One True Sentence #36 with Javier Fuentes
Javier Fuentes, the 2024 PEN/Hemingway winner for Countries of Origin , shares his one true sentence from "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."
Aug 19, 2024•37 min
One True Podcast
One True Podcast explores all things related to Hemingway, his work, and his world. The show is hosted by Mark Cirino and produced by Michael Von Cannon. Join us in conversation with scholars, artists, political leaders, and other luminaries. For more, follow us on Twitter @1truepod. You can also email us at 1truepod@gmail.com.
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Episodes
Stacey Guill and Alberto Lena on the Spanish Civil War Stories
Live from Bilbao! One True Podcast presents our show live from the 20th International Hemingway Conference in Bilbao, Spain. We welcome scholars Stacey Guill and Alberto Lena to explore Hemingway’s five stories of the Spanish Civil War. These obscure, under-discussed stories – including “The Denunciation,” “The Butterfly and the Tank,” and “Landscape With Figures” – become coherent and significant as our guests explore their roots in Spanish culture and history as well as Hemingway’s own life. W...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Larry Grimes on "Today Is Friday"
One True Podcast welcomes the great Larry Grimes to discuss “Today Is Friday,” the curious playlet from Men Without Women about three Roman soldiers and a Jewish barman discussing Jesus’s crucifixion. This interview explores the resonance of the story and what it tells us about Hemingway’s lifelong quest for the religious experience. We discuss Hemingway’s fascination with executions, masculine Christianity, and hybrid religions. We also explore how the 3rd Roman Soldier unexpectedly emerges as ...
Jul 17, 2024•50 min
in our time, chapter 10: "One hot evening in Milan"
Welcome to the tenth of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . This chapter will be familiar to many readers as the bitter narrative that would later be presented as “A Very Short Story.” Here, this vignette is the longest in this volume. Is it also the most autobiographical? We discuss the ill-fated World War I love affair between our hero and Ag (later Luz), doomed due to an insurmountable age gap, our hero’s bad attitu...
Jul 11, 2024•56 min
in our time, chapter 9: "At two o’clock in the morning two Hungarians"
Welcome to the ninth of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . This chapter is the first of the vignettes set in America, a fictionalized account of a cigar store robbery that Hemingway learned about in Kansas City in 1917. We discuss this sketch’s depiction of national confusion, moral ambiguity, attitudes towards immigrants, and how Hemingway’s specific language renders a complex scene. Through our conversation, the sub...
Jul 08, 2024•59 min
Sandra Spanier and Verna Kale on the 1934-1936 Letters
One True Podcast celebrates the publication of Volume 6 of the Letters of Ernest Hemingway by welcoming two of its editors, Sandra Spanier and Verna Kale. These letters, spanning 1934-1936, find Hemingway in Key West, fishing, publishing Green Hills of Africa , producing his Esquire dispatches, making his famous reaction to the Florida hurricane of 1935, and negotiating the competing demands of life, art, business, and celebrity. We discuss Hemingway’s relationships with his correspondents: Arno...
Jun 21, 2024•1 hr
Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera on "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"
We continue our exploration of Hemingway's short stories with his masterful narrative, "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place." To aid us in this effort, we're joined by Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera, who is a professor at the University of Puerto Rico and served as the 2022 Obama Fellow at the Obama Institute for Transnational American Studies. Herlihy-Mera is the author of, among other works, Decolonizing American Spanish . In this conversation, we examine key dynamics between the major characters in this very s...
Jun 10, 2024•54 min
in our time, chapter 8: "While the bombardment was knocking the trench to pieces"
Welcome to the eighth of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . On the heels of the vignette about Nick's war injury, this bombardment scene evokes the idea that there are no atheists in foxholes while, at the same time, capturing the transactional nature of religion during wartime. We discuss various ways this vignette treats the topic of religion, try to gain a sense of the narrator's identity, and draw connections to o...
May 30, 2024•46 min
in our time, chapter 7: "Nick sat against the wall of the church"
Welcome to the seventh of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . In this important vignette, Hemingway depicts Nick's war injury and his "separate peace" with Rinaldi. We discuss Hemingway's own wounding during WWI, key differences between the final version of the vignette and early drafts, and Young's influential ideas about the "wound theory." We also take on various questions: Is Rinaldi dead by the end of the vignette...
