Newly uncovered pages from Ernest Hemingway’s first known piece of fiction reveal his fascination with Scotland – and a squiggly transcript of a poem by Sir Walter Scott.
At just 10 years old, the author wrote a fictional story about a journey from his home in Oak Park, Illinois, US, to Ireland and Scotland.
The 14-page manuscript, considered to be the earliest example of Hemingway’s fiction, was only uncovered earlier this year.
But researchers have now revealed that inside the notebook he transcribed a poem by Sir Walter Scott while also writing about Scotland.
The water-stained brown book contains an account of the imaginary journey across the sea and was found in a freezer bag inside an old ammunition box.
It was uncovered in the archives of family friends earlier this year in Key West, near where Hemingway made his home in the 1930s.
A label on the bag reads “September 8, 1909, EH diary to Europe”.
The account features a series of scenes in Scotland and Ireland, with impressions of landmarks along the way, written in the form of a diary and letters to his parents.
Professor Sandra Spanier, the general editor of the Hemingway Letters Project and professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, made the discovery with a colleague.
She said: “Looking at it carefully, we realised it was a fictional narrative of a journey he never took.
“The notebook also contains Hemingway’s hand-copied version of the poem ‘Lochinvar’ by Sir Walter Scott.
“I imagine it was amongst the works he read at school or in his home.
“He is a very well-read 10-year-old and did his research, which is reflective of his upbringing by a family who were well-educated.”
In his squiggly notes, Hemingway wrote about Glasgow and the Highlands.
Writing about Glasgow, he said: “It is the largest city of Scotland. The government owns the carlines and only charge a two cent fare.
“They have public wash tubs where the people [unfinished sentence].”
He added: “The Highlands are in the northern part of Scotland.
“They larger than the Lowlands but have not as many people. In the Highlands they raise sheep and cattle in the Lowlands the manafactur [sic].
“The Trossachs are in the southern part of Scotland and are noted for their scenery.”
Ms Spanier said: “Hemingway researched these places that he never visited.
“A hallmark of his fiction is his attention to the details of the landscape. We see this in his later work.
“I find it interesting that he has an eye for details that make places distinctive."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here