Although Ernest Hemingway never visited Kaua‘i, he did visit O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island during February 1941.
On the morning of Feb. 5, 1941, Ernest Hemingway and his wife, Martha Gellhorn, arrived at Honolulu Harbor on what would prove to be the celebrated author’s only visit to Hawai‘i.
They then checked into the Halekulani Hotel in Waikiki to rest before attending a luncheon at Fisherman’s Wharf hosted by professors from the University of Hawai‘i.
The academicians were anxious to meet Hemingway, since he’d already taken his place among the greats of American literature, and his recently published novel, “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” was sitting atop the best-seller lists.
At the luncheon, Hemingway drank a few glasses of wine and impressed the professors with his knowledge of literature.
Then, according to one biographer, he stumbled over the word “periphery,” embarrassing himself.
He was somewhat in his cups by then, and the embarrassment and drink combined to alter his disposition dramatically.
From then on, until the luncheon ended about two hours later, Hemingway ceased being the man of letters the professors had appreciated, and he pretended, instead, to be virtually illiterate.
That evening, the Hemingways were the guests of honor at a small dinner party in Nu‘uanu Valley, where a freelance writer named Bishop taunted Hemingway incessantly.
When the burly Hemingway asked Bishop to step outside into the garden to settle the matter, Bishop wisely took off.
It’s possible that a huge marlin, skinned for taxidermy, that he saw in a Honolulu ice house, played a role in his classic, “The Old Man and the Sea,” published in 1952.
Hemingway never actually revealed the sources of inspiration he used in creating the story, but the marlin may have been on his mind when he described old man Santiago’s huge marlin, all that was left of the fish after sharks had attacked it.
While in Kona, Hemingway stayed at the Kona Inn and spent an enjoyable day salt-water fishing and another day hunting sheep on Mauna Kea.
Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn departed Honolulu for Manila by China Clipper sea-plane on the 17th.
•••
Hank Soboleski has been a resident of Kauai since the 1960s. Hank’s love of the island and its history has inspired him, in conjunction with The Garden Island Newspaper, to share the island’s history weekly. The collection of these articles can be found here: https://bit.ly/2IfbxL9 and here https://bit.ly/2STw9gi Hank can be reached at hssgms@gmail.com
