Portraying Hemingway

The talented Duffy Hudson returned to Moorcroft this week with two very different performances hosted by West Texas Trail Museum and the Moorcroft Public Library celebrating the One Book Wyoming Campaign during August. The first was a simple interactive magic show for the youngsters with many children and their parents taking part in the fun.

The second presentation was a poignant interpretation of the life and writing philosophy of Ernest Hemingway. Hudson, speaking as the author, described Hemingway’s early life under the cruel and perverted hand of his mother and the harsh discipline of his father, the varied dangerous jobs the author sought over the years and his inability to find love, though he married several times.

He talked about his time as a crime reporter for the Kansas City Star when he was 18 and how the four fundamental rules he learned there influenced his writing for the rest of his career. The first was to write short sentences; second, use a short first paragraph to grab the attention; third, use vigorous English to make it passionate; and finally, write positively, write about what it is, not what it is not.

Hemingway demonstrated his realization of these tenets with the illustration of an iceberg: while ten percent may be visible in the words on the page, the majority of the story is hidden. He read to the audience six words that told a greater story with silence: “For sale, baby shoes, never worn.”