Traveling with Tatie
"If we win here we will win everywhere. The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it."
- Robert Jordan ("For Whom the Bell Tolls", 1940)
Ernest Hemingway, born in Oak Park, Illinois on July 21, 1899, have gone places and the literary aficionados took note of it.
Lake Michigan, for instance, was where he learned how to hunt and fish. The cottage he stayed in became a National Historic Landmark. Then there were destinations that inspired him to write some of his best novels. Pamplona, capital of the former Kingdom of Navarre, is the site of the festival of San Fermin, which is held every year from July 6-14. The highlight of the event is the Running of the Bulls, where a small group of bulls are let loose with locals and tourists running in front of them. Many are gored, a sight that fascinated Hemingway. He was obsessed with bullfighting, which appealed to his masculinity. As a matter of fact, many of his characters have shown courage and strength.
The Iberian nation had a special place in Hemingway's heart. The American's numeous visits to Pamplona became the basis for "The Sun Also Rises", while "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was based from his experience during the Spanish Civil War. He started the latter novel more than a year after he left Spain, his memories still vivid but the time long enough to look back at that chapter of his life with a perspective. It was an affirmation of the author's lust for life. Some readers may find it ironic, as he depicted the brutality of the fighting that cost the lives of half a million people. But Robert Jordan, the protagonist, found love. He had a reason to live, an allusion to Hemingway's four-year marriage to Martha Gellhorn.
Gellhorn was considered one of the greatest war correspondents of the 20th century, a travel writer and journalist like Hemingway. He credited her for writing "For Whom the Bell Tolls", arguably his greatest piece of work. But the admiration wasn't mutual, as she was said to resent to be under anyone's shadow. There weren't many women like her.
Tatie, one of Hemingway's many nicknames, also spent years in the Gult Coast (of the United States). Key West was where he wrote "A Farewell to Arms". He also lived in the Bahamas, where he penned “To Have and Have Not”. During one trip to the Atlantic, he was able to catch an enormous marlin, which became his premise for "An Old Man and Sea". It was in Havana where he was able to put it down, the Finca Vigia being turned into a museum.
The other places where Hemingway lived became footnotes. He wrote for the Kansas City and Toronto Star for several months. He had an alcoholic spree with Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein in Paris. He whiled away for many hours at Harry's Bar in Venice. Somewhere, his fans got lost.
