Nine PBS Offers More on Hemingway and His St. Louis Influences

Nine PBS Offers More on Hemingway and His St. Louis Influences

Before next month’s premiere of Hemingway on Nine PBS, tonight’s Living St. Louis at 7 pm features author Andrew Theising, who discusses the influence St. Louisans had on young Ernest Hemingway, including the three women from St. Louis whom he married.

On March 29 at 7 pm, Hemingway’s running with the bulls in Pamplona and his relationship with author A.E. Hotchner is on Living St. Louis.  Both episodes will livestream during broadcast and are available to watch after broadcast on ninepbs.org and the PBS Video App.

FILE – In this undated file photo, A.E. Hotchner, left, and author Ernest Hemingway pose for a photo in Seattle. Hotchner was staging Hemingway’s story “A Short Happy Life” in a pre-Broadway tour in Seattle. A.E. Hotchner, a well-traveled author, playwright and gadabout whose street smarts and famous pals led to a loving, but litigated memoir of Hemingway, business adventures with Paul Newman and a book about his Depression-era childhood that became a Steven Soderbergh film, died Saturday, Feb. 15, 2020, at age 102. (AP Photo, File)

Nine PBS will also host a virtual screening with director Lynn Novick and producer Sarah Botstein on Monday, April 19, at noon. Registration will open soon at ninepbs.org/events.  

Ernest Hemingway, the iconic literary figure considered one of the greatest American writers and among the first to live and work at the treacherous nexus of art and celebrity, is the subject of an upcoming three-part, six-hour documentary series directed by award-winning filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.  

The series airs three consecutive nights, April 5-7, from 7-9 pm, with an encore presentation from 9–11 pm. Hemingway will be available to stream for free on ninepbs.org and the PBS Video App. A trailer for the series is available here.   

Narrated by long-time collaborator Peter Coyote, the series features an all-star cast of actors bringing Hemingway (voiced by Jeff Daniels), his friends, and family vividly to life. Through letters to and from his four wives—voiced by Meryl Streep, Keri Russell, Mary-Louise Parker and Patricia Clarkson—the film reveals Hemingway at his most romantic and his most vulnerable, grappling at times with insecurity, anxiety, and existential loneliness.  
   

Hemingway interweaves a close study of the biographical events of the author’s life with excerpts from his fiction, nonfiction, and short stories, informed by interviews with celebrated writers, scholars, and Hemingway’s son, Patrick. The filmmakers explore the painstaking process through which Hemingway created some of the most important works of fiction in American letters. 

“The documentary attempts to go beyond prevailing assumptions about Ernest Hemingway and his writing. At the same time, we are unsparing in our inquiry into less well-known aspects of his character and writing. Our intent is to offer viewers an honest portrayal of a complex and conflicted writer who left an indelible mark on literature,” says director Ken Burns. 

About Nine PBS  

As an essential community institution, Nine PBS exists to enable access to information, knowledge, and learning opportunities for all. We tell stories that move us. We meet people where they are the most comfortable consuming content. Nine PBS’s platforms include four distinct broadcast channels (Nine PBS, Nine PBS KIDS®, Nine PBS World, and Nine PBS Create), ninepbs.org, social media, the free PBS Video App, streaming services, live and virtual events, and the Public Media Commons. Since 1954, Nine PBS has accepted the community’s invitation into their homes, schools, and businesses. 

Ernest Hemingway and his second wife Pauline Pfeiffer