Book News: Penn State Libraries Get Hemingway Letters Archive

"Book News: Penn State Libraries Get Hemingway Letters Archive"
By: Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 3/11/2008
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6540020.html

Penn State University Libraries have recently purchased an enormous collection of personal letters of the famous author, Ernest Hemingway. According to the article the collection contains "more than 100 letters, telegrams, and notes from 1917 to 1957." The author's nephew, Ernest, inherited the collection from his mother, Hemingway's sister.

William L. Joyce, the head of Penn State's Special Collections Library, notes that the documents will reveal a more personal side of Hemingway that has rarely been known to the public, showing greater dimensions of the famous author. He states that the letters "humanize this great American writer and display aspect of his personality previously underappreciated."

For those who already appreciate Hemingway's work, this new perspective on his personal life will be an enlightening new addition to their studies. It may also be helpful to those studying American history. The article states that the correspondence was posted from several different locations including, Michigan, Kansas City, Montana, Key West and several others. I believe this indicates that there may be first-hand information to be learned about different American locations up to nearly a century ago.

Sandra Spainer, who is a Penn State English professor has been directing a "massive international Hemingway Letters Project" consisting of 12 volumes, and plans to publish volume I in 2009. This collection will eventually appear in later editions of the project.

Thankfully, the public will not have to wait until 2009 or even later to get their eyes on this priceless addition to the Penn State Library's collection. The documents are scheduled to be available to the public later this year.

I reference my perspective as an English major frequently, and here I will again. The personal collections of authors can offer fresh perspectives about those authors and the real lives they lived. Although it is not always acceptable to interpret an author's work in correlation with his personal life, it is often very interesting. In this case, those who choose to delve deeper into the life and works of Ernest Hemingway will be able to do so not only from biographies, but from his own autobiography in the form of letters to his closest family members. How exciting!