Hemingway's Student

About Hemingway’s Student

From the award-winning biography of Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway’s Boat: the poignant story of Arnold Samuelson, who looked to the great author for mentorship in writing and life. 

He was a Midwesterner, a young journalist, haunted by inner demons, with a rambling gene, who headed down to Key West and was keen to establish his place in the pantheon of American writers. This was not Papa but Arnold Samuelson, a tormented and scarred young man who pocketed a newspaper photograph of his hero and role model and set off to find him in May of 1934. As luck would have it, Hemingway was home: he was in need of assistance on his new boat, Pilar, and happy to dole out writing advice between fishing and beers. This is the story of Hemingway the teacher, a rare glimpse of Hemingway sharing his craft—part education of a writer and part shadow story of a man who wanted to be Hemingway, and what that meant for him.