Dec. 9, 1963 - Mrs. Mary Hemingway (right in 1952), widow of the late Ernest Hemingway, disclosed today that a novel, a travel book, a number of short stories, and some poetry were among “50 pounds of manuscript and typescript” the author left at his death in 1961. These works are in addition to a book of sketches about the Paris of the 1920s that Hemingway knew, which will be published in May 1964. Charles Scribner’s Sons, publisher of practically all of his books, will issue the work, entitled “A Moveable Feast.” Mrs. Hemingway laughingly denied a report that she had cast into a bonfire some literary material left by the author. “The bonfire burned brightly for days,” she said, “but what was consumed was old baseball scores, accounts of boxing matches, 200 pounds of one bullfight magazine of which I kept 100 issues as samples, laundry lists, and newspapers he saved by the ton. There were no letters or anything of literary value.” The unpublished novel is about World War II warfare in the Caribbean Sea. Much of it is based on the writer’s experience. “He used our fishing ship, Pilar, to hunt German submarines,” Mrs. Hemingway said. “The Marines provided a man to operate the sonar gear. There were nine men aboard. I believe it was a happy ship.” The travel book “concerns our safari in Africa in 1953 and 1954,” she noted. Some of the short stories he left are about infantry warfare in World War II, Mrs. Hemingway said. There will be no book of letters taken from the writer’s correspondence, Mrs. Hemingway said. He forbade both his widow and the publishing concern to issue any book of that kind. The writings are now stored in a branch of the First National City Bank of New York. When the author died, much of his finished work was in two safe deposit boxes in a Cuban bank, but there were also cases of papers in a back room of Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, Fla.
Comments