Wrestling with Demons: In Search of the Real Ernest Hemingway
Curtis L. DeBerg
June 12, 2024
Wrestling with Demons: In Search of the Real Ernest Hemingway by Curtis L. DeBerg is one of the newest books pertaining to Ernest Hemingway and his almost 62-year life. Yes, Hemingway died at what might be considered a young age today, but he looked like he was in his 80s at the time and had lived a unbelievable full life. Sadly, he began declining when he was in his mid-50s, especially after two plane crashes in Africa.
The premise of this book is that Hemingway was tortured in his own mind by his continuous embellishments and lies about his acts of heroism in World War I. Hemingway was a Red Cross volunteer ambulance driver in the Great War, and he was injured by shrapnel as he was handing out snacks to front-line Italian soldiers. He received a silver medal of valor from the Italians for his service. I will leave it to DeBerg to let you know where the discrepancies lie (pun intended) in Hemingway’s life.
The book is comprised of a prologue, five parts, and an epilogue. Each part has four to five chapters. What is unique about Wrestling with Demons is DeBerg’s own personal story of his life and of a plane crash he was involved in and the aftereffects of the crash. Also, DeBerg adds historical fiction into the mix in some of the chapters. In the table of contents, DeBerg does enlighten the reader on which chapters are designated as one of the three genres of his writing: biography, memoir, or historical fiction. DeBerg’s “conversations” with Ernest were very creative and amusing.
Structuring the book in such a manner forced me to look back at the table of contents to see what genre I would be reading next. It was a little bit confusing at first, but I was used to the three genres of writing as I progressed. Also, this method was a bit repetitious, but I mucked through the repetition anyway. DeBerg included lots of photos in the book, which are always appreciated. He also made a number of lists and included some charts for comparison. Examples are charts for comparison of the four wives of Hemingway.
DeBerg does a good job of analyzing what made Hemingway act the ways he did at certain times. He talks about his relationships with his parents, with his siblings, with his wives, with his rivals, and wrote about how Hemingway coped with his lies to himself and others. All in all, DeBerg is sympathetic with Hemingway, especially due to his only being 19 years old when one of the defining moments of his life occurred. Many scholars and aficionados of Hemingway give dear old Ernest a pass on lots of his horrible behavior due to his exquisite writing and use of the Iceberg Theory that Hemingway is famous for utilizing in his stories. If you don’t know much about Ernest Hemingway, this book will assist you with the important parts of his life and struggles.
Wrestling with Hemingway is thoroughly researched and sources are noted and listed. I thank DeBerg for presenting such heavy material in an interesting and easy-to-digest manner. I think many factors were involved in cutting short Hemingway’s life. There is no defining factor that stands above the rest, except perhaps his alcoholism. Nonetheless, Wrestling with Demons is a book I highly recommend.
–Curtis L. DeBerg