Penn State prof's book recounts battle with Hemingway
Saturday, June 15, 2002
By William Deibler
When the late Philip Young of Penn State University revised and expanded his acclaimed critical study of Ernest Hemingway in 1966, he added a lengthy account detailing for the first time the author's yearlong effort to suppress the book.
In 1953, Young became an instant literary celebrity with the publication of "Ernest Hemingway." He was an obscure, unemployed college instructor when the book, the first of its kind about the author, appeared, launching Young's reputation as a scholar and critic.
The revised edition, "Ernest Hemingway: A Reconsideration," was published five years after the writer's suicide in 1961. Young theorized that what he defined as the "Hemingway hero" was very close to being the writer himself, and that the severe wounds Hemingway had suffered in World War I caused permanent psychological and physical scars that were a vital factor in his life and work.
The major American literary critic (and Hemingway's friend) Malcolm Cowley reviewed Young's book before publication and, although he was enthusiastic about much of Young's work, suggested extensive revisions.
He also sent an informal account of the book to Hemingway, commending much of it to him. That's when Young's troubles with the author began.
Hemingway told Crowley he was absolutely determined that no biography of him was going to appear while he was still alive to stop it. He said he would block publication of the book by refusing to grant Young permission to quote from his works, and if the project went ahead he would turn things over to his lawyers -- a threat certainly calculated to strike fear in the heart of a publisher.
Young was stunned by Hemingway's reaction. He said he had not written a biography, nor ever wished to, but he conceded the book might be called "biographical criticism."
In a letter to Young, Hemingway asked, "How would you like it if someone said everything you'd done in your life was because of some trauma?"
Gradually as time went by, Hemingway began to back off a bit, persuaded perhaps by Cowley's argument that his efforts to block publication would only generate publicity and increase the book's sales. He wrote Young that if he would give him his word that his book was not a biography disguised as criticism, and not a psychoanalytical study, he would have no objection to Young quoting from his works.
In a subsequent message, Hemingway told Young he felt "damn badly" that the book had been held up, no matter how mistaken he believed it to be, and that Young's living had been impaired because of it.
He said he had instructed Scribner to pay his share of permission costs to Young. Moreover, Hemingway said he would be pleased if Young would quote more extensively than he had if he had economized in quotations to hold down costs.
"I'm very sorry, kid, if you are up the creek financially," Hemingway wrote. "I can let you have $200, if you need it, and you can feel free to call me a son-of-a-bitch if you wish. If you are broke, you cannot be sued and collected from."
Young accepted Hemingway's generous offer to forgo his permission fees and declined, with thanks, the $200. He added that at no time during the dispute did he feel like calling Hemingway a son-of-a-bitch.
When the book was finally published in February 1953, but officially dated 1952, Young mailed Hemingway the first advance copy. It was quickly returned -- the wrapping paper reversed, with Young's name and address carefully hand-lettered. That was his last contact with Hemingway.
When I visited Hemingway's home in Cuba, the Finca Vigia, for the first time in 1991, I was surprised to see a copy of Young's book on a desktop in the library. Checking an inventory of the more than 7,000 books in Hemingway's library, I was even more surprised to see that it contained three copies of the book.
At one point during the dispute, Hemingway said he was sure Young's book "will be dull enough to die of its own weight. ..." That prediction proved to be far off the mark. Reviewers lavishly praised Young's book and it became a critical and commercial success.
Hemingway's fears that Young's book would damage his reputation turned out to be groundless. He went on to win the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature, and at the time of his death he was universally recognized as one of the century's greatest writers.
Young went on to a distinguished academic career, winning praise for his insightful essays on American writers and American fiction. During his lengthy tenure as Evan Pugh Professor of English at PSU, he was a major influence on a new generation of Hemingway scholars. He died in 1991.
The writer is retired senior editor of the Post-Gazette.