"The Hemingway Curse" and interview.

Mariel Hemingway

The Hemingway Curse is the belief that suicide will forever run in the Hemingway family forever since there were seven suicides. But if it is up to Mariel that will not be happening, and this “curse” shall not continue. There was an interview on this “Hemingway Curse.” It included an interview of Mariel Hemingway, and how she deals with with the scars of these seven suicides within her family. Even though she never got to meet him, Ernest Hemingway her grandfather, shot him self in 1961, Mariel grew up under the pressure of the Hemingway curse. I found this interesting on how she is so positive about mental health. Mariel even has her own documentary out now called "Running from Crazy."  It is about the legacy of Ernest and the history of the family’s suicides. Mariel has become a mental health advocate and the author of several self-help books.

“If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I’m crazy I’m not crazy I don’t care what anybody thinks I may not be as strong as I think but I know many tricks and I have resolution” (Hemingway The Old Man and The Sea). This is the story of an unburdening of a troubled man’s heart, and is a classic American literature. Sadly all of the unburdening could not prevent the unraveling of Hemingway‘s life by his own hand in a cabin in Idaho in 1961. Three of Hemingway’s siblings killed themselves, his father did, and his granddaughter Margot. Margot’s sister Marilyn is very much alive and is committed to living well Mariel Hemingway is an Academy Award nominated actress, author, and activist you came early to the notion that it is the secrets in families it make mental health so tragic and often fatal.” -Interviewer

“I don’t see that violence the issue in my family except for the fact that I think that anytime that you’re repressing stuff and going into addictive behavior that’s violence toward itself, but that’s a different conversation .I think that repression and not talking about something creates a tremendous discomfort and mental illness, and imbalance. Currently there are so many things that are creating imbalances it’s just it’s a very complicated and complex issue and it becomes more and more complicated as we kind of forge ahead not really addressing the source”  (Mariel Hemingway).  

“Would these problems would be simpler if we could talk about our feelings, anger, fears, and racial issues?” - Interviewer

  “We don’t want to talk about those things that scare us but I have now had many years of undoing the idea that I come from a family that is cursed. That was a horrible feeling to have and I never wanted my own daughters to feel that they come from a curse family we all have choices and we all have free will and we all have the ability to change things. That you don’t have to repressed days is it doesn’t mean that you don’t have stuff because we all do but to put that under the blanket on being cursed is not part of their lives ” (Mariel Hemingway). 

“Do you think artistry/creativity is destructive?” -Interviewer

“I actually think creativity is not destructive and I think that we have created a world where creativity is defined by how much pain you go through and that’s a misinterpretation of artistry and I think of my grandfather around today he would go wow I didn’t have to suffer. I think he was part of creating that belief system of writers especially just have to separate they have to be on the razors edge they have to live in difficulty in order to create something that is worth something, and I don’t think that he would believe that today” (Mariel Hemingway).

“Do you think that today people trying to find American literature confused about that?” -Interviewer

 “ We are trying to redefine ourselves that’s all about technology and so it’s very hard to figure out how you fit in that you have to reinvent how you do things it’s just a different environment I think we are confused as a culture to what creatively matters” (Mariel Hemmingway).

“Is the theme of throwing aside repressed sense of bold masculinity in his writing?”- Interviewer  

“He’s been so misunderstood or miss translated into this guy who is man’s man and it was all about misogynistic behavior and all that kind of it was that was a very gross interpretation of him, and he was all about going in there and really talking about things that people didn’t talk about because if you look at his characters they were struggling with real things that were taboo.  The idea that we can be bold we can be and that we can talk about things that were out of afraid of so that we’re no longer afraid of them“(Mariel Hemingway).


Work Cited for this Blog:

“Fighting The Myth of The 'Hemingway Curse' | The Takeaway.” WNYC, www.wnyc.org/story/how-mariel-hemingway-practices-wellness-shadow-her-grandfathers-legacy/.

Landau, Elizabeth. “Hemingway Family Mental Illness Explored in New Film.” CNN, Cable News Network, 23 Jan. 2013, www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/health/hemingway-film/index.html.

Picture 1 “Mariel Hemingway Quotes.” QuoteHD, www.quotehd.com/quotes/mariel-hemingway-quote-the-hemingway-curse-was-such-a-huge-awful-thing-for-me.

Picture 2 “Interview: Actress, Activist Mariel Hemingway Navigates Life.” Welcome to HollywoodChicago.com - HollywoodChicago.com, www.hollywoodchicago.com/news/22242/interview-actress-activist-mariel-hemingway-navigates-life.