Fitzgerald and Hemingway

In the fifteen years since Matthew Bruccoli published Scott and Ernest, his groundbreaking account of the relationship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, substantial new material has been discovered. Of even greater importance is that in 1978, Hemingway's will prohibited the publication of his letters (unlike the Fitzgerald estate which made all relevant correspondence available to Bruccoli). Mary Hemingway subsequently overruled that restraint so their inclusion here (all the Hemingway letters to Fitzgerald plus Hemingway letters about Fitzgerald) is one of the many reasons this new, independent book supersedes the earlier work which is now best seen as a preliminary study. Fitzgerald and Hemingway strips away the myths and sets the record straight on the complex and progressively tenuous friendship these two literary giants maintained from the first meeting at the Dingo bar in Paris in 1925 until Fitzgerald's death in 1940. This is the true and definitive version of the ups and downs of the famous friendship. It is also an instructive consideration of the many inaccurate accounts, and of literary memoirs in general. The lives of these two writers will never cease to fascinate - just as their best novels and stories will continue to be read for generations. In that regard, Fitzgerald and Hemingway is an important contribution to America's literary history.