August 19, 2012: Hemingway

Looking back, I can see that – like so many others – as a young student, my education was greatly affected by certain teachers and faculty-members who went out of their way to ensure I learned something valuable during my days at school. When it comes to English classes, as I made my way through four different high schools in three different states, the lessons I received ranged from advanced and accelerated to “never mind!” Luckily, when registering for classes for my senior year of high school, the phenomenal Oak Ridge guidance counselor Carolyn Smith sounded-out my interests and aptitude, and got me signed-up for an AP English class with a lady who elevated my education to levels I never imagined: Mrs. Alice Wright.

Together with Jay Lerew and Ana Fernandez (yes, there were only three of us in that class), I began each day of the 1983-1984 academic year sitting in the front row of seats in Mrs. Wright’s classroom… and I learned a lot. We were tasked with reading a different classic novel (of our own choosing) every two weeks, and we also navigated through “The Norton Introduction to Literature,” learning a great deal more about ourselves and our interests with each passing day. It’s where I first read Hemingway’s “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” and “The Old Man and the Sea” was the first novel I chose to read (selected for its brevity as much as anything else). When Mrs. Wright assigned a thesis paper as a last step prior to graduation, I made Hemingway the subject, and my paper follows, complete with Mrs. Wright’s indelible mark-up.

Beth and I recently enjoyed watching HBO’s “Hemingway & Gellhorn,” which dramatized the romance between Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn. From my own research and the great volume of still-popular Hemingway-lore, the man was larger than life, and for more than 28 years now, I have felt very attached to him. How can someone read “The Old Man and the Sea” and not feel deep affinity with its author, especially when the circumstances of his death are known? Clearly, he lived a bold and shining example as an artist, and as a man, his story seems equally about great strength and bald weakness. Of course, on some level that probably applies to the rest of us artists as well, whether we are successful or not.

Mrs. Wright, thank you very much for giving me so much to build upon in life as a man and artist. For more than 28 years, your great expectations have been motivating me; I am still reaching toward them now. And Mrs. Smith, you’re also among my heroes; I hope my children are lucky enough to share my good fortune and encounter someone just like you at the perfect moment in their lives.

Roger Darnell: The Death of Ernest Hemingway

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