An observant biography about Hemingway s fourth wife, Mary, who gave up journalism for love. "Hemingway s Widow: The Life and Legacy of Mary Welsh Hemingway" by Timothy Christian; Pegasus Books (464
Hemingway penetrates a formidable myth to make room for something true.
Arts and Culture
Myths, received ideas, and ancient controversies tend to obscure the work of a great writer, making it almost superfluous to the legend. This is especially true of Ernest Hemingway, whose myth has proved particularly seductive to those who make movies and commercial television. Hemingway’s work is understood almost entirely in biographical terms, as an extension of his personal virtues or, less charitably, as a product of his pathologies. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s mission, in their three-part, six-hour
Hemingway, airing nationally on PBS affiliates, is to provide a more naturalistic portrait of Hemingway the man and thereby return us to the indelible work itself. They have succeeded marvelously.