Works by Ernest Hemingway
There is still an astonishing trove of unpublished writing by Hemingway at the Hemingway Archives at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston; some of it is about fishing—including hundreds of pages of diary and day-log material, a number of stories and articles in various stages of completion, and some nonfiction (such as an aborted attempt to do a collection of “sportsman’s sketches,” inspired by Ivan Turgenev).
By-Line: Ernest Hemingway. Selected Articles and Dispatches of Four Decades. William White, ed. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961.
The Complete Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1987.
“Cuban Fishing.” In Game Fish of the World. Brian Vesey, Fitzgerald, and Francesca LaMonte, eds. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1949.
Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters, 1917–1961. Carlos Baker, ed. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1981.
There are thousands of references to fishing in the published letters. Some speak of the origins and development of works such as “Big Two-Hearted River,” The Old Man and the Sea, and other important fiction, along with comments on the relationship he found between his love of fishing and his much greater commitment to writing; others speak baldly of his fishing life. Some of the more interesting passages may be found in letters to: Howell Jenkins (7/26/19); Howell Jenkins (9/15/19); William B. Smith Jr. (4/28/21); Gertrude Stein (8/15/24); Howell Jenkins (11/9/24); Robert McAlmon (11/15/24); Dr. C. E. Hemingway (3/20/25); Dr. C. E. Hemingway (8/20/25); Maxwell Perkins (5/31/30); Henry Strater (9/10/30); John Dos Passos (5/30/32); Janet Flanner (4/8/33); Arnold Gingrich (5/24/33); Arnold Gingrich (5/25/33); Maxwell Perkins (7/26/33); Arnold Gingrich (7/15/34); Arnold Gingrich (6/4/35); Maxwell Perkins (7/11/36); Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (8/16/36); Maxwell Perkins (2/7/39); Thomas Shevlin (4/4/39); Lillian Ross (7/2/48); Harvey Breit (6/21/52); Bernard Berenson (9/13/52); Philip Percival (9/4/55); Alfred Rice (1/24/56); Wallace Meyer (4/2/56); Gianfranco Ivancich (5/25/56); and Charles Scribner Jr.
The Garden of Eden. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1986.
Introduction to Atlantic Game Fishing. S. Kip Farrington Jr. New York: Kennedy Bros., Inc., 1937.
Islands in the Stream. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970.
“Marlin Off Cuba.” In American Big Game Fishing. Eugene V. Connett, ed. New York: The Derrydale Press, 1935.
A Moveable Feast. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1964.
The Nick Adams Stories. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1972.
The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1952.
Preface to Salt Water Fishing. Van Campen Heilner. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1953.
The Sun Also Rises. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1926.
A Very Brief List of Works About Ernest Hemingway
(Especially his life as a fisherman)
Just about everyone and his grandmother has commented on EH—and there are literally hundreds of essays, articles, and books on his fishing life alone. The ones listed below are a few that I found particularly interesting.
Baker, Carlos. Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1969. Still the best place to start for fullness and breadth—with much of EH’s fishing life given a sensible position. Some material has been discredited or updated.
Baker, Sheridan. “Hemingway’s Two-Hearted River.” In Michigan Alumnus Quarterly LXV, no. 14 (February 28, 1959). A superb essay on this story—and the first to identify the river as the Fox.
Brian, Denis. The True Gen: An Intimate Portrait of Hemingway by Those Who Knew Him. New York: Grove Press, 1988. Fascinating, often contradictory glimpses of EH from a variety of vantage points.
Farrington, S. Kip, Jr. Fishing with Hemingway and Glassell. New York: David McKay Company, 1971. A pedestrian book but with the perspective of one major big-game fisherman observing and commenting on another.
Finney, Ben. Feet First. New York: Crown Publishers, 1971. Some anecdotal looks at Hemingway by a close friend.
Gingrich, Arnold. The Well-Tempered Angler. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1965. The chapter “Horsing Them in with Hemingway” is a pithy and firsthand look at EH as a fisherman by the publisher of Esquire magazine—and a passionate fly fisher.
Hemingway, Jack. Misadventures of a Fly Fisherman. Dallas: Taylor Publishing, 1986. A very interesting account of the fishing life of EH’s oldest son—with excellent insights into his father’s methods and proclivities on the water.
Hotchner, A. E. Papa Hemingway. New York: Random House, 1966. The popular and enthusiastic memoir of one of EH’s most important late friendships.
Johnson, Donald S. “Hemingway: A Trout Fisher’s Apprenticeship.” In The American Fly Fisher 15, no. 1 (Summer 1989). This issue also contains “Hike to Walloon Lake: A Diary, June 10–21, 1916,” the diary Hemingway kept, with thoughtful commentary by Johnson. This issue of the official publication of the American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont, is exceptionally valuable. I am not aware of any other publication of the early diary.
Palin, Michael. Michael Palin’s Hemingway Adventure. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Fun and occasionally very insightful on matters piscatorial.
Reiger, George. Profiles in Saltwater Angling. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1973. The chapter “The Literary Naturalist” is one of the few works to focus on EH’s deep, expert, and abiding interest in natural history as well as sport.
Reynolds, Michael. Hemingway: The Paris Years. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1989. I’m a bit less persuaded than many others that he is fully inside EH’s head, but there’s much valuable assimilation of scattered details here on all aspects of EH’s life, including his writing about fishing.