About Josh Silverstein Expertise I will answer questions relating to Ernest Hemingway's life or literature. I can also help with quotation source requests. No homework questions please.
Experience Mr. Silverstein holds a B.A. in English Literature and has been studying the life and works of Ernest Hemingway for the past ten years. His major work on Hemingway is titled, "The Importance of Being Ernest: Hemingway's Truth in Fiction and his Fiction in Truth." He is also author of "Hemingway: Alive and Well Online," an article exploring Hemingway's presence and position in the online community. He is the founder of "Timeless Hemingway," an award winning web site devoted to Ernest Hemingway.
Question Hello. I am a reporter with the St. Petersburg (FL) Times. I am writing a story about Sloppy Joe's bar in Key West. Do you know anything about Hemingway and this bar?
Also, do you know if Hemingway smoked cigarettes?
Thank you,
Tamara Lush
Staff Writer
St. Petersburg Times
Answer Hello,
I think you will find the following web page helpful:
In regards to Hemingway and smoking, most accounts say that he didn't smoke. The below is from Lillian Ross's "Portrait of Hemingway":
"Mrs. Hemingway lit a cigarette and handed me the pack. I passed it along to him, but he said he didn't smoke. Smoking ruined his sense of smell, a sense he found completely indispensable for hunting. 'Cigarettes smell so awful to you when you have a nose that can truly smell,' he said, and laughed, hunching his shoulders and raising the back of his fist to his face, as though he expected somebody to hit him."
