Hemingway’s Havana: A Reflection of the Writer’s Life in Cuba

Ernest Hemingway was a major figure of the 20th Century, a larger-than-life man with a lasting global impact. Much has been written about Hemingway, but Robert Wheeler has taken a fresh look at the iconic writer in his new book, Hemingway’s Havana: A Reflection of The Writer’s Life in Cuba.

This book is the second of Wheeler’s explorations of Hemingway, following his previous book, Hemingway’s Paris: A Writer’s City in Words and Images. Hemingway’s Havana grew from Wheeler’s visit to Cuba in the summer of 2015. There, he walked in Hemingway’s footsteps, visiting the places Hemingway lived and loved, and talking with the people who knew and remembered the great man.

Each of the sections of the book describes a different aspect of Cuba or Hemingway, or both. Rather than being presented as a narrative, the prose is broken into short segments of a page or less, with an accompanying photograph on the opposite page. This lends an almost dream-like quality to the book, and I found myself picking it up and randomly reading a page or two, then setting the book aside to think about what I’d read.

It’s by no means a biography or history of Ernest Hemingway’s time in Cuba. In many ways, it seems more like an imagining of what Hemingway thought, and an extrapolation of what he would think now. Still, I did learn things about Hemingway that I didn’t know before, and I gained some new insights into a man whose story I thought I knew.

The photographs are beautiful! Many are pictures of paintings, sculptures, and other works of art. A recurring theme of the photos is the view through or beyond a barrier, such as doorways, windows, and arches. Most photographs are captioned, sometimes a description of the scene, sometimes a continuation of the accompanying text, sometimes a riff on a quotation. There are pictures of the sea, the land, the city, the inhabitants—all sorts of places, people, and things that evoke the Cuba known to Hemingway.

América Fuentes wrote the foreword. Her grandfather, Gregorio Fuentes, was the captain of Hemingway’s boat Pilar for many years, and he was also Hemingway’s trusted friend. Her description of the two men and their relationship is very touching.

If you’re a fan of Ernest Hemingway, if you’re curious about the Cuba of today as well as the last century, or even if you just enjoy photography, Hemingway’s Havana will appeal to you. It would also make a great gift for any Hemingway aficionado.

Giveaway: One lucky winner is going to win a copy of Hemingway’s Havana for themselves, thanks to Skyhorse Publishing.

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