Dateline Toronto: The Complete Toronto Star Dispatches 1920-24

by Ernest Hemingway, William M. White

Dateline: Toronto collects all 172 pieces that Hemingway published in the Star, including those under pseudonyms. Hemingway readers will discern his unique voice already present in many of these pieces, particularly his knack for dialogue. It is also fascinating to discover early reportorial accounts of events and subjects that figure in his later fiction. As William White points out in his introduction to this work, "Much of it, over sixty years later, can still be read both as a record of the early twenties and as evidence of how Ernest Hemingway learned the craft of writing." The enthusiasm, wit, and skill with which these pieces were written guarantee that Dateline: Toronto will be read for pleasure, as excellent journalism, and for the insights it gives to Hemingway's works.

Genres: Journalism, Nonfiction

478 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Best known for an economical, understated style that significantly influenced later 20th-century writers, he is often romanticized for his adventurous lifestyle, and outspoken and blunt public image. Most of Hemingway's works were published between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s, including seven novels, six short-story collections and two non-fiction works. His writings have become classics of American literature; he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature, while three of his novels, four short-story collections and three nonfiction works were published posthumously.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he spent six months as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star before enlisting in the Red Cross. He served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in World War I and was seriously wounded in 1918. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. He married Hadley Richardson in 1921, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926.
He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had worked as a journalist and which formed the basis for his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. He and Gellhorn separated after he met Mary Welsh Hemingway in London during World War II. Hemingway was present with Allied troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. He maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida, in the 1930s and in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. On a 1954 trip to Africa, he was seriously injured in two plane accidents on successive days, leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, on July 2, 1961 (a couple weeks before his 62nd birthday), he killed himself using one of his shotguns.

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far my favorite Hemingway read. Some of the European political articles get a bit difficult to wade through, but keep going. Bullfighter angst, avalanche winds, and a surprising amount of humor are ahead. I had to check it out twice because the articles are short so it needs to be read in small chunks.

[Paul W. B. Marsden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hemingway’s journalism is often overlooked and he wrote some cracking articles for the Toronto Star between 1920 - 1924, both when he was in Canada, and in Europe. He covered the French occupation of the Ruhr to try and force Germany reparations, he interviewed Mussolini, Clemenceau, Lloyd George, and revealed important insights to a North American readership. He rapidly learnt from other reporters, including the cablise language for expensive transatlantic cables. By the autumn of 1923 he had enough and returned to Paris. He was utterly fed up of chasing stories and being treated as a cub reporter when he had quickly gained experience in France, Germany and Italy. From 1924, himself and Hadley, his wife, gambled that his talent for prose would deliver a paid career. The rest is history…
Well worth a read if you want to see how Hemingway’s style in prose was influenced by his journalistic working for the Star.
Recommended.

[Rafael Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gran compilación de textos. Se ve un joven escritor en formación pero con una gran pluma de periodista.
Es interesante como los grandes problemas mundiales de entre guerra son similares a los de hoy en día.
Sus crónicas de viajes son brillantes.
Indispensable para cualquier estudiante de periodismo y para todo aquel que sea admirador de Hemingway.

[Olya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun in small quantities. Not one of those read-through books.

[Florence ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There is one thing Toronto demands in clothes. That thing is conformation.” EH, 1924
🔥 Might still be true, Hem.

[Eva Exeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro reúne artículos periodísticos de un muy joven Ernest Hemingway. Hay chispazos de su genialidad, especialmente en el texto titulado 'Aludes Suizos'