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Reynolds' Hemingway #3
Hemingway: The Homecoming
These are the heady times of the Nick Adams short stories, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and the writing of The Sun Also Rises. These are also the years of Hemingway's first marriage to Hadley Richardson, the birth of his first son, and his discovery of the bullfights at Pamplona.
300 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1992
2 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Michael S. Reynolds
25 books20 followersAs part of Reynolds' lifelong research, aided by his wife and editor Ann, he followed Hemingway's travels through Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Key West, Fla., and visited the novelist's childhood home in Oak Park, Ill.
Reynolds served on the editorial board of the Hemingway Review. He also helped establish the Hemingway Society, which presents the annual Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for the best first work of fiction published in the U.S., and organized its biannual conferences for Hemingway scholars. The professor was particularly delighted with the 1996 conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, one of Hemingway's familiar stomping grounds, which was attended by five friends of the late author.
Internationally respected, Reynolds was consulted in 1992 about 20 newly discovered newspaper stories allegedly written by Hemingway for the Toronto Star in the early 1920s. Some of the articles, which Reynolds and other scholars authenticated, were found in the Hemingway section of the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, the world's leading center of Hemingway studies.[More...]
Reynolds served on the editorial board of the Hemingway Review. He also helped establish the Hemingway Society, which presents the annual Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award for the best first work of fiction published in the U.S., and organized its biannual conferences for Hemingway scholars. The professor was particularly delighted with the 1996 conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, one of Hemingway's familiar stomping grounds, which was attended by five friends of the late author.
Internationally respected, Reynolds was consulted in 1992 about 20 newly discovered newspaper stories allegedly written by Hemingway for the Toronto Star in the early 1920s. Some of the articles, which Reynolds and other scholars authenticated, were found in the Hemingway section of the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, the world's leading center of Hemingway studies.[More...]
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 11, 2014
Review to follow upon completion of Reynold's multi-volume biography. This is the third of five volumes.
January 30, 2021
Great look at Hemingway's life at a time during the 100 day courtship with Pualine Pfeiffer through the publication of 'A Farewell to Arms' and the death of his father, Florida, and the anointing of the American man of letters whose legend would soon overshadow, to some extent, the words themselves.
November 28, 2018
Third volume of this comprehensive biography- fascinating!
January 29, 2025
A thoroughly comprehensive account of a critical period of writerly and personal developments.
August 3, 2013
Michael Reynolds' "Hemingway: The Homecoming", originally issued in 1992 as "Hemingway: The American Homecoming", is the 3rd book of a 5 Volume Biography of Ernest Hemingway. I came across a downloadable audiobook edition of this on Amazon.com & Audible Inc. which was released by them on June 27, 2013 but which has since (as of early July 2013) been discontinued for sale. The removal from sale may be due to some marketing faults in the book's presentation and presumably it will reappear once those have been adjusted. The cover of the initial audiobook edition mistakenly used the cover of the print edition of the combined Volume 4 "The 1930s" and Volume 5 "The Final Years" and the text description read a bit too much* like a description of Volume 2 "The Paris Years." The audiobook is narrated by actor Allen O'Reilly. One further technical issue with the audiobook is that either the original reading or the post-production edit is at a fast speed which isn't always at a comfortable listening rate. The first edition release that I heard was 8 hours and 19 minutes, so it will be interesting if a future reissue will have slowed that down.
The Hemingway period covered in the book is the latter half of the 1920's which is the end of the Paris years and the divorce with first wife Hadley Richardson and the marriage and beginning of the Key West years with second wife Pauline Pfeiffer. "The Homecoming" of the title refers to the return to the USA and the establishment of a new base in Key West, Florida. Hemingway's books that were written and published during this time were "The Sun Also Rises" (1926), "Men Without Women" (1927) and "A Farewell to Arms" (1929). Also the writing of the unfinished and abandoned 1927 novel "Jimmy Breen" is discussed.
