Right on Key: Literary seminar hits the right notes in town Hemingway called home

01-22-2006

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Head straight south from Florida City on U.S. Route 1, and 126 miles and 43 bridges later you'll arrive at Truman Avenue and Duval Street on the flat coral and sand patch that early Spanish explorers called Bone Island, but which for the past several centuries has been known as Key West.

	Key West Literary Seminar The 25th Key West Literary Seminar (Jan 11-14, 2007) will have the theme "Wondrous Strange; Mystery, Intrigue and Psychological Drama." It will be preceded by an optional four-day writing workshop. Fees for workshop and seminar are $450 each or $825 for both. Seminar registration is limited. On Jan. 31 of this year, a lottery will be held from those who have preregistered. Those not selected will be put on priority waiting list. For details: www.keywestliteraryseminar.org or 1-888-293-9291.

In 1928, on the advice of his Paris-buddy John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway and his second wife, Pauline, arrived in Key West from Havana to pick up a new car. But the vehicle was delayed in transit, so the 29-year-old author took advantage of free accommodations offered by the dealership's owner. Key West's bohemian rowdiness and deep sea fishing entranced the Hemingways, and during the next two winters, they returned for extended visits. In 1931, Mrs. Hemingway fell in love with a derelict house built by a wealthy sea merchant, and they purchased the 1-acre estate for $8,000.

Although Hemingway lived in Key West only until he and his wife were divorced in 1939, those years proved the most creatively productive of his life, when he wrote "A Farewell to Arms," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "To Have and Have Not," which is set on the island.

Hemingway was by no means the first writer to call Key West home, but his endorsement and the combination of a sunny, laid-back, low-cost lifestyle have attracted a steady stream of authors and artists since then. The list of those for whom the island has served as a haven and inspiration includes Robert Frost, Tennessee Williams, Richard Wilbur, Ralph Ellison, Shel Silverstein and John Hersey. More recently, its winter literary roster has numbered Ann Beattie, Phil Caputo, Allison Lurie, Thomas McGuane, Wilfred Sheed, and Robert Stone among more than 100 others.

Key West also has grown from a fishing port into a low-rise seaside resort city of 27,000 inhabitants, with more writers per capita than any other city in America -- maybe the world.

This uniquely creative community has generated special synergies, not the least of which is the annual Key West Literary Seminar, the most recent version of which I recently had the distinct pleasure to attend.

Held in the early January lull each year since 1981, the full weekend series of themed readings, addresses, lectures, panels, conversations, book signings and author receptions attracts a remarkable assemblage of well-known writers and some 400 very interested attendees, from both near and far.

The theme for this year's seminar, "The Literature of Travel, Adventure and Discovery," encompassed 23 speakers, including Peter Matthiessen, Tim Cahill, Mary Morris, Barry Lopez, Robert Stone and former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins.

From renowned travel writer Pico Iyer's remarkable opening address on Thursday evening to the final panel late Sunday afternoon, the seminar was nearly nonstop stimulation for anyone who savors the elegant blending of words and wanderlust, not to mention explorations of both the world and oneself. It was as pleasurable and thought-provoking a weekend as I can remember.

It's hard to pick standout moments. An on-stage panel consisting of Mr. Iyer, Ana Menendez, Patrick Symmes, Ms. Morris and Mr. Stone reflecting on Havana as a literary destination crackled with insight and memories. It was fascinating to be privy to Mr. Matthiessen's candid musings on his life in search of anomalies and Linda Greenlaw's elaboration on her experiences as the captain of a swordfish boat. I enjoyed novelist Michael Mewshaw reading from his memoir of meetings with Paul Bowles in Tangiers.

The audience sat captivated hour after hour, day after day, testimony to the strength of the spell the speakers wove. I seldom noticed any empty places in the intimate auditorium.

Even the interludes between sessions were interesting. During one, I met and chatted at length with Pittsburgh native and award-winning author Annie Dillard, who winters in Key West with her husband, writer Robert Richardson.

Also fascinating was the building in which most seminar activities were staged. The San Carlos Institute was founded in 1871 by Cuban exiles who had come to Key West to plan their country's liberation from Spain. Fifty years later, a two-story, stone and stucco Cuban baroque building was erected on Duval Street in the heart the town. With spacious rooms and high ceilings, graceful curves and arches, marble stairways, louvered windows, hand-crafted mosaics and checkered tiles, it was the jewel of Key West when it opened in 1924. The building is now lovingly preserved as a shrine to Cuban heritage by exiles of a different government, making it a particularly poignant place in which to ponder the importance of travel.

The seminar's single downside was that it was hard to make time to explore Key West's myriad other attractions.

During one break, I wandered several blocks for a visit to the Hemingway House on Whitehead Street, which has been maintained as a small museum and is home to 42 descendants of his six-toed cat, Lucky.

On another evening, a reception was held in the old Custom House, a red brick Romanesque edifice completed in 1891 in the fashion of architect H.H. Richardson, who designed the Allegheny County Courthouse. In addition to a second collection of Hemingway memorabilia there, I had the opportunity for a private viewing of an album of his family's photos, only recently discovered in the back of a local bar.

All in all, the Key West Literary Seminar was a superb reason for a midwinter trip into the sunshine, but the next time I go, I'll be sure to allow extra time to enjoy more of the island's nonliterary pursuits.

[Back to Articles Main]