May 27, 2024•52 min
Amanda Vaill on the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a brutal and maddeningly complex historical event, with enormous repercussions on Ernest Hemingway’s life and career. To guide us through the many moving parts and frayed relationships, we welcome back Amanda Vaill to One True Podcast. Vaill’s essential book, Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War , guides us through the events of the war, including the private adventures of Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn, John Dos Passos, Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, an...
May 13, 2024•53 min
One True Sentence #35 with Julie Schumacher
Julie Schumacher, author of The Dear Committee Trilogy ( Dear Committee Members, The Shakespeare Requirement , and The English Experience ), shares her one true sentence from Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises . As Schumacher explores, Hemingway's short, terse writing often leads to some "long, meandering, winding roads of sentences" like the one she's chosen for this episode. In addition, she raises intriguing questions about how Hemingway drafted the sentence, examines what makes certain character...
Apr 29, 2024•37 min
in our time, chapter 6: "They shot the six cabinet ministers"
Welcome to the sixth of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . The scene depicts the execution of six Greek officials toward the end of 1922. In this episode, we discuss the history of that trial and execution, the journalistic coverage of events, and Hemingway's fictional treatment of the execution. We also relate this vignette to other works, such as A Farewell to Arms , For Whom the Bell Tolls , and even Tintoretto's C...
Apr 18, 2024•49 min
in our time, chapter 5: "It was a frightfully hot day"
Welcome to the fifth of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . This scene of a barricade and a retreat continues Hemingway's brilliant depictions of Battle of Mons. In this episode, we explore some historical aspects of that retreat, compare the narrative voice and point of view to chapter four, and much more. As always, we examine how these first five vignettes are cohering into a larger project. Join us as we explore in...
Apr 15, 2024•51 min
Ahmed Honeini on William Faulkner
The two great titans of twentieth-century American literature – Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner – never met. They corresponded only a time or two; however, they were always on each other’s minds. Their hyper-awareness of the other’s recent work led sometimes to envy, sometimes to awe, and frequently to catty comments. To help us learn more about these two men and their fraught relationship, we invite Prof. Ahmed Honeini of Royal Holloway, University of London, to the program. Honeini is th...
Apr 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Stephen Koch on the Breaking Point with John Dos Passos
This episode will focus on the Spanish Civil War and how one particular incident – the murder of accused Fascist spy José Robles – ruptured the relationship between Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. To sort out the many moving parts to this chapter of Hemingway’s life, we welcome Stephen Koch, the author of The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of José Robles . Koch takes us through the complicated relationship between Hemingway and Dos Passos, what ended it, and how it e...
Mar 18, 2024•51 min
in our time, chapter 4: "We were in a garden at Mons"
Welcome to the fourth of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . At 75 words, this short scene describes the Battle of Mons. To Ezra Pound, Hemingway would refer to this conflict (from August 1914 at the very beginning of the First World War) as "clear and noble." In this episode, we discuss the historical aspects of the battle, Hemingway's friendship with the British soldier Eric Edward “Chink” Dorman-Smith, and the mixtu...
Mar 07, 2024•44 min
in our time, chapter 3: "Minarets stuck up in the rain"
Welcome to the third of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . In this scene, Hemingway describes the minarets rising over the landscape overlooking the harrowing evacuation at the Greco-Turkish War in 1922. Hemingway distills the vast scope of inhumanity into the expression of one scared child. We discuss how this scene intersects with his biographical experiences, his journalism, and how the first three vignettes are be...
Mar 04, 2024•53 min
Mark Whalan and Karen Leick on American Modernism
American modernism is a concept that is so slippery that even scholars don’t always agree on its definition. Is it a historical era, or a literary technique? Was Ernest Hemingway even a modernist? If so, which of his works are most modernistic? For this discussion, we turn to Mark Whalan, editor of the compendious new volume, Cambridge History of American Modernism , and Karen Leick, one of its contributors, who places Hemingway in a conversation with other American modernists including Stein, F...
Feb 19, 2024•1 hr 1 min
One True Sentence #34 with Mark Kurlansky
Mark Kurlansky, the author of dozens of books of fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature (including Cod , Salt , and The Importance of Not Being Ernest ), shares his one true sentence from Hemingway's story "In Another Country."
Feb 05, 2024•25 min
in our time, chapter 2: "The first matador got the horn"
Welcome to the second of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of the Paris edition of Hemingway’s book of vignettes, in our time . In this scene, Hemingway puts us into a chaotic bullfighting scene, with gorings, hooting crowds, and a kid who tries to save the day. We discuss how this early sketch prefigures Hemingway’s career-long fascination with the bullfight and the problem of depicting it. Just two chapters into this year-long read of in our time , patterns are beginning to emerge. ...
