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In
The Importance of Not Being Ernest, acclaimed journalist and
New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky focuses on the sprawling life and work of Ernest Hemingway while drawing parallels to his own. This memoir and biography contains an in-depth analysis of the places and people in Hemingway’s life.
List of contents
PROLOGUE: A Dream Intrudes
CHAPTER ONE: Entrances and Exits
CHAPTER TWO: A Writer Must Escape
CHAPTER THREE: The Grass in Paris
CHAPTER FOUR: The Patent-leather Soul of Spain
CHAPTER FIVE: Cuba and the Unspeakable Feast
CHAPTER SIX: Idaho and the Last Escape
EPILOGUE: Unnatural New York
BIBLIOGRAPHY
About the author
Mark Kurlansky was born in Hartford, Connecticut. After receiving a BA in Theater from Butler University in 1970—and refusing to serve in the military—Kurlansky worked in New York as a playwright, having a number of off-off Broadway productions, and as a playwright-in-residence at Brooklyn College. He has worked many other jobs, including as a commercial fisherman, a dock worker, a paralegal, a cook, and a pastry chef. In the mid-1970s he turned to journalism, and from 1976 to 1991 he worked as a foreign correspondent for The International Herald Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, The Miami Herald, and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Based in Paris and then Mexico, he reported on Europe, West Africa, Southeast Asia, Central America, Latin America, and the Caribbean. His articles have appeared in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Time, The New York Times and many more. He has had 35 books published including fiction, nonfiction, and children's books. His books include Havana, Cod, Salt, Paper, The Basque History of the World, 1968, The Big Oyster, among other titles. He has received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, Bon Appetit’s Food Writer of the Year Award, the James Beard Award, and the Glenfiddich Award. He lives in New York City.
Summary
In The Importance of Not Being Ernest, acclaimed journalist and New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky focuses on the sprawling life and work of Ernest Hemingway while drawing parallels to his own. This memoir and biography contains an in-depth analysis of the places and people in Hemingway’s life.
Foreword
Mark Kurlansky has significant clout in the nonfiction world, which will benefit The Importance of Not Being Ernest immensely. He has won two James Beard awards, as well as the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. His books Cod, Salt, 1968, and Food of a Younger Land were all New York Times bestsellers along with The Basque History of the World, which was an international bestseller.
His articles have appeared in a wide variety of newspapers and magazines, including The International Herald Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Partisan Review, Harper’s, New York Times Sunday Magazine, Audubon Magazine, Food & Wine, Gourmet, Bon Apetit and Parade.
Mark Kurlansky's recognizable name and past success mean that The Importance of Not Being Ernest will be anticipated by many already interested fans and critics.
Additional text
“The ghost of Hemingway has haunted and inspired at least three generations of American writers. Mark Kurlansky is no exception, and his detailed, self-deprecating account of the presence of that ghost is as brilliantly revealing of Hemingway as it is of Kurlansky himself. He knows his Hemingway, the life and the works, and he knows his Kurlansky, and he’s bitingly honest about both writers. Kurlansky, however, comes off as a hell of a lot more likable.”
—Russell Banks, author of Continental Drift, Cloudsplitter, and Lost Memory of Skin, among other works of fiction
“For all that’s already been written about Hemingway,The Importance of Not Being Ernest illuminates his life and works in ways not seen before. Our Not-Ernest is a superbly knowledgeable and entertaining guide, and the book artfully braids the Hemingway narrative with Kurlansky’s own rich experiences as a world-traveling journalist and bestselling author. Kurlansky’s idea for a memoir was inspired; the result is a brilliant and original achievement, a feast for readers, whether fans of Papa or not.”
—Sigrid Nunez, author of the National Book Award-winning novel The Friend and What Are You Going Through
