’s reason for hope.

What do you think of Hopkins as Hemingway? (Via Alltop)


Robert Louis Stevenson: Internet-Bound

A new website is in the works for the “Treasure Island” author, in an apparent effort to revive his fading legacy. (As Book Bench blogger Katherine Ryder puts it, “he’s been left out of various editions of the Norton Anthology of English Literature; worse, “Treasure Island” has been adapted by Hollywood so many times, even Kermit the Frog has a version.”) When it comes online in 2010, the site will make Stevenson the latest travel-esque literary heavyweight—after George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway—to find a new home in cyberspace.

While we’re waiting, Ryder recommends reading Stevenson’s An Apology for Idlers. “He’ll remind you of a vision of life that our teachers warned against,” she writes, “that aimless days are just as important as work days, that staring out the window is also learning, that unadulterated bliss is found with your feet up ... He may even convince you to take a vacation, or at least demand more of one.”


The Songlines of Key West: The Conch Republic, Unscripted

The Songlines of Key West: The Conch Republic, Unscripted Photo by Michelle Thatcher.

In a three-part series, Bill Belleville burrows deep into the spirit of the mythic island. Part three: Into the mystery of the twilight.

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The Songlines of Key West: Doing the Duval Crawl

Duval Street, Key West Photo by Michelle Thatcher.

In a three-part series, Bill Belleville burrows deep into the spirit of the mythic island.

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Cuba’s Hemingway Museum Goes Digital

American Hemingway scholars don’t have to wait for a lifting of the Cuba travel embargo to gain more insight into the writer’s work: The island’s Hemingway Museum is digitizing large chunks of its invaluable collection, reports the Cuban News Agency.

When the author died in 1961, he left behind thousands of pages of manuscripts, maps, letters and photos at his farm outside Havana—all of which were apparently donated to the newly minted Cuban government by his wife. Government preservationists have already digitally reproduced more than 3,000 of the roughly 15,000 documents in the bequest.

(Via The Book Bench)


I Still Don’t Know For Whom the Bell Tolls

Hemingway's house, key west florida Photo of Ernest Hemingway's Key West house by pumpkinoodle, via Flickr.

In Florida's Key West, land of tropical cocktails, Doug Mack went to Ernest Hemingway's house looking for inspiration. He found some, but not the kind he hoped.

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