Monday, April 5, 2021

The new Ernest Hemingway documentary, by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick

Tonight, PBS will present the first two hours of Hemingway, the new documentary from the superb filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.

The program will be seen from 8 to 10 p.m. Eastern time (and in my area will be repeated from 10 p.m. to midnight); the second and third installments of the film will be broadcast Tuesday and Wednesday.  Broadcast schedules, however (including repeats), may vary, depending upon the city; please check your local station's listings. 

Here is the link for the program, on the PBS website:  

https://www.pbs.org/video/hemingway-official-trailer/

In an April 1st New York Times interview with Ms. Novick and Mr. Burns, Ms. Novick said this, of Hemingway: 

"We’re aware of the fact that he’s a controversial figure. And that there are people who are so put off by his public persona that they haven’t read his work or don’t want to read his work. But we are living in times when we are re-evaluating all these icons from our past. And there’s no better way to do that than looking at Ernest Hemingway. Some of it is very ugly, and very difficult. And if you’re a woman or a person of color, or you’re Jewish, or you’re Native American, there are going to be things in Hemingway that are going to be really, really tough. But he is so important as a literary figure and in terms of his influence that to ignore him seems to just avoid the problem."

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/books/hemingway-documentary-ken-burns-lynn-novick.html