Hey, we’re all creative, right? But what differentiates my papier-mâché Halloween masks or your colourfully crocheted undergarments from the Nobel Prize-winning artworks of somebody like, say, Ernest Hemingway? Well, maybe Ernest was just a little stranger than you or me. New studies show that both creativity and eccentricity may be the result of genetic variations that increase the brain’s ability to filter out useless distractions and just get on with it. Well, Papa certainly got on with it – but just how peculiar was he?
Get Up, Stand Up
Hemingway had a study, sure – a specially-made square tower, if you don’t mind – but he did most of his writing in his bedroom. Half of that room was given over to his desk, but even that’s not where he worked, oh, no: Hemingway’s trusty typewriter actually sat on top of yet another bookcase – what he called his ‘work desk’. And lest you think he pulled up a chair to pound the keys, think again: Hemingway preferred to work standing up, spending hours and hours at a time on his feet, moving only to shift his weight from one leg to the other. He’d wear down seven pencils in a good day’s work. And who says writing isn’t manual labour?
Gunning For Fish
When he wasn’t writing, Hemingway was fishing – and nobody better mess with his catch. During a fishing trip in the Bahamas in 1935, he – rather unconventionally – opened fire on a shoal of sharks with a Thompson submachine-gun to stop them scavenging the humungous tuna he was trying to land. Unfortunately, the explosion of blood simply caused them to attack his catch with even greater fury. His other techniques were more successful. In 1938, he established a world record by catching seven marlin in one day. He was also the first person to ever boat a giant tuna in an undamaged state.
Eye Spy
Graham Greene wasn’t half the Man in Havana as our Ernest. In 1942, Hemingway, known for his anti-Fascist politics, set up a real-life intelligence network, nicknamed the Crook Factory, to keep an eye on pro-Franco and pro-Hitler agents in Cuba. The FBI disbanded them after less than a year, but still – how’s that for fieldwork?
Ready, Aim
Hemingway’s about as famous for his hunting exploits as he is for his fishing (or his books) – but did you know that, in 1940, just after finishing For Whom The Bell Tolls, Papa went out with his third wife and two of his kids and killed four hundred jackrabbits in a single day? And, at just the tender age of three, he not only killed a porcupine, but also ate it at the behest of his father. Now that’s commitment.
Get It From Your Parents
Speaking of parents – if it’s genetic variation that’s knocking out these eccentric geniuses, their elders surely ought to be examined, too. Hemingway’s mama had her own quirks: determined to get young Ernest playing a musical instrument, she once kept him out of school for an entire year to learn the cello. Did it work? Not a chance. Hemingway says, ‘That cello—I played it worse than anyone on earth’.
Good thing he ploughed on with the prose, eh?
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cool blog!
I liked how easy it was to read this. A quick read with some (hopefully) true facts. Nice font choice by the way.
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this guy was soooo useless..why the big stink over him i will never know…a drunk womanizer and some crappy writing.tisk.
You’re either trolling or you don’t know anything. Talk about useless…
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Great article!
@ Toni — I like to laugh when people dismiss EH. He told such great stories with such sparse language! He taught me to look at each word, to make sure it is really needed or wanted in a sentence. He brought a journalist’s eye to the art of literature.
I absolutely admire this font face. What is it called? Someone please, it is so clear and clean. I will type under the passing of one-thousand rotations of the solar polis with this font face!!
A fan,
Arthur Sponge
Good little blog post here! Hemingway sure reveled in his ability to control his surroundings. Shame that man so devote to his crafts would cut short his potential before it was his time.
Sadly, he also got his hemochromatosis from his parents and that eventually killed him. Okay, so a shotgun killed him, but hereditary haemochromatosis is a major risk factor for suicide, depression, diabetes, liver disease, all of which Ernest had (plus a lot of relatives who also committed suicide). His hemochromatosis was diagnosed long before the genetic test for it was invented (1996).
Hemingway’s mother was very religious while he and his father were atheists, so she treated them in a cold and abusive manner because they lacked Christian charity.