The Hemingway Hoax was published by William Morrow in 1990, an expansion of the novella that won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 1991. The premise begins with literary history: in December 1922, Hemingway’s first wife Hadley packed a suitcase with all his early manuscripts to bring to him in Lausanne, and the suitcase was stolen at the Gare de Lyon in Paris. The manuscripts were never recovered — representing an incalculable literary loss.
John Baird, a Hemingway scholar, is approached by Sylvester Castlemaine, a con artist who proposes that Baird forge the lost manuscripts. Baird has the scholarly knowledge to make them convincing; Castlemaine has the connections to sell them. The plan seems victimless — the originals no longer exist, so who is harmed by creating plausible substitutes? But as Baird begins writing, he encounters the “Hemingway defense mechanism” — a mysterious entity (or force, or aspect of reality) that warns him the forgery must not be completed, because it will somehow destroy the fabric of the universe.
Haldeman uses this fantastical premise to explore questions about literary authenticity, the nature of artistic creation, and the relationship between a writer and his work. Baird discovers that writing “as Hemingway” is not merely technical imitation but requires entering Hemingway’s consciousness — his way of seeing, his relationship to language, his particular combination of precision and omission — and this entering has consequences that exceed the literary.
Collecting The Hemingway Hoax
First edition (William Morrow, New York, 1990): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition in dust jacket: $15–$40
- Signed first edition: $35–$80
- Without jacket: $5–$12