During the 4th week of the course we will discuss in class ADIÓS, HEMINGWAY by Cuban author Leonardo Padura Fuentes (born in Cuba, 1955) and known as a journalist, essayist, screenwriter, short story writer and novelist, but primarily as the author of detective novels (noir / hard boiled) of the now famous detective Mario Conde. His work has been translated into many languages. In 2012 PF won the Cuban National Book Award.
- To start off, view the video below where LPF talks about Hemingway in Cuba; you will see images directly referenced in the LPF novel. Click on the arrow.
- Also, and in specific (and timely) regard to the ADIOS, HEMINGWAY novel, you might want to read the recent article dealing with the FBI's investigation of Hemingway that is referenced in the novel: FBI & Hemingway - Guardian 2013 & New York TImes 1983
- At the end of this post you will find other short videos in which LPF is interviewed and talks about his work.
PART A: Key Characters
Conde's Circle:
- Mario Conde - ex detective; wannabe writer
- Manolo Palacios - detective; MC's ex-partner
- Rufino - MC's grandfather
- Juan Tenorio - director of Hemingway Museum @ Finca Vigía
- Skinny Carlos - MC buddy - old school pal - paralyzed in Angola
- Conejo - MC buddy - old school pal
- Andrés - MC buddy - old school pal - defected to US
- Tamara - MC love interest - old school pal
- Dulcita - old school pal
- Candito - MC buddy - old school pal
- Garbage - MC's dog
- Crespo, Greco, Feites & Palacios' driver - cops
- Chief Rangel - former MC boss
Hemingway's Circle:
- Ernest Hemingway - famous US writer, living @ Finca Vigía
- Ruperto - captain of H's boat El Pilar
- Raúl Villaroy - trusted caretaker at Finca Vigía
- Calixto Montenegro - H's trusted employee
- Toribio Hernández (El Tusao) - cockfighting expert
- John Kirk - body found @ Finca Vigía; FBI agent surveilling H
- Dr. Ferrer Machuca - H's doctor; comrade from Spanish Civil War
- Black Dog - H's favorite dog @ Finca Vigía
- Iznaga - watchman @ Finca Vigía
- Joe Russell - H's fishing, gun & alcohol running buddy
- Gregory - H's son
- Dos Passos; S. Anderson; F. Scott Fitzgerald; G. Stein; F. Madox Ford; Salinger; Serpa; Dorothy Parker; Sinclair Lewis; Wm. Faulkner, et al. - writers mentioned by H
- Hemingway's women mentioned in novel
- Miss Mary Welch - last wife
- Valerie Danby-Smith - H's young "assistant" @ Finca Vigía
- Ava Gardner - US actress and H's former lover (she of the black knickers)
- Martha Gellhorn - US journalist and H's former lover
- Countess Adriana Ivanich - H's former lover
- Marlene Dietrich - German actress and visitor at Finca Vigía
- Hadley - H's ex- wife (first)
- Pauline - H's ex- wife
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Hemingway @ Finca Vigía
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PART B: key places (see photos)
- La Habana, Cuba capital city
- Finca Vigía - Hemingway compound
- Cojímar - beach east of Habana
- El Floridita - bar in La Habana
- Ketchum, Idaho - Hemingway US home
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Hemingway's Finca Vigía in Cuba
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PART C: Key dates:
- night of Wednesday 2/3 October 1958 - death of FBI agent Kirk @ Finca Vigía
- 4 Oct 1958 - H flies out of Cuba
- 24 July 1960 - as a boy MC sees H waving goodbye on beach in Cojímar
- 25 July 1960 - H leaves Cuba
- 2 July 1961 - H commits suicide at his home in Ketchum, Idaho
PART D: Curosities : Hemingway related photos
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an older Hemingway
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El Pilar: H's fishing boat
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Hemingway and his weapon
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Ava Gardner
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Hemingway and swordfish trophy
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Hemingway and Black Dog
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PART D: To broaden the discussion
Below are a number of key issues to consider to understand the novel in more depth. Find concrete examples in the novel of the following:
- gender roles (particularly here masculinity and sexuality)
- ties of friendship and homosocial (male bonding)
- the role of friendship and shared history as an essential part of one's identity
- the role of fear, cowardice, aging and loneliness
- disappointment vis-a-vis happiness
- the function of invention / fiction as compensatory mechanisms of defense against hostile or painful reality
- intertextuality
- PF's narrative operates at different levels, all linked (layered); discuss this structuring of the narrative and the effect it provokes in the reader
- the role in the novel of Ava Gardner's knickers
- comment on the novel's title
- comment opon the novel's epigraph: a quote from H's "A Natural History of the Dead"
- discuss the novel's repeated return to the idea of MC's "sense of justice"
- what does MC have to say about the economic and political situation of his contemporary Cuba?
- comment upon the use of ellipses in the LPF novel; how do they operate?
- discuss the last scene of the novel
Interviews (in Spanish) of Leonardo Padura Fuentes
