De jonge Hemingway lijkt zo weggelopen uit 1919 van John Dos Passos. Die jeugdige branie, dat zo afgelikte Amerikaanse, alle modewoordjes, alle intenties, alle dromen, alle fascinaties en overtuigingen ... De jongvolwassen Hemingway is zo Amerikaans als we het ons maar kunnen indenken - en werkt daarom wel eens op de zenuwen.
Maar dan is er de terugkeer naar Europa en plots is daar het jaar 1922 en (een beetje) Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Sherwood Anderson. Je ziet in de brieven niet echt hoe die relaties tot stand zijn gekomen en, behalve mbt enkele bokslessen aan Pound, ontbreekt ook het anekdotische. Evenmin wijdt Hemingway in zijn brieven bijzonder veel uit over (het schrijven van) literatuur (noch die van zichzelf, noch die van anderen). Deel 1 van een vooropgestelde 17 delen, zie https://www.hemingwaysociety.org/hemingway-letters-project ( )

This hefty volume is just the first part of a project to publish Hemingway's collected letters - that is, all the letters available to collect and publish. It covers his early life from childhood to his first couple of years in Paris, from the age of 8 to 23. Of course, not all his letters survive - sadly for literary voyeurs like me, his first wife Hadley Richardson burned nearly all his letters to her when they split up - only a couple appear here.

Of course, many of his letters cover rather banal and trivial subjects, but even so, the early ones offer an insight into the life of a well off family, with lots of outdoor escapades, a good education and an interest in books, and also in writing - both Ernest and his sister Marcelline entered magazine competitions for children's writing. I was amused by a mention of 11 year old Ernest going to his mum's suffrage meeting and sleeping through it.

The period covered here also includes his time in Italy during the war, providing medical support rather than as a combatant, and his early efforts to find employment which suited his writing and creative skills, in advertising and journalism. There are lively letters to lots of male and female friends, as well as to his family.

I've only read 3 of Hemingway's books, including his memoir A Moveable Feast and a recent novel about him and Hadley The Paris Wife narrated from her viewpoint, but this made me want to revisit some of his early works.

The main drawback for me was Hemingway's rather irritating use of repetitive slang, nicknames and rather silly words, but also of some less than polite terms like "wops" for Italians.

There are a few photos, a long introduction, a chronology of key events in Hemingway's life, maps showing places where he lived and travelled, and a comprehensive index.

Really, this is a book for academic libraries and their users rather than the general casual reader, but I quite enjoyed reading it, albeit slowly over a few months, and it is a nicely presented volume which will look nice on my bookshelves when I find some space for it. ( )