Michigan Monday – Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway.  I knew he had spent some time in Michigan – a good amount of time. What I did not know is that a lot of his Nick Adams short stories take place in northern Michigan.  I’m a little embarrassed by that knowledge gap.

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, but his family bought land on Walloon Lake, near Petoskey, and built a cottage now known as either the Ernest Hemingway Cottage or Windemere.  As recently as 2015 it was still in the family, owned by Hemingway’s nephew.  There is so much material out there on Hemingway – provided by himself, his contemporaries, and his biographers – that I won’t say much; his thoughts and material are very accessible and I don’t want to deprive any of you of the pleasure of discovering them on your own; the simplest google search will turn up tons of stuff.

I remember drawing a line from Hemingway’s name to “The Nick Adams Stories” in a matching quiz in high school – but I have no memory of the Michigan connection.  I’m sure our American Literature teacher didn’t neglect to tell us, and I am also 100% sure I would not have cared one little bit at sixteen.

Now I’m not sixteen, and I’m interested.  Be prepared to see Hemingway and Nick Adams in a Sunday Classic coming soon. 

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