Before Ernest Hemingway was a Nobel Prize-winning novelist, he was a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star in Paris. Then, he moved to Toronto, where he worked as a staff reporter for the newspaper in 1923.
His first story assignment led him to Kingston, Ont. to cover a prison break led by notorious bank robber Norman “Red” Ryan.
For Marianne K. Miller, a Carleton University sociology alumna, Hemingway’s true story served as the inspiration for her debut novel, We Were the Bullfighters, which was recently nominated for a Crime Writers of Canada Award for Best Crime First Novel.
The Charlatan connected with Miller to discuss her writing process and what it means to be recognized for the work.
Marianne K. Miller (MM): Although I don’t do it as much as I should, I believe you should keep a notebook and write down anything that hits you. While it may not even end up in what you write, it gets you started.
When I was working on this book, I was planning to write a nonfiction story. Then, my friends encouraged me to write a novel. I sat down one night and wrote about a man on a train. He’s a young man, good looking — at least he thinks so. That was like Hemingway on the train to Kingston and that is what started it off, although it did not appear in the book.
TC: What was it about Hemingway’s story that intrigued you and inspired you to share it?
MM: I think what hit me was the fact that Hemingway had been in Paris and writing as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star. He’s starting to hang out with James Joyce, Ezra Pound and other famous literary figures who are just starting to recognize this talent.
Then his wife gets pregnant and he decides he wants the child to be born in North America, he feels trapped by circumstance.
I always thought it was interesting that he’s feeling trapped, and on his first day as a staff reporter, he was sent to cover somebody who risks everything to be free.
TC: Why do you think fiction and descriptive writing is an adequate means of conveying historical events?
MM: I think it is more vivid. One of the things I felt when I was writing We Were the Bullfighters is that I read lots of things about what Hemingway was doing, but I didn’t know how Hemingway was feeling.
It took a lot of research to put that information together, which is important because this is a true story. There was a prisoner with that name and there was a writer with that name, and those details bring the story more to life.
MM: I think many people believe that Hemingway came to Toronto, the editor at the Toronto Star was mean to him, and end of story. But I think there was a whole lot more going on. I tried to show that he had all kinds of pressures, and I think the story is more complicated than most people believe.
I want people to understand that this isn’t Hemingway — the old man with the beard, the famous writer — this is a young man struggling like many people who want to be a writer.
Hemingway is dying to get noticed and going through this difficult process, and many do not think about Hemingway this way. My book is about following your dreams. I think that pursuing what you love in some way is very important.
TC: Finally, what does it mean to be nominated for a Crime Writers of Canada Award?
MM: It’s very exciting and although everybody says it, it’s an honour just to be nominated.
I find it somewhat amusing that it is the crime aspect of the book that has achieved this nomination. The convicts were all action and excitement and Hemingway was not happy.
It seems these convicts are trying to steal this book, too.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured graphic by Alisha Velji/the Charlatan
