Thanks for this Lawrence, it was quite entertaining. The depths insurance executives will go to... On Thu, 28 Sep 2006 16:30:29 -0700, "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> said: > From page 273 of Hemingway, A Biography, by Jeffrey Meyers: > > > > "While Hemingway was writing 'Francis Macomber' an incident in his own > life > provided additional material for the story. Hemingway, thin-skinned and > quick-tempered, was famous for brawling. His most notorious fight took > place > with Wallace Stevens, who weighed 225 pounds but was twenty years older > than > Hemingway. The poet, while drunk, made Ursula Hemingway cry at a Key > West > cocktail party by insulting her brother and 'telling her forcefully what > a > sap [he] was, no man.' According to Matthew Josephson, who spoke to > several > eyewitnesses, Stevens was the belligerent one. When they met, he > exclaimed: > 'You think you're Earnest Hemingway' then challenged him to put up his > hands. Stevens was of good height and he had been an amateur boxer, but > he > was nearly sixty and very tight. Ernest, usually pugnacious, this time > urged the older man to go away and sober up. But Stevens threw a punch > at > him; and there followed a bare-knuckled fight on the dock in which > Stevens > put up a good show of resistance, but was badly battered.' Hemingway > pursued the poet, 'knocked all of him down several times and gave him a > good > beating,' Before Stevens broke his hand in two places by hitting the > novelist on the jaw. Stevens, who had disturbed the idea of order at Key > West, emerged from the fray with a black eye and bruised face, and was > seen > the next day wearing dark glasses to conceal the damage. > > > > "Though Hemingway gleefully revealed the story to Sara Murphy, he warned > her > that Stevens was anxious to protect his reputation as a Hartford business > executive: 'you mustn't tell this to anybody . . . because he is very > worried about his respectable insurance standing and I have promised not > to > tell anybody and the official story is that Mr. Stevens fell down a > stairs.' > Hemingway added that Pauline, who usually hated his fights, was delighted > that he eventually shook hands and made it up with the poet. Stevens > apparently held no grudge and later praised Hemingway's art in his > letters: > 'Some one told me the other day that Ernest Hemingway was writing poetry. > I > think it likely he will write the kind of poetry in which the > consciousness > of reality will produce an extraordinary effect. It may be that he will > limit himself to the mere sensation. No one seems to be more addicted to > epatant [shocking] (but not in any meretricious sense).' > > > > "The fight took place on February 19, 1936, and 'Francis Macomber' was > completed on April 19. . . ." > -- Steve Chilson stevechilson@xxxxxxxxxxx -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Faster than the air-speed velocity of an unladen european swallow ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html