On June 14, EHFOP Board Member Nancy W. Sindelar traveled to Cuba to present at the International Colloquium Ernest Hemingway in Havana. This gathering of literary professionals and enthusiasts from all over the world was a rare chance for an American Hemingway scholar to gain insight into the great writer’s life in Cuba. Sindelar blogged her experiences, which will be presented as a serial in this space. Check back on Tuesday for the next installment!
DAY THREE: The morning and afternoon of June 17 are filled with more presentations about Hemingway’s life and work. Dr. Victor Pina Tabio, an aeronautical engineer trained in the former Soviet Union and now a resident of Cuba, speaks in detail about Hemingway’s plane crashes in Africa, the first in a small Cessna 180 and the second crash a few days later in a larger plane, a deHavilland Rapide. Later Hideo Yanagisawa of Japan talks about the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the impact of these events on Hemingway’s writing and his attitude toward death after 1945. As one can see from these two examples, the presentations are detailed, documented insights into Hemingway’s life and work.
In the late afternoon we travel to the Hemingway Marina, where Hemingway gave his name to an International Fishing Competition. Clearly one of the motivations for Hemingway’s move to Cuba was his love of fishing and the world class fishing opportunities that exist off the coast of Cuba. We learn that it was at this marina where Hemingway first met Fidel Castro on May 15, 1960. Castro had competed in and won the fishing tournament, and it was at this meeting that Castro told Hemingway that For Whom the Bell Tolls was his favorite book and an inspiration for the Cuban Revolution.
Our afternoon at the marina ends with a visit to the Club Nautico Internacional Hemingway de Cuba, where we are greeted by the commodore and treated to drinks and appetizers. Commodoro Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich explains to our group that the Hemingway gave permission to the club to use the Hemingway name because of the writer’s love of the sea and fishing, and with the intent of promoting the boating and fishing with the people of Cuba.
In the evening we enjoy a performance of Hemingway on Stage by Brian Gordon Sinclair of Canada. This one man show depicts Hemingway’s life, attitudes and struggles while in Cuba, and is well received by the audience. Sinclair sets forth what he calls the “Hemingway Challenge” to our Foundation and tells me that he will provide a complimentary performance to help us raise funds. (www.BrianGordonSinclair.com)
