In this methodically researched account of Ernest Hemingway’s obsession with a much younger woman, Robilant draws heavily on previously unpublished letters and journals ... Autumn in Venice effortlessly and expertly explores the secret desires, successes, and depressive obstacles that shrouded Ernest Hemingway’s final productive years.
Like many other biographers, di Robilant portrays Hemingway as pathetic, petulantly envious of other writers’ successes, often enraged and cruel, and suffering from depression, illnesses, injuries, and the deleterious effects of a lifetime of hard drinking ... A sensitive recounting of a writer’s doomed fantasy.
There are few surprises in this unilluminating account by di Robilant ... In addition to Ivancich’s journals and Hemingway’s letters, di Robilant draws on his own great-uncle Carlo di Robilant’s recollections as a member of Hemingway’s circle at the time. Despite this personal connection, di Robilant’s account of a literary lion famous for his affairs reveals nothing particularly new about a much-written-about writer.
A popular sub-genre of biography is the detailed chronicle of the friendship, often with a whiff of death in the background, between a leading historical figure and a minor, sometimes unknown character.
