I've made this point many times and it always falls on deaf ears. I think I
even mentioned it in an article somehwere. It's so good a quote, the
temptation to credit it to Hemingway trumps common sense. What's worse, if
you read all of THE GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA you'd be a lot less impressed by
the fellow who actually says it. If anyone wants to debate this point,
forget it; we can just put on boxing gloves, get liquored up, and duke it
out Hemingway style.
BTW, I've been in Italy for the last three weeks and while in Florence I
found the Villa di Quarto (there is a LOT to see in Florence and this was a
low priority). It requires a long bus ride out of the city center (and two
bus rides to get back) and then a 15 minute walk (we walked 85 miles during
our trip so the walk was trivial). When you get there you will find it
surrounded by high stone walls that preclude any good views, and the streets
are narrow so you must watch out for Smart Cars with dumb drivers. We walked
the entire perimeter and stole a few glimpses. The basic structure is intact
but the loggia has been changed, the stables look enlarged, and the grounds
look rather different. It's privately owned so we didn't ring the buzzer. I
have Jean's Italian photo album with many photos of the villa and grounds,
including a rare interior image. When I find the time (and while memory is
fresh) I plan to review her album to see if anything looks familiar (her
images of Florence, like the Ponte Vecchio, are quite familiar). When we
first got there we wasted ten minutes trying to get a good view of the villa
across the street, mistakenly thinking it was THE villa. The villas in that
area all look very similar; if you've seen one big pale yellow rectangular
Italian villa you've seen them all. My guess is that Villa di Quarto is a
good one hour walk from the city center. That side of the city is largely
industrialized or else filled with large apartment buildings now, so it
would not be a very pleasant walk, which is why we hopped on a bus. There's
a good modern image of Villa di Quarto on Wikipedia that you can google.
Kevin
@
Mac Donnell Rare Books
9307 Glenlake Drive
Austin TX 78730
512-345-4139
Member: ABAA, ILAB
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You may browse our books at
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Harold Bush" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 16, 2010 8:49 AM
Subject: Re: Autobiography of Mark Twain on CBS Sunday Morning
> you know what always irritates me just a little? It's when someone says
> th=
> e
> following:
>
>>
>> He's been called the greatest American writer of all time. His
>> bestsellin=
> g
>> novel, "The [sic] Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" =97 the book, Ernest
>> Hemingway wrote, from which "all American literature comes"
>>
>>
> Now, perhaps I'm splitting hairs here. But Hemingway never said this. A
> character in one of his stories said it. Which means, it's like saying
> Poe
> once said that "I looked for the opportunity to dismember him" (Tell-tale
> Heart).
>
> Is it just me here? I beg you, members of the guild -- please help me to
> overcome my own rather severe weaknesses on this extremely trivial
> matter... best, -hb
>
>
> --=20
> Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
> Professor of English
> Saint Louis University
> St. Louis, MO 63108
> 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
> <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>
>
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