BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – When asked to write the captions for the new book, Historic Photos of Hemingway, Illinois Wesleyan University Professor of English and Department Chair James Plath believed it would be a worthy challenge. At the time, he had no idea how great of a challenge it would be.
The book, published in March as part of Turner Publishing’s Historic Photos Series, creates a portrait of the famed author and adventurer using more than 200 photographs taken throughout his life.
Plath decided to depart from the standard format of the Turner series, which usually depicts historical figures and locations. “When you have an author like Hemingway, so many of the photos exist as more than a connection to history, but in the context of his personal life,” said Plath. “I looked at it as a chance not to write 200 captions for 200 photos, but as a chance to write a mini-biography of Ernest Hemingway that actually flows from entry to entry.”
The publishing company found Plath a natural fit to narrate Hemingway’s life. Co-author of the book Remembering Ernest Hemingway (Ketch & Yawl, 1999), Plath is the former director of the Hemingway Days’ Writers Workshop & Conference in Hemingway’s old stomping ground of Key West, Fla. He is also a member of the Hemingway Society, and has lectured at the Museo Ernest Hemingway, the author’s former residence in Cuba.