Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American author and journalist who lived in Key West, Florida, from 1928 to 1939, in a house now known as the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. This house is just one street away from the beach and less than a ten-minute walk from the southernmost point of the continental U.S. We visited the Hemingway Home on the late afternoon of Christmas Day 2022, after a three-hour drive from Miami. Although the house was about to close when we arrived, we managed to enter just in time.
The house is a two-story Spanish Colonial Revival-style home built in 1851, originally owned by a ship captain named Asa Tift. The property features lush tropical gardens, a pool, and several six-toed cats. These cats are descendants of a polydactyl cat named Snow White, a gift to Hemingway from a ship’s captain, and they are now cared for by the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. Upon entering the courtyard, the first notable sight was the cats. They interacted well with visitors, showing no fear or distraction when approached. Their adorable presence has inspired artists to depict them in several paintings.
nside the museum, numerous exhibitions, including pictures and artifacts, tell the story of Hemingway’s life and career. He served as an ambulance driver in World War I, reported on the Spanish Civil War and World War II, and traveled to many corners of the globe, mingling with notable figures of his time, including Madam Mei-ling Soong, the First Lady of China, in 1941. In the garden, while most of the plants and architecture are tropical, there is a small corner planted with bamboo, perhaps a nod to his travels in Asia (he visited China, Japan, and the Philippines).
Hemingway is best known for his novels and prose, particularly “The Sun Also Rises” (1926), “A Farewell to Arms” (1929), and “The Old Man and the Sea” (1952), as well as short stories such as “Hills Like White Elephants” (1927) and “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936). He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. While he did write some poetry, it is less famous than his prose. His poetry, like his short stories, is often simplistic and minimalistic. In the museum’s bookstore, I purchased Ernest Hemingway: Complete Poems, a revised edition edited by Nicholas Gerogiannis.
I selected the following poem from the book as a good example of his straightforward style:
The rail ends do not meet...
The rail ends do not meet The sun goes down And only rivers run no race Nor does still water run so deep Levine, Levine, the Hebrew ace Mackerel skies at night are the sailor's delight Or they break the sailor's heart A sailor's life is the life for me The ground rolls green As green as the sea
Although this poem is simple, short, and straightforward, it evokes an image of a sailor who is either proud of or disappointed by the unfair treatment of Charles Levine. (Note: Charles Levine was the world’s first transatlantic air passenger. For those interested in his story, see Charles A. Levine.) The poem also leaves room for interpretation regarding whether the sailor longs for something or struggles with unfulfilled desires, or perhaps seeks understanding and connection in the world. Readers may interpret the poem in many different ways.
I was curious if Hemingway ever wrote specifically about cats, given his fondness for them and the many he kept at his home in Key West. Unfortunately, he did not write a poem dedicated to cats, but he did pen the short story “A Cat in the Rain” in 1925, featuring a cat as a minor yet significant character. In the story, an American wife sees a cat outside the window during a rainstorm and wishes to rescue it, which prompts her to contemplate her relationship with her husband. The cat is described as “a big, fat, white cat,” and the wife’s desire to save it symbolizes her feelings of loneliness and isolation.
Hemingway’s life was marked by personal tragedy; he struggled with depression and alcoholism throughout his years. He tragically committed suicide in 1961 at the age of 61. Although he is gone, his work and his six-toed cats will live on forever.
欧内斯特·海明威（1899-1961）是美国作家和记者。 他从 1928 年到 1939 年住在佛罗里达州基韦斯特，现在被称为欧内斯特·海明威故居和博物馆的一所房子。这所房子距离海滩只有一条街，距离美国大陆的最南端不到 10 分钟的步行路程。我们是在2022 年圣诞节从迈阿密驱车三个多小时, 下午近傍晚时分到达那里参观海明威故居。 我们到时，故居即将关闭，但我们在最后一分钟想法进了故居。
这座房子是一座两层楼的西班牙殖民复兴风格的住宅，建于 1851 年，最初由一位名叫 Asa Tift 的船长所有。 该物业内有郁郁葱葱的热带花园、游泳池和许多六趾猫。 这些猫是一只名叫白雪公主的多趾猫的后代，是船长送给海明威的礼物，现在由欧内斯特·海明威故居和博物馆照看。 一进院子，首先映入眼帘的就是那些猫。 这些猫与访客的相处友好，当人们接近它们时，它们不会感到害怕或分心。这些猫是如此可爱迷人，难怪艺术家把他们画进几幅画中。
博物馆内，有许多图片、文物等展品，描绘了海明威一生的人生经历和事业。 他在第一次世界大战中当过救护车司机，报道过西班牙内战和第二次世界大战，游历过世界的许多角落，也是在他那个时代结识过许多有影响力的人物，其中包括1941 年中国的第一夫人宋美龄。在花园里，虽然大部分植物和建筑都是热带风格，但有一角地方种有竹子，这可能是他对亚洲之行的纪念吧(他确实去过中国、日本和菲律宾).
欧内斯特·海明威以其的小说和散文而闻名，尤其是他的小说，例如《太阳照常升起》（1926 年）、《永别了，武器》（1929 年）和《老人与海》（1952 年） )，以及短篇小说，如《山如白象》(1927)、《乞力马扎罗的雪》(1936)。 他于1954年获诺贝尔文学奖。不过， 他也写过一些诗，只是他的诗不如他的小说出名。 但他的诗歌，就像他的短篇小说一样，非常简单、短小精悍。 在博物馆的书店里，我买了本《欧内斯特·海明威诗集诗修订版，尼古拉斯·格罗吉安尼斯主编》。
下面的这首诗作节选于这本诗集，可作为他诗作简单风格的一个例子：
轨道的尽头不相遇…,,,
轨道的尽头不相遇
日落
和只有慢慢流趟的大河安安静静
静水流得也没有那么深
莱文，莱文，希伯来的人杰
夜晚的鲭鱼般的天空是水手的欣喜
或者他们切开水手的心
水手的生活就是我的殷期
大地滚动着绿色如茵
绿如大海一望无际
这首诗虽然简单、短小、直白，却给读者描绘了为而查尔斯·莱文自豪，但又对他受到不公平对待感到失望的水手形象（注：查尔斯·莱文是世界上第一位跨大西洋的航空旅客。 对他的故事感兴趣的人，请看https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_A._Levine），同时也打开了如何解读一个水手是否渴望和挣扎于未实现的欲望或理解和世界的联系。读者可以用许多不同的方式来解读这首诗。
因为海明威喜欢猫，并且在他在基韦斯特的家中养了这么多猫，我很好奇海明威是否曾经写过关于猫的东西。 令人失望的是，他并没有专门写关于猫的诗，但他确实在1925年写了短篇小说《雨中的猫》，在这篇小说中， 猫是一个次要但重要的角色。 故事里，美国妻子在一场暴雨中看到窗外的猫，想要去救它，引发了她对丈夫关系的更深思索。 故事中的猫被描述为“一只又大又肥的白猫”，妻子想要拯救它的愿望象征着她自己的孤独和孤立感。
海明威的一生充满了个人悲剧，他一生都在与抑郁症和酗酒作斗争。 他于 1961 年自杀，享年 61 岁。他死了，但他的作品和他的六趾猫将永存于世。
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