Take That Mom and Dad: Hemingway vs. Halifax Rebel Writer

By Eric Kammerer

When we were growing up, if our parents liked something, it wasn’t cool. We defined ourselves by reacting and rebelling against their values and ideals. Great artists from Claude Monet to Marvin Gaye shaped their legacy by creating works that strongly contrasted with their parents’ preferences.

Hemingway's parents held a special place in their hearts for an 1856 book, John Halifax, Gentleman, by British novelist Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. The novel follows the life of a young man who becomes a successful industrialist through faith and determination. To the sternly religious Grace and Clarence Hemingway, the novel confirmed “the Protestant ethic by showing that the virtues that lead to heaven also bring success on earth.” It was a “practical guide to virtue and prosperity."[1] So great was the popular book's impact that the Hemingways named one of their daughters, Ursula, after one of its characters.[2]

Needless to say, that was not the attitude of Ernest Hemingway himself, whose pessimistic writings in the 1920s served as a kind of “corrective to the optimism of late Victorianism and American Progressivism."[3]

We'll take a quick look at the novel, explore Clarence and Grace Hemingway’s affection for the quintessentially Victorian John Halifax, then see how Ernest Hemingway went in a completely different direction.

His Parents’ Favorite Book

John Halifax, Gentleman, was Craik’s best-known work. It was a sensation, racking up sales over 50 years from its 1856 publication, including at least 45 American editions from various publishers.[4] The rags-to-riches tale follows John, an industrious and scrupulously honest orphan, as he works his way up from a laborer in a tannery to a successful gentleman by dint of his fine character and good works. The story is narrated by the son of John's first employer, who idolizes his ideal friend and his equally perfect spouse, Ursula. Though the public was enthralled, critics took a more jaundiced eye. In a review of the book, novelist and critic Henry James acknowledged the force of her inspiration but also observed that Craik “gives us the impression of having always looked at men and women through a curtain of rose-colored gauze."[5]

Superfans

John Halifax, Gentleman was more than a book to Dr. and Mrs. Hemingway, as detailed by Hemingway scholar James Nagel.[6] They read and re-read the book, mentioning it often in their letters to each other. Dr. Hemingway went so far as to prescribe reading the book to his patients. Though it was a work of fiction, the Hemingways spoke of the characters as though they were real, and actively patterned their character and choices as a reflection of the novel's characters. Here's an excerpt from a letter Grace wrote to Clarence:

 "I would rather have been the author of that book than any queen on earth, but next to her, I would choose to be a woman such as Ursula March, one who should shed the pure light of her life on all around her, making the world better for her having lived."[7]

 And a passage from a letter Clarence sent to Grace:

"Strength certainly comes to us when we appreciate such noble thoughts, purposes, and designs as John and Ursula had."[8]

Sick Loathing and Moron Literature

Unsurprisingly then, the Hemingways reacted to their son's early literary works with disgust. His father packed up and returned copies of the short story collection, in our time, declaring, according to his daughter Marcelline, "He would not tolerate such filth in his home."[9] He urged Ernest to write about more noble characters. Upon publication of The Sun Also Rises, his mother wrote that every page "fills me with a sick loathing."[10]

For his part, Hemingway repaid the favor by telling Grace she read "moron literature."[11]

John Halifax vs. Jake Barnes

While acknowledging there is no evidence Ernest Hemingway ever read his parents’ favorite book, Nagel points out several parallels between John Halifax, Gentleman and The Sun Also Rises: a narrator with a disability, celebrating the virtues of nature (both novels have passages detailing groves of beech trees) and an unconventional, hedonistic female character.

Despite the similarities, jumping between the two novels risks literary whiplash. Faced with losing the water that powers his mill due to machinations of the dastardly Lord Luxmore, an undaunted John Halifax resourcefully switches to steam power. By contrast, in The Sun Also Rises, Jake Barnes takes the role of passive, ironically distanced participant in a love quadrangle. Halifax is given to optimistic pronouncements, as when he tells Ursula, "We mean to be two living Essays on the Advantages of Poverty. We are not going to be afraid of it or ashamed of it. We don't care who knows it. We consider that our respectability lies solely in our two selves." Jake Barnes brims with cynicism, as when he thinks, "I had been getting something for nothing. That only delayed the presentation of the bill. The bill always came. That was one of the swell things you could count on."

Bonds and Battles

The Hemingways’ copy of John Halifax, Gentleman, an edition published in Chicago by Donohue, Henneberry & Co., resides in the Hemingway Archives housed in the Special Collections at the Oak Park (IL) Public Library. Nearby, you can visit the Ernest Hemingway's Birthplace Museum, where you can hear more stories of his bonds and battles with the family by taking a guided tour.

Eric Kammerer is a volunteer docent at the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum. He is a writer from the western suburbs of Chicago.

[1] Mitchell, Sally. 1983. Dinah Mulock Craik. Boston : Twayne Publishers.

[2] Sanford, Marcelline Hemingway. 1962. At the Hemingways. Boston: Little, Brown

[3] Hayes, Peter. 1990. Ernest Hemingway (Literature & Life): Continuum International Publishing Group

[4] Mitchell

[5] James, Henry. 1921. Notes and Reviews. Cambridge, MA: Dunster House

[6] Nagel, James. 1996. Ernest Hemingway: The Oak Park Legacy. Tuscaloosa, AL: The University of Alabama Press

[7] Nagel

[8] Nagel

[9] Sanford

[10] Dearborn, Mary. 2017. Ernest Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf

[11] Westbrook, Max. 1984. “Grace Under Pressure” in Ernest Hemingway: The Writer in Context. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press