Ah Spain!

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Transcript

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[Music]
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Welcome to a Spain. Poco a poco. Buenos
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das Tanya.
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Buenos diaz. Um today we are going to
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talk about Ernest Hemingway. And this is
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kind of exciting because I think a lot
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of people think of him, they think of I
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mean obviously his writing but Cuba,
0:21
Paris, all the things that he did. But
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he was very big in Spain. He loved Spain
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and he even called it the last good
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country left. So, we're going to delve
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into sort of his life in Spain, you
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know, some other things too, but most
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predominantly his life in Spain and and
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how that inspired his writing.
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Yes. I mean, he is I mean, I think I I
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know him for for his his love of Spain
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and kind of it his love of the the ver
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viralent nature, the the machismo of
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Spain, right? like that he lived a hard
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life, right? He lived a kind of a hard
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drinking, party hard. Running with the
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Bulls is up his alley, right? So,
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yeah, I think a lot of that I mean
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definitely he's he's renowned for his
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excessive drinking. I think that um you
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know we that's definitely part of it and
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but yes the the all the bull fighting
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and all this you know and he he was part
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of the not part of but he he was in
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Spain during the civil war being a
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correspondent so you know that he he
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wasn't shying away from um from
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everything exciting. He was definitely
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not sitting I mean he was probably
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sitting on the beach here too but there
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was a lot going on in his life. So, um,
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he was born in 1899 in Oak Park,
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Illinois. Um, but he was also, um, he
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was a Red Cross ambulance driver in
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Italy during World War I. Um, he served
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in a as a war correspondent
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in World War II and he won a bronze star
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for bringing the realities of war to
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readers in in World War from World War
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II. And over his life, he wrote seven
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novels, six short stories, collections,
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and two non-fiction works. So, not a
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small amount of stuff going on.
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No. I mean I mean you can't say he was a
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failure. That's for sure.
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No.
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And and to to top off his list of
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failures, he also won a Nobel Prize. I
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mean the man nothing going for him, you
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know.
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Yeah. I mean really quite a lot. I think
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I just there's one thing that I that I
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did find during his um during
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researching him which I think was very
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interesting and absolutely horrifying
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really. He had so many injuries in his
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life and I think that he had a he had a
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car crash in London during World War II.
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He had a motorbike accident in Normandy.
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He had two plane crashes in Africa in
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1954. He was a boxer and a football
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player as a kid. He was in a motor blast
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in Italy during World War I. And he had
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a concussion when he fell off his boat.
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So it and he also and his family and
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everything there was a lot of history of
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mental illness of various um of various
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different types of mental illnesses but
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it's also kind of thought that maybe he
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um also suffered from CTE which we hear
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a lot about now which is you know
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chronic traumatic and not
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that's a long word and andopathy
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or whatever.
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It's the football thing. It's what the
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football thing
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it's the football thing. Yes. Um so
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clearly when you see all the things all
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the injuries that he had to his head
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plus if you add on to that the you know
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the mental illness that ran his family
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and and and rather a very sad amount of
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um suicides in his family history and
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him included which is how he died. his
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alcohol, his alcoholism and all those
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things kind of maybe go together and
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also his creativity and all the books
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that he wrote prolifically like was all
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combined in this night in this soup of
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everything that happened during his
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life. Right. I mean,
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it's a lot. I mean, and you look at
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those injuries, you look at what he
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experienced and the and the mentalis, it
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makes sense that he was such a drinker
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as well, right? I mean, that was that
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was the therapy of of a manly man back
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in the day, right? That was
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Yes. And I think these days the the
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glorification of alcoholism in this
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regard I think is is kind of taking it's
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kind of not quite as glorified now when
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people are looking at how his life was
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and what his family history was. So I
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think that maybe the glorification of
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the alcoholism that he had
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is now not maybe a major part of what
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people think about him. And we'll as we
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get into why Spain, you know, um I think
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we'll see a lot more richness to his
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life than just the fact that he wrote
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and was an alcoholic and people, you
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know, drinking beers on the beach. Like,
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so let's dive into
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drink and suicide and mental illness,
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right? He
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Exactly. Yes.
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I mean, what's interesting about him is
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is the love that he had for Spain,
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right? So, he had visited a few times.
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Um the the first time he visited was in
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the the mid 1920s and then he came back
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in the 30s for the the during the
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Spanish Civil War and wrote about that
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for newspapers for like the kind of the
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AP of the day. Um I forget what it was
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called like the national I don't know
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some
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long thing. Do you remember what it was
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called?
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Some the North American newspaper
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alliance.
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There you go. just rolls off the tongue
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and
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it does.
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I think it's also called the NA I think.
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Nana. He wrote for Nana.
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Nana. I don't know.
