International
Ernest Hemingway Colloquium
Livia Rodríguez Delis
THE 14th International Ernest
Hemingway Colloquium, on the life and work of the
famous American author, takes place in Havana June
20 through 23, in celebration of 90th anniversary of
the first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s Three
Stories and Ten Poems, an event on this occasion,
dedicated to Africa.
The colloquium, which also
commemorates the 60th anniversary of Hemingway being
awarded the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and
the Sea, will provide an opportunity for
reflecting and exchanging experiences with
specialists and institutions linked to the Hemingway
Museum at the Finca Vigía – Hemingway’s Cuban home—and
to discuss recent research on a range of topics
related to the famous novelist.
Ada Rosa Alfonso, director of the
Hemingway Museum and president of the Colloquium
organizing committee, stated that academic figures
from Venezuela, Israel, Ireland, Canada, the United
Kingdom, the United States Italy, Japan and Cuba
will be taking part in the event.
The opening paper, "The Old Man and
the Sea: A testimony of loyalty, humility and trust,"
will be presented by Iván Gómez, a student at
Venezuela's Francisco de Miranda Experimental
National University.
Alfonso described as interesting the
paper entitled "Finca Vigía," to be presented
by Michael Connor, a specialist in Caribbean
antiques and architecture, and also noted the paper
"Concussion and Cranial Trauma as Factors in
Ernest Hemingway's Suicide," by Walter Collins, for
the new insights it may provide.
Cuban artist Jorge Pérez Duporté is
to give an innovative presentation on the theme "Hemingway
and state phytosymbols," which recreates
different U.S. symbols related to cities where the
author of The Snows of Kilimanjaro left his
mark.
Jorge Santos Caballero from the
University of Camagüey will discuss the influence of
the African continent on Hemingway and his work.
Gladys Rodríguez, president of the Hemingway Chair
at the José Martí International School of Journalism,
and art curator Mayté Soto will give a joint
presentation on Hemingway's La Vigía, which explores
new information on a work of art from Hemingway's
personal collection, which remains in Cuba.
Sandra Spanier, from the University
of Pennsylvania, will examine Hemingway's First
Letters, details of "Papa's" life. She is currently
leading an international project to publish all
Hemingway’s unedited letters, the first volume of
which was recently printed.
Other studies on the writer’s love
of fishing, his first steps in journalism, the
banning of his work in Franco's Spain, his
relationship with Cuban communists and the U.S.
filmmaker Woody Allen, will be presented to
delegates attending the event at the Ambos Mundos
Hotel in Old Havana, where Hemingway lived from 1932
to 1939.
Participants in the event will also
have the opportunity to visit cultural and historic
places of interest in Havana, retracing Hemingway’s
steps.
In the Colloquium’s closing event,
which includes the convening of the 2014 edition,
Hemingway, as acted by Brian Gordon Sinclair, will
make an appearance on stage with other winners of
the U.S. Hemingway look-alike competition.
The Finca Vigía Distinction,
instituted by the National Council for National
Heritage and supported by the Ministry of Culture,
will be awarded for the second time this year to
persons and institutions to have made a special
contribution to promoting and preserving Hemingway's
legacy in Cuba.
