Hemingway's Faith - by Mary Claire Kendall (Hardcover)

About the Book

Little is known about Ernest Hemingway's religious faith. Drawing on archival research and interviews with Hemingway's family, biographer Mary Claire Kendall paints a portrait that reveals the real Hemingway, and the deep motivations, inspirations, and connections to the Catholic tradition that left an indelible imprint on his life and writing.

Book Synopsis

Little is known about Ernest Hemingway's religious faith. Drawing on archival research and interviews with Hemingway's family, biographer Mary Claire Kendall paints a portrait that reveals the real Hemingway, and the deep motivations, inspirations, and connections to the Catholic tradition that left an indelible imprint on his life and writing.

Review Quotes

ldquo;If you care about anything Ernest Hemingway has written, you will inevitably face the fact of Hemingway#39;s Faith. While Academics are largely allergic to Faith, and with such a popular writer as Ernest Hemingway, even opposed to any discussion of his Faith, it is the central crux of all of his writing. If we consider the prominence of Hemingway as the twentieth century#39;s most popular and influential writer, Hemingway#39;s Faith is central to the very discussion of literature, period. The Hemingway world, the literary world, needs this book, Hemingway#39;s Faith, now more than ever.

If we wish to get to grips with the faith of a writer as complex, confused and confusing as Ernest Hemingway, we must be willing to wrestle with the man and his beliefs. Mary Clare Kendall grapples with Hemingway#39;s faith and does so commendably. She doesn#39;t explain this most elusive of men, nor does she explain him away, but she does get us closer to his Catholic heart. Those wishing to know the heart of Hemingway will relish the reading of this book.

Our two Scribner biographies of Hemingwaymdash;the monumental Carlos Baker and the critical Anthony Burgessmdash;ignore or, worse, dismiss the powerful if alternating current of Hemingway#39;s adoptive Catholicism throughout his life and work. Finally, a half-century later, Mary Claire Kendall casts a beam of light through the chiaroscuro of that author#39;s troublous life. It is quite simply the most revealing portrait of the inner-Hemingway since A Moveable Feast. Faith is a gift; this book is a treasure.

About the Author

Mary Claire Kendall is a Washington, D.C.-based writer. She is the author of Oasis of Faith: The Souls Behind the Billboard--Barrymore, Cagney, Tracy, Stewart, Guinness, and Lemmon, the second in a series. Additionally, she writes a regular bi-monthly column for Aleteia on legends of Hollywood and hidden screen gems.