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That's what it was called. Yes. And he
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was supporting the Republicans against
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Franco. And he also wrote for the
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Chicago for Chicago magazine called Ken,
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which was a liberal publication. Um, so
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that was what that's what he was doing
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here in Spain during that time, writing
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for papers back in the States,
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being Yeah. Tell telling the story of
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what's going on, right? Um,
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yeah.
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So, the first time he visited was in
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1923, and he he loved the Spain, you the
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culture of Spain, obviously the bull
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fights. We know him for exalting the
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running of the bulls, right? I think
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he's kind of what put the running of the
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bulls on the map for the world, right? I
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mean, it's because of him that that
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Pamplona has the tourists it gets now. I
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think.
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Yeah. I mean, I think that I think if
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you can imagine coming from America and
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coming to see a bull fight and the
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running of the bulls, I can see how that
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would be incredibly exciting. Yes. For
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somebody that enjoyed that type of
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thing. And he was captivated by the
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intensity of it and also the the
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resilience and the atmosphere and the
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people. And at that point, he had sort
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of declared Spain his spiritual home.
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And I think he just loved every aspect
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of Spain. And it was just a very
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different experience for him and it was
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a very inspiring um place for him to be
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as a writer.
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And I think two of his books are are set
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in Spain right there. That's that that's
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where his inspiration comes from like
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The Sun Alto Rises and For Whom the Bell
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Tolls. I I had to I had to read For Whom
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the Bell Tolls um in high school and
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don't ask me
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details, but I remember it was about the
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Spanish Civil War and I had to read it.
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Well, and from from my port for my part
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in England when I was growing up for
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whom the bell tolls was played on the
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movie was played on the BBC like I don't
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know every every other week or
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something. It was one of my father's
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favorite movies. It was an Ingred Burman
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Gary Cooper movie and it was just and my
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dad loved it. So, I have seen that movie
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probably about a thousand times because
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back in the day, in case there's any
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young guys listening here, I mean, we
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had four channels. So, whatever was
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playing, you watched
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and and there was a rotation, right?
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There was
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Yes, it was a rotation, but it was the
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same, right? So, if if For whom the
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bells, if it was if that was one of the
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movies and that was coming on probably
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once a month or something. Um, and that
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was definitely one of them based on the
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book obviously.
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So, we'll talk about should we talk a
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little bit about these books? So there
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was the sun also rises, right? So a
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significant portion of this story is
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about the the running of the bulls, the
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fiesta uh descent for men in Bmplona. Uh
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and it talks about the bull fights and
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the festival and all of that.
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Yeah. And that was inspired by his first
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trip. Um so I think when he had his
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first trip, that was the book that sort
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of started coming out of that and he was
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writing that in Valencia. He started
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writing it at the hotel reign of
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Victoria.
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I had no idea about that. So every time
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I walk by that hotel now I know
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you can think of him and then he wasn't
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just he wasn't that I mean he wasn't
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just interested in the bull fighting he
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was literally following a matador so you
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know these matadors were also and I
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don't know if they still are cuz I don't
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follow it they they were famous they
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were like very very wellknown and he was
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not just following going to bull fights
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he would be following a matador around
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the bull fights that that person was
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doing kayatano
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yes
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odonette Yeah. Yes. What's your name?
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That is the Spanish spelling of my name.
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I am now going to start calling you
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Kayatano.
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Well, I Side note, that is So that's the
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transliteration of my name. So that's
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exactly how you pronounce my name.
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Oh my gosh. Well, there we go. So we'll
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stop calling you that. And but you are
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not a mass from the 1920s, right?
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I am not. Or from the 2020s. I
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just checking. All right. And then he
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had death in the afternoon which was
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1932 and this was a non-fiction work
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which again delves into the world of
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bull fighting and Spanish history
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rituals and all the significance of all
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of this. So that's more of a that's more
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just a non-fiction work where he was
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just really interested in in writing
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about all of that
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about life in Spain. And if he was alive
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we could interview him for our show cuz
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he seems like an expert.
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He clearly knows a lot about it. And
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then he did the dangerous summer and
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this book was actually published after
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his death. Um but that also focused on
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the intense bull fighting rivalry
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between Luis Miguel Doming Domingan and
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Antonio Ordiness with this and in 1959.
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So that was also just set against the
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backdrop of Spain. So that was something
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that was published later. And then the
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last one
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was a play um called the fifth column
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and it was and he wrote this during the
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Spanish Civil War and it explores the
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tensions and the conflicts of the era of
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the era and it kind of like reflecting
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his personal account and his experiences
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as a correspondent during during the
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Spanish Civil War.
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And those were the those were the
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specific ones that really are that
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really are about Spain. But I think I
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think Spain overall was was a huge muse
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for him. So, um, it was not necessarily
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other things that he wrote didn't have
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the inspiration from Spain as well, but
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those are the ones that are really
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specifically about it.
