One True Podcast

Lesley Blume joins One True Podcast to discuss Everybody Behaves Badly, her bestselling profile of the background of The Sun Also Rises.   Blume talks about Paris and Pamplona in the 1920s, the actual people who inspired Hemingway’s unforgettable characters, and the impact the novel has had on literature and culture for almost a century.  Join us for a lively conversation with the award-winning journalist and enjoy our re-examination of Hemingway’s masterpiece!This episode was recorded on March 2, 2020.

One True Podcast continues its exploration of the places that defined Hemingway and that Hemingway helped define. We return to Cuba, joined by Jeffrey DeLaurentis, the man President Obama nominated to serve as ambassador to Cuba.  During the discussion, Ambassador DeLaurentis draws from his personal experiences with the Cuban government and Cuban citizens, as well as his decades of international experience, in order to provide a rich analysis of the state of this complex international relationship.This episode was recorded on July 29, 2019.

On this episode we welcome Scott Donaldson, the legendary Hemingway biographer, to discuss the iceberg principle of writing. He explores the function of Hemingway’s iceberg style, examines various examples of it at work, and considers potential influences on Hemingway's "trademark" style of omission. As a literary biographer and one of the most perceptive and prolific living scholars of American literature, Donaldson illuminates Hemingway and his artistic technique.This episode was recorded on July 28, 2019.

In this episode, the brilliant historian Mark Thompson, author of the magisterial The White War, separates fact from fiction as he analyzes Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, including its epic depiction of the devastating Caporetto retreat. In writing his great war novel, Hemingway dramatically recreated the Italian Front of World War I by consulting histories, maps, novels, and others’ firsthand accounts. He also drew from his own traumatic experiences in northern Italy in 1918. Thompson turns his attention to the historical context of the fiction, focusing on the “forgotten front” of Italy during World War I. He addresses the military fiascoes and political incompetence, bringing to the surface the subtext of A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway’s timeless classic.This episode was recorded on September 6, 2019.

One True Podcast took the occasion of Toni Morrison’s death to consider the way race emerges as a key factor in Hemingway’s writing. In this episode, we turn to one of the most prominent Hemingway scholars on this issue, North Carolina State’s Marc Dudley.During the interview, Dudley reflects on Morrison’s searing criticisms of Hemingway’s treatment of minority characters, and extends his thoughts to consider how other ethnicities – such as Native Americans – function in Hemingway’s work. Hemingway emerges both as a writer of his time, with all of its limitations and prejudices, and also as a man of sensitivity and deep insight. Our conversation on Hemingway and race is a timely one, asking the question: how do Hemingway’s depictions of race look through twenty-first-century eyes?This episode was recorded on October 18, 2019.

In this episode, the inimitable Susan Beegel joins producer Michael Von Cannon for a special "Scholar's Spotlight" episode.Beegel tells Michael about her article "Fish Tale: A History of the L.C. Bates Museum Marlin, Taxidermist Fred C.N. Parke, and Ernest Hemingway," which appeared in the Fall 2018 issue of the Hemingway Review. Listen in as she unlocks the mysteries surrounding a taxidermied Hemingway marlin that she came across in a museum in Hinckley, Maine.  As Beegel explores the intertwined story of Hemingway and Parke, she dives into the culture of deep-sea fishing along the Florida Keys, the importance of Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad, and the conflicted relationship Hemingway had with the upper crust. In doing so, she follows the trail of Hemingway's artistic growth and literary celebrity. The marlin becomes a symbol of what the writer lost, what he never possessed, and what he finally determined to hook and land.  This episode was recorded on February 22, 2019.

Stacy Keach joins the show to reflect on his legendary career, particularly his portrayal of Hemingway on the stage, in the classic miniseries, and in his audio recording of short stories. Keach compares the art of acting to the act of writing and gets to the heart of Hemingway’s knack for conveying emotion in spare prose.  He reflects on the many adaptations of Hemingway novels and his friendship with George C. Scott and John Huston.  He also offers insights into Hemingway’s psychology and destructive habits. As a special bonus, hear Keach's brilliant read of our “one true sentence” introduction!This episode was recorded on August 8, 2019.

Alex Vernon joins the show to discuss one of Hemingway’s major themes: men at war.  He penetrates the myth of Hemingway-as-warmonger, isolates some of the writer's most evocative war passages, and even reflects on his own war experiences in the Middle East. Vernon also tracks Hemingway’s development from the young eyewitness of World War I to the keen partisan of the Spanish Civil War, and finally to the solemn commentator of WWII journalism. In pursuit of Hemingway’s place in the canon of war literature, this episode incorporates a lively discussion of Crane, O’Brien, Stendhal, and even the Kardashians.This episode was recorded on June 27, 2019.

This episode is a journey into the culture and history of Cuba. Given the undeniable importance of Cuba in Hemingway’s life and legacy, Hemingway readers will learn a lot more about it from one of the preeminent scholars, thinkers, and writers on Cuba, Dr. Julia E. Sweig.Dr. Sweig discusses US-Cuba relations, their tumultuous history, her meetings with Fidel Castro, and her sense of what we might expect--and hope for--in the coming years. The interview touches on issues of immigration, terrorism, and contemporary politics as we explore the past, present, and future of our Cuban neighbors.This episode was recorded on May 23, 2019.

In this episode, we explore Hemingway and John Dos Passos, their service in the American Red Cross during World War I, their writing careers, and their doomed friendship. In order to do so, we chat with the man who wrote the book on it.  James McGrath Morris’s The Ambulance Drivers chronicles the highs and lows of their relationship and their legacies.  As well, Morris talks about the mystery surrounding the identity of the Italian soldier who saved the young Hemingway’s life.This episode was recorded on June 12, 2019.