Hemingway and His Conspirators: Hollywood,Scribners, and the Making of American Celebrity Culture - Hardcover

Leff, Leonard J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0847685446 ISBN 13: 9780847685448

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1997

Synopsis

With a cast of famous characters, the backstage story of how Hemingway seized upon an emerging mass culture to become the premier author of the twentieth century.

About this title

About the Author

Leonard J. Leff, author of The Dame in the Kimono (1990) and Hitchcock and Selznick (1987), is professor of English at Oklahoma State University.

Review

Leonard Leff has done something new on Hemingway: he has fixed on the professional celebrity, the working author, the publishing enterprise. But in concentrating on the business history of Papa he has done the unexpected―which is to help us recognize anew the uneasy mix of truth and posturing in the work itself. (David Thomson, author of Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles)

A masterly account of the complex of relationships between a major author and the institution of publishing. Leff's Hemingway is a tragic figure torn between a compelling sense of artistic responsibility and a virtual obsession to reach the broadest audience possible. This book is impeccably researched and well attuned to the inner workings of establishment American literary culture of the 1920s. (Robert L. Carringer, author of The Making of Citizen Kane)

Leff's Hemingway goes beyond other biographical studies to expose how the public figure of Hemingway was created by mass media with the help of and eventually beyond the control of Ernest Heminway. With a cast of players such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Helen Hayes, Sinclair Lewis, David Selznick, and Gary Cooper, the book succeeds in portraying the personal and commercial creation of a tragic public figure in a world of promotion, advertising, and publicity. (Small Press)

Leff's research is obviously able, and he balances aptly what Hemingway so fretted over―he deals with a scholarly subject in a manner easily read and enjoyed. (Sunday Oklahoman)

Leff's emphasis on Hemingway's concern for and problems with fame and fortune makes for a vivid and thoroughly readable discussion of the relationships among all issues. Though not sparing Hemingway for abrasiveness, Leff renders sympathy at significant moments. For comprehensive ]literature collections serving undergraduates and graduates. (F.L. Ryan, Stonehill College)

Hemingway and His Conspirators adds significantly to our understanding of both the profession of authorship and the literary marketplace at a crucial stage in their development in the United States . . . . many cultural historians will find this book of great interest. (Journal of American History)

An absorbing and penetrating look at the inside life of famed author Ernest Hemingway. . . . This book is rich in detail. . . . One of the best. (Broox Sledge The Democrat)

. . . fascinating . . . (Entertainment Weekly)

The book goes behind the scenes to the various rivalries and editorial sagas, as it gives the inside skinny on reviews, film rights and royalties. (The Washington Post)

A fascinating study of a cultural figure.... Leff provides us with an excellent survey of one of the most famous and infamous cultural figures of this century. (Joseph Fruscione American Studies)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0847685446
• ISBN 13: 9780847685448
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 256