Friday, May 28, 2004
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
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1 & 1/2 Reading Announcements
This was going to be 2 Reading Announcements, but I messed up the first one, which was Colm Toibin, reading from his new book, The Master. But that reading already happened, on May 26, at Rocky Sullivan’s, which is at 129 Lexington Avenue, NYC. According to Rocky Sullivan’s website (http://www.rockysullivans.com/), this is what the The Master is about:
“Born into one of America's first intellectual families two decades before the Civil War, Henry James left his country and lived in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among the artists and writers of the day. In stunningly resonant prose, Tóibín captures vividly nineteenth-century European landscapes and the hope and despair of a man who never married, never resolved his sexual identity, and whose forays into intimacy inevitably failed him and those he tried to love.
Tóibín is "a great and humanizing writer" who describes complex relationships in "supple, beautifully modulated prose" (The Washington Post Book World). In The Master , he has written his most ambitious and heartbreaking novel, an extraordinarily inventive encounter with a character at the cusp of the modern age, elusive to his own friends and even family, yet astonishingly vivid and moving here.”
Other Reading Announcement: Talking To Richard author Gary Sherbell will be reading from that book at the Telephone Bar & Grill (which is at 149 Second Avenue) on Monday, June 7, at 8pm.
(Thanks to Kyle S., for alerterting the Literary Dick to The Master reading.)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1 & 1/2 Reading Announcements
This was going to be 2 Reading Announcements, but I messed up the first one, which was Colm Toibin, reading from his new book, The Master. But that reading already happened, on May 26, at Rocky Sullivan’s, which is at 129 Lexington Avenue, NYC. According to Rocky Sullivan’s website (http://www.rockysullivans.com/), this is what the The Master is about:
“Born into one of America's first intellectual families two decades before the Civil War, Henry James left his country and lived in Paris, Rome, Venice, and London among the artists and writers of the day. In stunningly resonant prose, Tóibín captures vividly nineteenth-century European landscapes and the hope and despair of a man who never married, never resolved his sexual identity, and whose forays into intimacy inevitably failed him and those he tried to love.
Tóibín is "a great and humanizing writer" who describes complex relationships in "supple, beautifully modulated prose" (The Washington Post Book World). In The Master , he has written his most ambitious and heartbreaking novel, an extraordinarily inventive encounter with a character at the cusp of the modern age, elusive to his own friends and even family, yet astonishingly vivid and moving here.”
Other Reading Announcement: Talking To Richard author Gary Sherbell will be reading from that book at the Telephone Bar & Grill (which is at 149 Second Avenue) on Monday, June 7, at 8pm.
(Thanks to Kyle S., for alerterting the Literary Dick to The Master reading.)
Monday, May 24, 2004
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
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Papa’s Paranoia, Part I
Question: Dear Literary Dick (as in Private Detective):
It is generally regarded by Hemingway biographers that in his final years his failing health and EST treatments caused him to have paranoid delusions of various sorts, most notably that the FBI were following him. According to a recent historical thriller (Dan Simmons's THE CROOK FACTORY), though, these weren't delusions at all -- Hemingway *was* being persecuted by the Feds.
Could you clear this issue up?
thanks,
Doug B.
Answer: At the beginning of Simmons’s book, we find the following,
“This is a work of fiction. While the names, characters, places, incidents, and elements of dialogue are real or taken from reputable or private sources, the essence of this novel is a work of fiction.”
but then at the end of the book, there’s a long Author’s Note, which begins,
“The incredible story of Ernest Heminway’s Cuban spy-catching, submarine-chasing, World War II adventures in my new novel, The Crook Factory – I think – all the more incredible for being 95 percent true.” (Simmons, Dan. The Crook Factory. New York, Avon Books: 1999. p. 433)
So that’s confusing. Before we get to Hemingway’s paranoia, let’s look at his World War II adventures, which seem pretty unbelievable, especially if you’ve never heard of them. It seems like the kind of stuff everyone should be talking about, all the time, and saying, Wow.
Here’s Simmons’s take on Hemingway’s Cuban spy adventures,
“Some years ago I decided to write a fictional version of Hemingway’s Cuban spy adventures when I noticed just how cursorily that year, from May 1942 to April 1943, was covered by his many biographers. Usually the explanation went something like this – “In the first year of America’s involvement in the way, Hemingway stayed home in Cuba even while his wife and friends went off to fight or cover the fighting. During that time, Hemingway set up a counterespionage group which he called the Crook Factory and which was composed of old friends from the Spanish Civil War, bartenders, prostitutes, rumrunners, fishermen, priests, and other cronies. He also convinced the U.S. ambassador to arm his boat, the Pilar, in an attempt to lure a German submarine to the surface and sink it with grenades and small arms. He did not succeed in sinking German submarine, and his spy organization was terminated in April 1943.
