Once upon a time, a young man went to the University of Minnesota to study journalism. While there, he read a short story called “One Trip Across.” Oh, how this inspired the student to write even more. But, he felt what the school taught him just wasn’t enough. So, at the tender age of 22, Arnold Samuelson hitchhiked to Key West, Florida to see his latest idol, Ernest Hemingway.
Upon his arrival, Samuelson timidly knocked on Hemingway’s door expecting the man who usually appears gruff to send him away. Instead, the famous author of For Whom the Bell Tolls told the young man to come back the next afternoon. When he did he found Hemingway sitting on the front porch waiting. The two talked about the world of writing. Good advice was offered as to how to write without draining all creative energies. Before Samuelson left for good, he asked if Hemingway could recommend any good books. Hemingway most certainly did:
1. The American by Henry James
2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
3. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
4. Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
5. Dubliners by James Joyce
6. The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings
7. Far Away and Long Ago by W. H. Hudson
8. Hail and Farewell by George Moore
9. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
10. Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
11. The Oxford Book of English Verse
12. The Red and the Black by Stendahl
13. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
14. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Hemingway even suggested two short stories: “The Blue Hotel” and “The Open Boat.” Both stories were written by Stephen Crane.
So, a young writer goes in search of his latest hero and comes away with a treasure. Who else gets to say that? Who else gets to even do that?
Thank you, Papa.