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And I think we have the hidden influence
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of Valencia because since we're in
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Valencia, let's kind of jump to, you
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know, he was all over Spain. He was in
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Madrid. He was, you know, in different
11:07
parts of Spain, obviously. But if you if
11:09
you are in Valencia here, you will see
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his name a lot and you'll hear about him
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a lot because he was he was around here
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living and hanging out.
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And you know, I didn't really notice I
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did not know about how much Valencia
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that he was involved in the Valencian
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life. Like I had always just associated
11:27
him with Pamplona like that was kind of
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you know I mean that I think most people
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do, right? So I didn't know he had
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visited all these places in in in
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Valencia. So I mean
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yeah so we went to La Pepika restaurant
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which is down by the beach and they are
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very proud of the history they have with
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Hemingway there. He obviously spent a
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lot of time drinking down there
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down there.
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And back the the beach back then was
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very different. If you if you've seen
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sort of pictures of European beaches or
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maybe even New England beaches back in
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sort of like the 20s and 30s, you'll
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kind of have this image of these little
12:04
huts and tents that are on the beach
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that everyone can um change in. So back
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then the beach it was didn't have these
12:10
big buildings and all this stuff. It was
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little restaurants with these little
12:13
huts on the beach. It was this very
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cute, very remote sort of place. And
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that was the that was the Valencia Beach
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that Hemingway was hanging out in and
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and getting inspiration and drinking and
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eating.
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And back then it wasn't even the
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Valencian beach. It was a town called
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Cabanol, right? So, it wasn't even
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Well, there you go. Exactly. Wasn't even
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connected. But, we actually had a very I
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would I I think it's We had a nice
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paella there. It with some nice little
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appetizers that little tappers that went
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with it. I I would highly recommend that
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as a little spot to go as a tourist or
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take some friends. If you have friends
12:43
in town, um definitely book.
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It's a It's a very large It's quite a
12:47
large restaurant, but it still you need
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to book for it. Obviously, it's right on
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the beach. And then he also visit this
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place which is now called Cappuccino
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Valencia which is in the old town which
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during his time was called Cafe Eliglo
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Seaglo.
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Mhm.
13:03
Capo.
13:03
Um so he he is rumored to have gone
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there a lot as well.
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Okay. They they must have they must have
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also been serving beer I would imagine.
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And he also loved fires. Um, and he, as
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we talked about before, the Fiery
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Festival that we all know and love here,
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absolutely fits with his very dangerous
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lifestyle.
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And who knows what it was like back
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then, too. Um, and they called it that
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he loved it for its rebirth through
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destructive symbolism, which I can sort
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of see. I can totally see that.
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I mean, and that is the thing. We've
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talked about it before and I have
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Spanish friends that talk about all the
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fires and why we have all these
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fireworks and he burn stuff on all the
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not just fires, these other festivals. I
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love that that the the rebirth through
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fire and they love that here. So it's
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absolutely and then he did finally come
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to Spain um in 1959 1960 and he covered
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bull fighting for Life magazine. this
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was the last time that he was in Spain.
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Um, obviously because he he died in
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1961, but he's he still
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I mean he was living back in America at
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that time, but he still called Spain the
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country that he loved the most. Maybe
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next to America. I mean, I don't know
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which one would come first, but
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definitely had a passion for definitely
14:27
had a passion for Spain.
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And I can see why. So do I.
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I mean, we all that's why we're all here
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because we all have a passion for Spain.
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So, we can we can align we can align
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with him there, I think.
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I mean, it's making me want to, you
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know, reread these books now that I'm
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here. I mean, it would be nice to to go
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back um and revisit these these writings
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now that my feet are on the ground.
14:48
Absolutely. Right.
14:49
Yeah. And I think the the in
14:51
specifically because a lot of those
14:53
works were in a very tumultu time in
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Spain's history. I think the, you know,
14:58
he he was really bringing back the the
15:02
vitality of Spain and its people even
15:05
within these tragedies and this time
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that was, you know, not the best of
15:10
times, you know. So, I think that the
15:12
books, I'm sure, kind of show since he
15:15
loves Spain so much, show a lot of um
15:18
passion for not just Spain, but also the
15:20
people and how everyone deals with that.
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Yeah,
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it was a m It was his muse.
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It was his muse.
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and our muse now, too.
15:29
Absolutely. So, back to reading
15:30
Hemingway.
15:31
Back to Hemingway.
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All right, that's that's what we have
15:33
for Hemingway. I hope you all enjoyed
15:36
our little Poco Poco about his life
15:38
here.
15:38
Until until the next Poco Poco,
15:45
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Till the next episode.
16:25
Bye.
16:27
[Music]