Jan 26, 2024•46 min
in our time, chapter 1: "Everybody was drunk"
One True Podcast reads in our time ! Welcome to the first of our eighteen shows celebrating the centenary of Hemingway’s book of vignettes. Starting with the unforgettable opening salvo -- “Everybody was drunk” -- chapter one describes a kitchen corporal in a chaotic battery on the way to the Champagne during World War I. We explore these 112 words and what they reveal about Hemingway’s experimentation, his challenging style, and his attitude about war as a young man. As Hemingway writes, “It wa...
Jan 22, 2024•55 min
Verna Kale on Hemingway in 1924
What was Ernest Hemingway doing in 1924? Where was he? What were his important relationships? What were his challenges? What was he writing? The excellent Verna Kale -- Hemingway biographer and Associate Editor of the Hemingway Letters Project -- joins us to trace Hemingway’s experiences one hundred years ago, walking us through his biography, his letters, his finances, and even some of his poetry. According to Kale, Hemingway wasn’t quite Hemingway yet, but he was right on the cusp. We hope you...
Jan 08, 2024•57 min
Suzanne del Gizzo on "A North of Italy Christmas"
‘Tis the season! And it wouldn’t be the holiday season without welcoming Suzanne del Gizzo to discuss a seasonally appropriate Hemingway work. In this episode, we examine “A North of Italy of Christmas,” a raucous article he wrote for the Toronto Daily Star one hundred years ago. Del Gizzo – the celebrated editor of The Hemingway Review -- discusses the absurd humor in the piece, all the mistletoe, old favorite Chink Dorman-Smith, and Hemingway’s early writing style. She unpacks the curious titl...
Dec 25, 2023•49 min
One True Sentence #33 with Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, author of the short story collection The Smallest of Entryways and Ernest's Way: An International Journey Through Hemingway's Life , shares her one true sentence from her great-grandfather's story "Big Two-Hearted River."
Dec 14, 2023•37 min
Charles Scribner III on the House of Scribner
The longest and most mutually beneficial relationship of Ernest Hemingway’s life was with the Charles Scribner's Sons publishing house, a partnership that continues to the present day. Charles Scribner III joins the show to discuss his family’s legacy in publishing, the storied history of Scribner, and Hemingway’s history with the company. We discuss Scribner III’s new book, Scribners: Five Generations in Publishing , which describes the history of the publishing house, including its relationshi...
Nov 27, 2023•58 min
One True Sentence #32 with Tim O'Brien
Tim O'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried , Dad's Maybe Book , and America Fantastica , shares his one true sentence from The Sun Also Rises . Toward the end of the episode, we also reflect on Tim's riveting speech at Dominican University during the 2016 Hemingway Society conference in Oak Park, Illinois.
Nov 16, 2023•51 min
Michael Kim Roos on Rinaldo Rinaldi in A Farewell to Arms
Join us for a special episode devoted to Lieutenant Rinaldo Rinaldi from A Farewell to Arms ! On this episode, scholar Michael Kim Roos (co-author of the essential Reading Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms) explores the many dimensions of this beloved character. We discuss Rinaldi’s role as Frederic Henry’s best friend, his development over the course of the novel, Hemingway’s historical inspiration for this character, and the way Rinaldi, a man of science and sensualism, represents one of the nove...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Ian Marshall on "The Porter"
Have you ever read “The Porter”? In this episode, we take you to a seldom-visited corner of Hemingway’s short story catalogue to discuss this fascinating outtake from his discarded novel about a father-son train trip across the United States into Canada. For guidance over this unfamiliar terrain, we turn to the great Ian Marshall, who explains the racial, class, and historical elements of this tale. We discuss how Hemingway captures the American landscape, the father-son relationship, where this...
Oct 16, 2023•56 min
David Wyatt on Grace Under Pressure
Hemingway coined the phrase “grace under pressure” in a 1926 letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Since then, the phrase has been repeated like a mantra to describe Hemingway’s attitude toward life and death, his definition of courage, and is regularly used as a lens through which to view his fiction. On this episode, scholar David Wyatt joins us to discuss the significance and legacy of “grace under pressure.” Over the course of the interview, we apply the model of “grace under pressure” to various e...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr
One True Sentence #31 with Dennis Lehane
Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Small Mercies , shares his one true sentence from A Moveable Feast .
Sep 25, 2023•52 min
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