Word Spaces
Classic Word Spaces (6): Ernest Hemingway
Writing Room
Yesterday I spent a few hours in the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum and got to see the room where he wrote more than half of his work, though he only lived there for about ten years on and off . His routine was to wake up at six am and work until he had 700 words or it was time for lunch. Then he went out to fish until happy hour and then he drank until he was tired. That was how he wrote most of his books. His writing room was only accessible via a catwalk from the main house, and no one ever went in there except for him. (It is now my life’s goal to have a private writing room only accessible by catwalk or maybe a ladder and fireman’s pole or maybe a zipline.)
Writing room is upstairs, buy shit downstairs.
The kind of sad part of this story is that now, underneath his writing room, there is a gift shop which sells obnoxious cat-related shit like ugly necklaces and book marks and fake cat poop. Also you can buy a moleskin notebook which will clearly be the first step to becoming the “next Hemingway.” His books are there too, but no one is really looking at them.
Tags: Ernest Hemingway
I would not picture Hemingway writing in a baby blue room. Maybe a white room.
At first I thought the ‘Write!’ sign was hung in his Word Space. I was relieved when I figured out it was hung in the Buy Shit part underneath the house.
I would not picture Hemingway writing in a baby blue room. Maybe a white room.
At first I thought the ‘Write!’ sign was hung in his Word Space. I was relieved when I figured out it was hung in the Buy Shit part underneath the house.
ah, you’re in key west? i’ve toured this house a couple times as my mother lives in key west. didn’t he also have the first pool in key west? salt water, i believe. yeah, the cats seem to be as much a focus of the tour as hemingway now. and then there’s the lighthouse that allegedly guided him home from the bars at night…and the urinal he brought home from a bar (sloppy joe’s?) and turned into a watering fountain for the cats.
ah, you’re in key west? i’ve toured this house a couple times as my mother lives in key west. didn’t he also have the first pool in key west? salt water, i believe. yeah, the cats seem to be as much a focus of the tour as hemingway now. and then there’s the lighthouse that allegedly guided him home from the bars at night…and the urinal he brought home from a bar (sloppy joe’s?) and turned into a watering fountain for the cats.
several interesting things here…
I have a couple friends with writer “lofts,” and you indeed climb a ladder (one dangerously) to get to these locations. I wonder if this is Hem’s impossibly long shadow or the simple need (metaphorical) to remove the self to write. Also small kids have trouble getting up the ladder…
Hem seemed to have the Protestant Work Hard Play Hard attitude. I get this 700 done and I can go play. Interesting number, 700.
Lastly the kitsch below. Hem was so concerned about not getting out drafts, unfinished work, etc. during his life, and then people with $$ in their eyes brought out many things after his death. He should have pulled a Kafka and asked for them to be burned. But no one would have burned them, of course (just like with Kafka–though different. Kafka wanted his completed works torched).
several interesting things here…
I have a couple friends with writer “lofts,” and you indeed climb a ladder (one dangerously) to get to these locations. I wonder if this is Hem’s impossibly long shadow or the simple need (metaphorical) to remove the self to write. Also small kids have trouble getting up the ladder…
Hem seemed to have the Protestant Work Hard Play Hard attitude. I get this 700 done and I can go play. Interesting number, 700.
Lastly the kitsch below. Hem was so concerned about not getting out drafts, unfinished work, etc. during his life, and then people with $$ in their eyes brought out many things after his death. He should have pulled a Kafka and asked for them to be burned. But no one would have burned them, of course (just like with Kafka–though different. Kafka wanted his completed works torched).
Yeah, Hemingway’s second wife Pauline had the pool put in against his wishes while he was out of town. It cost $20,000 in the 1930’s and it was the first pool in key west. It cost so much because they had to dig into solid coral. He divorced Pauline in 1940.
Yeah, Hemingway’s second wife Pauline had the pool put in against his wishes while he was out of town. It cost $20,000 in the 1930’s and it was the first pool in key west. It cost so much because they had to dig into solid coral. He divorced Pauline in 1940.
Oh my god, his writing room is so hipster. I thought for sure that was not a real photo of the real room. Looks straight off of designsponge.
Oh my god, his writing room is so hipster. I thought for sure that was not a real photo of the real room. Looks straight off of designsponge.
Kerrie —
Maybe that’s because he was one way or another one of the templates for the template.
His writing suffered the same fate, too, right?
Kerrie —
Maybe that’s because he was one way or another one of the templates for the template.
His writing suffered the same fate, too, right?
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