This book (as does all of Reynolds' Hemingway) tells the story of Hemingway's life in a narrative novel style which concentrates primarily on a 3rd person description of the life events without a lot of sidetracking or interpretation. Excerpts from the stories and novels are inserted into the text especially where they are a development or extension of the true life events they were based on. Those who have read the primary single volume biographies by Carlos Baker, Kenneth Lynn and Jeffrey Meyer will likely not find anything new here but the novel style of storytelling does make it more approachable than the more standard biography style. We can only hope that this audiobook edition will see a reissue with errors repaired and that further volumes of the series will be made available. Due to the faults of this first issue (esp. the speed of the reading) I have to give this a 3 out of 5.
* "The 1920s in Paris are the pivotal years in Hemingway's apprenticeship as a writer, whether sitting in cafés or at the feet of Gertrude Stein. These are the heady times of the Nick Adams short stories, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and the writing of The Sun Also Rises. These are also the years of Hemingway's first marriage to Hadley Richardson, the birth of his first son, and his discovery of the bullfights at Pamplona."
The Hemingway period covered in the book is the latter half of the 1920's which is the end of the Paris years and the divorce with first wife Hadley Richardson and the marriage and beginning of the Key West years with second wife Pauline Pfeiffer. "The Homecoming" of the title refers to the return to the USA and the establishment of a new base in Key West, Florida. Hemingway's books that were written and published during this time were "The Sun Also Rises" (1926), "Men Without Women" (1927) and "A Farewell to Arms" (1929). Also the writing of the unfinished and abandoned 1927 novel "Jimmy Breen" is discussed.
This book (as does all of Reynolds' Hemingway) tells the story of Hemingway's life in a narrative novel style which concentrates primarily on a 3rd person description of the life events without a lot of sidetracking or interpretation. Excerpts from the stories and novels are inserted into the text especially where they are a development or extension of the true life events they were based on. Those who have read the primary single volume biographies by Carlos Baker, Kenneth Lynn and Jeffrey Meyer will likely not find anything new here but the novel style of storytelling does make it more approachable than the more standard biography style. We can only hope that this audiobook edition will see a reissue with errors repaired and that further volumes of the series will be made available. Due to the faults of this first issue (esp. the speed of the reading) I have to give this a 3 out of 5.
* "The 1920s in Paris are the pivotal years in Hemingway's apprenticeship as a writer, whether sitting in cafés or at the feet of Gertrude Stein. These are the heady times of the Nick Adams short stories, Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, and the writing of The Sun Also Rises. These are also the years of Hemingway's first marriage to Hadley Richardson, the birth of his first son, and his discovery of the bullfights at Pamplona."
July 3, 2024
This is the third installment of Michael Reynolds’ multi-part biography of Ernest Hemingway. It covers only three years, from 1926 to 1929, but it was an eventful period, with the divorce from Hadley, the marriage to Pauline Pfeiffer, the birth of a second child, the return to the US from Paris, the writing of A Farewell to Arms, and the death by suicide of Hemingway’s father.
As with the previous installments, Reynolds does an excellent job of recreating the time and place, so that the reader feels that he is living the events alongside the participants. He delves deeply into Hemingway’s thoughts, so much so that I often had trouble separating historical accuracy from speculation. It was interesting to follow along as the novel A Farewell to Arms took shape, and to observe Hemingway’s dedication to his craft, even during turbulent times in his personal life.
An excellent book, and I look forward to reading the next installment.
As with the previous installments, Reynolds does an excellent job of recreating the time and place, so that the reader feels that he is living the events alongside the participants. He delves deeply into Hemingway’s thoughts, so much so that I often had trouble separating historical accuracy from speculation. It was interesting to follow along as the novel A Farewell to Arms took shape, and to observe Hemingway’s dedication to his craft, even during turbulent times in his personal life.
An excellent book, and I look forward to reading the next installment.
March 4, 2016
Well written, well researched book that brings us closer to understanding Hemingway and more importantly to understanding his art. I found myself continually turning to this book instead of the books I'd planned to read.
October 7, 2013
Another excellent volume in the 5-volume biography of Hemingway.
September 17, 2016
Another Great Read
For true fans of Hemingway, Michael Reynolds's biography books on the writer are a sublime chance to live his life almost day-to-day. They exist in so much.
For true fans of Hemingway, Michael Reynolds's biography books on the writer are a sublime chance to live his life almost day-to-day. They exist in so much.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews