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LITERATURE short stories, which he recommends to any- one starting out with Hemingway. “Characters describe themselves by how they talk,” Leonard says. “In the short story Hills like White Elephants, you know every- thing about the characters through the dia- logue. … You’ve gotta read his short stories. [They] are brilliant.” NOW YOU KNOW: Descendants of a six-toed cat once gifted to Hemingway by a ship captain now live at the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in Key West, Fla. THE FACT THAT Hemingway was also a man of action undeniably adds to the au- thor’s allure — on and off the page. Whether he was sparring with heavyweight champ Gene Tunney or getting into fisticuffs with film legend Orson Welles (they quickly mended the fence over some whiskey af- terward), Hemingway unquestionably put himself where the action was. He experienced his first taste abroad when he volunteered as an ambulance driver during World War I. Wounded by shrapnel, he eventually fell in love with (but was ulti- mately rejected by) his nurse. He would later use material from this episode in his life in his book A Farewell to Arms. In the 1920s, it was on to Paris and Pam- plona, Spain, where he listened to the voice of a lost generation and studied the art of bullfighting. This, of course, was the back- ground for The Sun Also Rises, which was published in 1926. In 1937, with two great novels already in the bag, he left his home in Key West, Fla., Man cannot live by steak alone. Indulge in the good life with our new Summer Features fl owing with fresh fl avors from the coast. Or enjoy one of our tried-and-true USDA Prime, dry-aged steaks paired with a glass of award-winning wine. Reserve your table soon at the steakhouse others only aspire to be. and once again set off for Spain to cover the Spanish Civil War as a journalist for the North American Newspaper Alliance. From these experiences came the 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. By World War II, Hemingway was living BOSTON STON • CHICAGO • COLUMBUS OLUMBUS • HOUSTON • LAS VEGAS MIAMI BEACH • NEW YORK • PHILADELPHIA • WASHINGTON, D.C. SMITHANDWOLLENSKY.COM ©2011 Smith & Wollensky Restaurant Group, Inc. 44 JUNE 15, 2011 AA.COM/AMERICANWAY in Cuba, and it was during this time that he had his fishing boat, the Pilar, turned into a battleship of misfits (equipped with ma- chine guns and grenades) in order to search for Nazi U-boats off the northern shore of Cuba. He was in Europe for D-Day as a war correspondent and was awarded the Bronze Star in 1947 for his meritorious ser- vice in combat areas. His comments in the introduction to his play, The Fifth Column, perfectly illustrate his gusto: “Each day we were shelled by the guns beyond Leganes and behind the folds of Garabitas hill, and while I was writing the play the Hotel Flor- ida, where we lived and worked, was struck by more than thirty high explosive shells. So if it is not a good play, perhaps that is what is the matter with it. If it is a good play, perhaps those thirty shells helped write it.” the characters through the dialogue.” they talk. In the short story Hills like White Elephants, you know everything about “Characters describe themselves by how

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