The Life: Top 5 Frequently Asked Questions III.
What were some of Ernest Hemingway's nicknames?
Ernest Hemingway had many nicknames throughout his lifetime. To his sister Sunny, he was
"Oinbones." While in high school, he gave himself the nickname of "Hemingstein." Because of his love of boxing
and the great outdoors, he became known as "Champ." His first wife Hadley and son John (by Hadley)
affectionately referred to him as either "Ernestoic," "Tatie," "Tiny," or "Wax Puppy." Even the child shared in the
fun, acquiring his own nickname of "Bumby." Hemingway was also known in some circles as "Wemedge." More
obvious nicknames included "Ernie," "Hem," and "Hemmy." The most enduring and most recognized nickname
for Hemingway would be "Papa."
What does "Papa Hemingway" signify?
For a long time critics and scholars have found two Hemingways emerging. The first is Ernest
Hemingway, the brilliant writer, "the most important author living today, the outstanding author since the death of
Shakespeare" according to John O'Hara. The second is Papa Hemingway, "Papa" having long signified
Hemingway's more masculine public alias. Whether it was "Papa" hunting in Africa, or "Papa" in Spain watching
the bullfights, or "Papa" at a café in Paris chatting with acquaintances over a bottle of cognac, this was the public
image Hemingway projected to others, rough and tough, a real "man's man." To those who knew Hemingway
more personally, "Papa" might have been used as a term of affection, an intimate reference to the softer, gentler
Hemingway that they had all come to know. In his biography, Carlos Baker explores some of the darker
connotations of "Papa," as he notes the phrase, "Yes, Papa," which according to Baker was suggestive of
"subservience" and "brought out the less admirable traits in his character."
I see the term "Papa" encapsulating all of these qualities, as well as Hemingway's unique need to see
himself as a father type figure. He once had an obsession with a young and beautiful Venetian girl named
Adriana. She too saw him as fulfilling this father type role (incidentally, she would also later commit suicide).
Hemingway frequently referred to certain women in his life as "Daughter" and had hoped of having a female
child of his own one day.
How do we explain Ernest Hemingway's many marriages?
A few of Ernest Hemingway's contemporaries had theories as to why the great author was so prone to
walking down the aisle. F. Scott Fitzgerald felt that Hemingway needed a new woman for every big book and
William Faulkner perceptively noted: "Hemingway's mistake was that he thought he had to marry all of them."
Hemingway married four times and divorced three times. According to A. E. Hotchner, Hemingway supposedly
was considering a fourth divorce. In a new preface to Papa Hemingway, Hotchner reports that Hemingway once
told him: "I wish I could leave her, I really do, but I'm too old now to afford a fourth divorce and the hell Mary
would put me through."
By most accounts, Hemingway was not the easiest man to keep house with. He also had a tendency of
falling out of love once married or acting in a manner, which left his spouse with no other choice but to fall out of
love with him. Towards the end of his life, what Hemingway needed more than a live-in wife was a live-in nurse,
and unfortunately for Mary, she had to fill this roll. Hemingway biographer Jeffrey Meyers has noted that Mary
"could take an infinite amount of abuse." She was determined to be the final Mrs. Hemingway. Mary got her
wish, but at what a price.
Out of his four wives, I think Hadley (his first wife) was the one he cared for most. Hemingway never
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