What the biographies did NOT say was that Hemingway’s adventures are still classifies in the voluminous dossier which the FBI has kept on him since the 1930s. What we DO know about those months during which the writer ran the Crook Factory and his seaborne Operation Friendless is that the FBI was very upset about what Hemingway was discovering about espionage activity in and around Cuba, and, more precisely, what secrets his agents had discovered about corruption in the Cuban government and national police. What all but the most recent biographies also do NOT explain about this period is that it appears to be the basis for the raging paranoia in the last years of Hemingway’s life – a period when the writer was certain he was being followed by the FBI. The truth is that Hemingway was being followed by the FBI.” (Ibid, p. 433)
I think its interesting that Simmons’s decision, some years ago, was to write a fictional account of the Crook Factory business. Why not a non-fiction exploration? Anyway, so according to Simmons, Hemingway was being hounded by the Fibbies.
And in James Mellow’s biography of Hemingway, I found this,
“One evening early in the new year, when they were at their friends the Arnolds’ for dinner, Ernest, looking out the window, saw lights on in the window of the local bank, and said, “They’re checking our accounts.” He was convinced that the FBI was trying to get something on him, although Mary and the Arnolds tried to persuade him that there were more plausible reasons for the lights – that the cleaning women were there or that the bank manager was working late. But even paranoids have real enemies: the FBI, in fact, had opened a file on Hemingway at the time of his Crook Factory operations in Cuba. […] In mid-January, Hemingway and Mary returned to the Finca Vigia, where he hoped to Finish his article for Life. His activities under the Castro government could only have aroused further suspicion of the FBI. When he returned from Spain in November 1959, he had been met by newsmen and expressed his support for the Castro regime, saying he hoped the Cubans would not regard him as a Yanqui, and unfortunately kissed the hem of the Cuban flag.” (Mellow, James R.. Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences. Boston, NY, London, Houghton Mifflin Company: 1992. p. 597-598)
While Mellow doesn’t explicitly say that Hemingway’s fears were justified, he seems to leave that possibility open.
In several Hemingway biographies, and in Simmons’s book, some of the FBI’s files on Hemingway are extracted, including this funny memorandum from J. Edgar Hoover to two FBI agents, on December 19, 1942,
“Concerning the use of Ernest Hemingway by the United States ambassador to Cuba: I of course realize the complete undesirability of this sort of a connection or relationship. Certainly Hemingway is the last man, in my estimation, to be used in any such capacity. His judgment is not the best, and if his sobriety is the same as it was some years ago, that is certainly questionable.” (Simmons, p. 420-421)
But where does all this leave us in terms of Doug’s question? Simmons writes – in the novel part of his book, not the Author’s Note,
“In the months before his death, Hemingway had become convinced that the FBI was bugging his phones, following him, and preparing a tax case against him in collusion with the IRS which would ruin him financially. It was this delusion of FBI persecution, above all others, which had prompted his fourth wife to decide that he’d become paranoid and delusional. It was then that his wife and friends had taken him to the Mayo Clinic for a series of electroshock treatments.” (Ibid, p. 5)
In Doug’s email he suggests that Hemingway’s electroshock therapy led to his paranoia; the above suggests that he was paranoid before he got the shock therapy.
It is the opinion of the Literary Dick that the FBI probably was interested in Hemingway, and probably was following him at some points in his later life. To what extent, I’m not exactly sure. But this is only Part I of Papa’s Paranoia. At some point I hope to have some more definite answers.
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) is published on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book coming out in July, called, Wake Up, Sir!
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Papa’s Paranoia, Part I
Question: Dear Literary Dick (as in Private Detective):
It is generally regarded by Hemingway biographers that in his final years his failing health and EST treatments caused him to have paranoid delusions of various sorts, most notably that the FBI were following him. According to a recent historical thriller (Dan Simmons's THE CROOK FACTORY), though, these weren't delusions at all -- Hemingway *was* being persecuted by the Feds.
Could you clear this issue up?
thanks,
Doug B.
Answer: At the beginning of Simmons’s book, we find the following,
“This is a work of fiction. While the names, characters, places, incidents, and elements of dialogue are real or taken from reputable or private sources, the essence of this novel is a work of fiction.”
but then at the end of the book, there’s a long Author’s Note, which begins,
“The incredible story of Ernest Heminway’s Cuban spy-catching, submarine-chasing, World War II adventures in my new novel, The Crook Factory – I think – all the more incredible for being 95 percent true.” (Simmons, Dan. The Crook Factory. New York, Avon Books: 1999. p. 433)
So that’s confusing. Before we get to Hemingway’s paranoia, let’s look at his World War II adventures, which seem pretty unbelievable, especially if you’ve never heard of them. It seems like the kind of stuff everyone should be talking about, all the time, and saying, Wow.
Here’s Simmons’s take on Hemingway’s Cuban spy adventures,
“Some years ago I decided to write a fictional version of Hemingway’s Cuban spy adventures when I noticed just how cursorily that year, from May 1942 to April 1943, was covered by his many biographers. Usually the explanation went something like this – “In the first year of America’s involvement in the way, Hemingway stayed home in Cuba even while his wife and friends went off to fight or cover the fighting. During that time, Hemingway set up a counterespionage group which he called the Crook Factory and which was composed of old friends from the Spanish Civil War, bartenders, prostitutes, rumrunners, fishermen, priests, and other cronies. He also convinced the U.S. ambassador to arm his boat, the Pilar, in an attempt to lure a German submarine to the surface and sink it with grenades and small arms. He did not succeed in sinking German submarine, and his spy organization was terminated in April 1943.
What the biographies did NOT say was that Hemingway’s adventures are still classifies in the voluminous dossier which the FBI has kept on him since the 1930s. What we DO know about those months during which the writer ran the Crook Factory and his seaborne Operation Friendless is that the FBI was very upset about what Hemingway was discovering about espionage activity in and around Cuba, and, more precisely, what secrets his agents had discovered about corruption in the Cuban government and national police. What all but the most recent biographies also do NOT explain about this period is that it appears to be the basis for the raging paranoia in the last years of Hemingway’s life – a period when the writer was certain he was being followed by the FBI. The truth is that Hemingway was being followed by the FBI.” (Ibid, p. 433)
I think its interesting that Simmons’s decision, some years ago, was to write a fictional account of the Crook Factory business. Why not a non-fiction exploration? Anyway, so according to Simmons, Hemingway was being hounded by the Fibbies.
And in James Mellow’s biography of Hemingway, I found this,
“One evening early in the new year, when they were at their friends the Arnolds’ for dinner, Ernest, looking out the window, saw lights on in the window of the local bank, and said, “They’re checking our accounts.” He was convinced that the FBI was trying to get something on him, although Mary and the Arnolds tried to persuade him that there were more plausible reasons for the lights – that the cleaning women were there or that the bank manager was working late. But even paranoids have real enemies: the FBI, in fact, had opened a file on Hemingway at the time of his Crook Factory operations in Cuba. […] In mid-January, Hemingway and Mary returned to the Finca Vigia, where he hoped to Finish his article for Life. His activities under the Castro government could only have aroused further suspicion of the FBI. When he returned from Spain in November 1959, he had been met by newsmen and expressed his support for the Castro regime, saying he hoped the Cubans would not regard him as a Yanqui, and unfortunately kissed the hem of the Cuban flag.” (Mellow, James R.. Hemingway: A Life Without Consequences. Boston, NY, London, Houghton Mifflin Company: 1992. p. 597-598)
While Mellow doesn’t explicitly say that Hemingway’s fears were justified, he seems to leave that possibility open.
In several Hemingway biographies, and in Simmons’s book, some of the FBI’s files on Hemingway are extracted, including this funny memorandum from J. Edgar Hoover to two FBI agents, on December 19, 1942,
“Concerning the use of Ernest Hemingway by the United States ambassador to Cuba: I of course realize the complete undesirability of this sort of a connection or relationship. Certainly Hemingway is the last man, in my estimation, to be used in any such capacity. His judgment is not the best, and if his sobriety is the same as it was some years ago, that is certainly questionable.” (Simmons, p. 420-421)
But where does all this leave us in terms of Doug’s question? Simmons writes – in the novel part of his book, not the Author’s Note,
“In the months before his death, Hemingway had become convinced that the FBI was bugging his phones, following him, and preparing a tax case against him in collusion with the IRS which would ruin him financially. It was this delusion of FBI persecution, above all others, which had prompted his fourth wife to decide that he’d become paranoid and delusional. It was then that his wife and friends had taken him to the Mayo Clinic for a series of electroshock treatments.” (Ibid, p. 5)
In Doug’s email he suggests that Hemingway’s electroshock therapy led to his paranoia; the above suggests that he was paranoid before he got the shock therapy.
It is the opinion of the Literary Dick that the FBI probably was interested in Hemingway, and probably was following him at some points in his later life. To what extent, I’m not exactly sure. But this is only Part I of Papa’s Paranoia. At some point I hope to have some more definite answers.
