Essay: A Quarter-Century Later, The Myth Endures

The Myth Endures

In 1928 Ernest Hemingway's mother mailed him a chocolate cake. Along with it she sent the .32-cal. Smith & Wesson revolver with which Hemingway's father had just killed himself. Hemingway dropped the pistol into a deep lake in Wyoming "and saw it go down making bubbles until it was just as big as a watch charm in that clear water, and then it was out of sight."

The story is minutely savage in its details and haunting in its outcome: perfect Hemingway. And of course, there is the water. Doctoral theses have been fished from all the waters and fluids in...

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