One True Podcast

John Hemingway - grandson of Ernest and son of Gregory -- shares his remarkable story with us. We explore John's important book, Strange Tribe: A Family Memoir, his revealing and unsparing account of his life as a Hemingway.We cover Ernest's volatile relationship with John's father, a history that includes affection and intimate understanding, but also correspondence filled with recriminations. Our discussion of the Ernest-Gregory relationship leads to an illuminating examination of fathers and sons, gender fluidity, mental health, and much more. John also describes his travels and his own writing, and he recalls the close bond he developed with his great-uncle Leicester. Join us for this special discussion of the Hemingways with John Hemingway!

Is “Hills Like White Elephants” Hemingway’s greatest short story ever, or only his most famous?  Bolstering the case for “Hills Like White Elephants” as the G.O.A.T., esteemed scholar Russ Pottle joins us to explain the story’s composition, imagery, historical and biographical contexts, and unforgettable dialogue.Pottle helps us read between the lines in the ways Hemingway characterizes Jig and the American through their dialogue and their silence, and through their actions. We figure out exactly how one can wait “reasonably” for a train, and what Hemingway means by the ambiguous ending when Jig says she “feels fine.” And would you please please please please please please please listen for a special guest appearance from old friend Miriam Mandel?  

Ilan Stavans, publisher of Restless Books and author of numerous works including Quixote and What is American Literature?, shares his one true sentence from Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.

For an episode devoted to Hadley Richardson, we are proud to welcome Gioia Diliberto, esteemed writer and author of many books, including Paris Without End: The True Story of Hemingway’s First Wife. We explore Hadley’s difficult childhood, her time in Paris with Hemingway, the dissolution of their marriage, the loss of Hemingway’s manuscripts, the famous “100-day separation” pact, and the rest of their legendary relationship. Diliberto discusses the revelations of the Sokoloff tapes, Hadley’s recorded reminiscences of Hemingway many decades later. We learn how Hadley felt about A Moveable Feast, Pauline Pfeiffer, and also Hemingway’s suicide. Join us for an interview about Hadley with her definitive biographer.

The great Italian scholar Martina Mastandrea discusses “In Another Country,” one of Hemingway’s finest short stories. After Mastandrea treats us to an Italian rendition of the famous opening paragraph, we explore the many treasures of the story: Why did F. Scott Fitzgerald admire the first sentence of the story so much? Is this a Nick Adams story? What does it tell us about Hemingway's perspective on war? What's the difference between our protagonist and the hunting hawks? Why is the major so insistent on speaking Italian grammatically…. and never marrying?  Join us in our discussion and celebration of “In Another Country” and then go re-read it!

Naomi Wood, author of Mrs. Hemingway, shares her one true sentence from a letter Hemingway wrote to friends Gerald and Sara Murphy after the death of their son, Baoth, in 1935. 

Happy New Year from One True Podcast!  We usher in 2023 with our new year's tradition of wondering what Ernest Hemingway was doing one hundred years ago. In 1923, what was Hemingway writing? Where did he live? Who were his friends and enemies? How was his marriage going?  And what was on the horizon? To answer these questions, we turn to his biographer, James M. Hutchisson, emeritus professor at The Citadel and author of Ernest Hemingway: A New Life. Hutchisson describes Hemingway’s trajectory during this year of transition, a young man recuperating from trauma and loss to a striking transformation from poet to journalist to fiction writer on the cusp of greatness. Happy listening and happy 2023! 

We welcome back Suzanne del Gizzo to ring in the season with a discussion of “The Christmas Gift,” Hemingway’s account of his 1954 plane crashes in East Africa. Del Gizzo, editor of The Hemingway Review and widely published scholar, guides us through this extraordinary piece originally written for Look magazine, its role in Hemingway’s self-mythologizing, its examination of his near-death experience, its representation of Mary, and how the article both reveals and obscures what actually happened.  It has been a triumphant 2022 for One True Podcast, so we hope you’ll enjoy unwrapping this gift of an episode. Thank you for listening and supporting the show.

Michael Mewshaw, author of numerous novels and nonfiction works (including Year of the Gun, The Lost Prince, and the forthcoming My Man in Antibes: Getting to Know Graham Greene) shares his one true sentence from Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.

We are joined by legendary scholar Jackson Bryer, who explains the origins and implications of a notorious concept: the Hemingway code. When the code was introduced in the 1950s by influential scholar Philip Young, what did he intend it to mean? What is a "code hero"? What is a "Hemingway hero"? What did Hemingway mean by “grace under pressure”? Bryer helps us explore the impact and legacy of the code, its relevance today and its limitations, ultimately suggesting how it might enrich our experience of reading Hemingway’s work. We discuss numerous examples from Hemingway's works to discover how frequently the idea of the code appears: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, along with shorter works such as "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and "The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio."