A.E. Hotchner to Publish Hemingway Correspondence

Posted on July 25, 2005

A.E. Hotchner, the biographer and friend of the late Ernest Hemingway, is publishing a collection of his correspondence with the late great writer. This fall, University of Missouri Press will publish Dear Papa, Dear Hotch, a collection of the correspondence between Hotchner ahd Hemingway over the years. Hotchner edited Hemingway's work and served as his agent, and he has remarkable memories of the great novelist.

Hotchner first met Hemingway in 1948. They had both a great friendship and a business relationship according to a story published in The Post-Star.

Around the world, from Spain to Idaho, they hunted, drank, attended bullfights (Hotchner himself once was dragged into the ring) and lived through Hemingway's inspiring highs and fatal lows. Their many conversations were transcribed at length in Hotchner's memoir about Hemingway, leading reviewers to question how he could remember it all.
"I can hear him right now," Hotchner says of Hemingway. "'How do you like it now, gentleman?' Things he said. You're sort of born with that, I guess, a kind of tape that runs through your head."
Their relationship was also professional. Hotchner helped edit Hemingway's bullfighting classic "The Dangerous Summer," often served as his agent (trying in vain to get Hemingway to promote himself more) and adapted several stories for television, including "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," "The Killers" and "The Battler," which led to his first meeting with Paul Newman.

Hotch went on to found Newman's Own, the food empire with Newman's Own Salad Dressing and other foods, which has made millions for the non-profit corporation that gives the money to charity. He's an interesting man, and no doubt the correspondence will be just as interesting.

Update: The book is edited by Albert J. DeFazio III. It includes a preface by A.E. Hotchner. The book, Dear Papa, Dear Hotch: The Correspondence of Ernest Hemingway and A. E. Hotchner, is available for purchase on Amazon.com.

Image: University of Missouri Press