Scott and Ernest: The Fitzgerald/Hemingway Friendship - Tapa blanda

"Both men did of course dramatize them-selves endlessly. They loved, as Bruccoli re-minds us, 'to act out their own mytholo-gies. One played the ruined genius, the other played the titan.' Bruccoli sorts out the play-acting for us. . . . Both Scott and Ernest cared passionately for their profession. Be-cause they also cared about each other, each had a keen awareness of the other's talents and shortcomings, praising the former and seeking to correct the latter. . . . It is this kind of technical comment rather than the 'try-ing to walk over each other with cleats on' (in Scott's phrase) that makes Matthew Bruc-coli's latest contribution so useful and so welcome to all who care about the writer's craft."--"Christian Science Monitor" In this valuable book. . . neither one of the author s subjects emerges triumphantly or unscathed. . . . "Scott and Ernest "is a judicious book. It is that, mainly because its author is perhaps the first student of the Fitzgerald/Hemingway friendship to write out of disinterested loyalty to the truth about two literary giants he continues to admire unabashedly, no matter how the facts have fallen out. "New Republic"" Bruccoli examines the friendship of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, which began with Fitzgerald s recommendation of Hemingway s writing to Maxwell Perkins of Scribners "[sic] "and ended at Fitzgerald s death. Bruccoli has drawn on the 28 letters that Scott wrote his friend. He paraphrases Ernest s 26 surviving letters to Scott Also included are jottings from Scott s notebooks, his. . . chronology of their meetings from 1925 37, and comment by Perkins, Morley Callaghan, and others . "Choice"" Both men did of course dramatize themselves endlessly. They loved, as Bruccoli reminds us, to act out their own mythologies. One played the ruined genius, the other played the titan. Bruccoli sorts out the play-acting for us. . . . Both Scott and Ernest cared passionately for their profession. Because they also cared about each other, each had a keen awareness of the other s talents and shortcomings, praising the former and seeking to correct the latter. . . . It is this kind of technical comment rather than the trying to walk over each other with cleats on (in Scott s phrase) that makes Matthew Bruccoli s latest contribution so useful and so welcome to all who care about the writer s craft. "Christian Science Monitor"" "Bruccoli examines the friendship of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, which began with Fitzgerald's recommenda-tion of Hemingway's writing to Maxwell Perkins of Scribners "[sic] "and ended at Fitz-gerald's death. Bruccoli 'has drawn on the 28 letters that Scott wrote his friend. He para-phrases Ernest's 26 surviving letters to Scott... Also included are jottings from Scott's notebooks, his. . . chronology of their meet-ings from 1925-37, and comment by Perkins, Morley Callaghan, and others'."--"Choice" "In this valuable book. . . neither one of the author's subjects emerges triumphantly or unscathed. . . . "Scott and Ernest "is a judicious book. It is that, mainly because its author is perhaps the first student of the Fitzgerald/Hemingway friendship to write out of disin-terested loyalty to the truth about two liter-ary giants he continues to admire unabash-edly, no matter how the facts have fallen out."--"New Republic"

Matthew J. Bruccoli is Jefferies Professor of English at the University of South Carolina."