Hemingway on horse-racing in 'A moveable feast' ... (1 Viewer)

[roni]

this is just a sudden and drunken idea:

Have re-read (after years) some parts of HEMINGWAY's 'Moveable Feast', (which I always dug even though most people seem to find it mediocre).

Hank wrote: "Have been reading That Summer in Paris which somebody mailed me. waste. unless you wonder what Hemingway did in the bathroom of his soul." in a letter to Ann Baumann Apr. 10, 1965 (the book came out posthumously in 1964). I guess we're talking about the same book here even though the title's different.

Now, what occured to me was, that there were 2 chapters, where Hem was talking about horse-racing and betting on the horses.

Of course, Buk bet the horses as soon as 1954, but my recent reading experience with Hemingway made me wonder: Did Buk WRITE about horse-racing a lot before he had read this book by Hem?

The question sounds like nothing big.
But given the manymany occations, where Buk writes about the track, I'd be interested, if the reception of Hem's book could have been the initial start for him to say: "Hey, why not write about this?!"

One hint would be to know: DID he write about the track so extensively Before reading Hem's book?- or only After that time (Apr. 10, 1965)?

 

[hank solo]

I know nothing of Hem so googled 'That Summer in Paris' and it seems that it is a memoir by Morley Callaghan which features Hemingway.

 

[roni]

so it wasn't the same book.
Nevertheless, 'Moveable Feast', where Hem talks about horseracing, came out as late as 1964. The question still remains.
When did Hank start to write extensively about the track?

 

[Otto jr]

Hem wrote about the track with far less enthusiasm than he wrote about the Bullfights. I think he felt that the track held less meaning than the Bulls. Hank often states that he writes about the track in the way that Hem wrote about the Bulls. I think Hank was influenced far more by Hem than he would have liked to admit, although he admits it often.
Hank often touched on Bullfighting in his early work, and I think he felt that he needed an area to write on that hadn't been done already. I believe that Buk put far more thought into what his literary persona was going to be long before he wrote it.
It seems to me like somehow he knew that he had it in him to be immortal and he waited until his parents were dead before he let it rip, so that there would be less confusion between his persona and reality.