By Doc Lawrence
A new and very original biography of Ernest Hemingway is scheduled for publication soon. I was privileged to be a small part of this magnificent effort by Jim O’Kon. Successful as an architectural designer, archeologist and noted authority on Mayan culture, Jim’s works continue to be enjoyed not only at the Carter Presidential Library which he designed and the Campanile at Georgia Tech, his alma mater, but also the global tourism giant, Disneyworld. A prolific writer, his Sitting in Hemingway’s Chair, provides new insights into Hemingway’s life I’ve not found anywhere. Perhaps most interesting is O’Kon’s belief that Papa’s suffering before his suicide was due to the same brain trauma found in a growing number of college and professional football players. The author played college and professional football.
Jim O'Kon
Jim O’Kon agreed to an interview. Note at the outset one very impressive fact: he actually met Hemingway in Cuba.
You had an encounter with Ernest Hemingway.
Yes, during the spring of 1955 I visited Cuba as a member of the Atlanta team for the Havatlanta games. While there I walked out to Finca Vigia just to see Hemingway’s house. I got to meet Hemingway and we had a chat.
Was your meeting an inspiration for the book?
It all started out as a memoir of running in the Havatlanta games in 1955. The trip to Cuba as a 17-year-old was an adventure, and I included the details about while there I met Ernest Hemingway. That account was enjoyed by my friends who read the piece. So, I followed up with four chapters on adventures in Cuba, Spain, France in Africa while I was chasing the Hemingway legend.
Then, I thought I'd write about the great author and his life and how I interacted with him, and before long I had 240,000 words in a manuscript written over five years. It was too long.
What I sent to you [I was asked to read and edit it] was 189,000 words of Hemingway’s life story. It has a special twist: it covers the cause of his death from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). This is brain damage which is killing hundreds of professional football players caused by multiple severe concussions. I played football at Georgia Tech and professional football for three years. Many of the men I played with have died from CTE, the same disease that caused Hemingway to commit suicide. I became very familiar with this cause of death before it was discovered in 2004.
You highlighted Hemingway the gourmet.
Throughout his life Ernest searched for new and exciting foods. I recount tales of his gourmet diet. Starting out with his love of eating raw Bermuda onions, his adventures as a reporter in Kansas City eating barbecue and chili con carne with hot peppers. During his time in Paris, after spending time writing in a cafe he would regularly enjoy a dozen Portuguese oysters and a carafe of wine.
When he lived in Key West, he enjoyed dining on fresh fish. Miriam, his cook, prepared wonderful meals. She learned to prepare many of his favorite dishes: baked fish, black beans laced with salt pork, garlic, and Bermuda onions with either broccoli with hollandaise sauce or string beans.
On board his boat the Pilar, Gregorio his first mate and cook prepared gourmet meals of spaghetti with a sauce of chicken, beef, Galicia ham and chorizo; Swordfish fried in butter then anointed with lemon; octopus in wine sauce; dorado in green sauce; crab cooked in lemon and broiled fish of all species.
At Sun Valley, he had the actor Gary Cooper-a friend-over for lunch and Cooper arrived with a whole smoked goose.
At Pamplona, he snacked on country bread covered with slabs of Manchego cheese and Jamon Serrano,
In Spain, when traveling between ferias, picnics included squabs, cheeses, cold smoked trout, black grapes, brown speckled pears, eggplant and pimientos in a succulent juice, unshelled shrimp, and fresh anchovies. Bottles of wine were chilled in the river.
While writing, for lunch he would have a peanut butter sandwich with Bermuda onions.
Lunch with [his friend and biographer] A. E. Hotchner consisted of slabs of turtle meat placed on large pieces of pumpernickel bread and smothered generously with fresh horseradish. It was an wonderful lunch consisting of cold scotch and delicious sandwiches.
On the road, lunches were enjoyed roadside, with Mary’s delicious game birds and crackling cold Sancerre.
A carnivore and a gourmet, Papa enjoyed a bottle of champagne with breakfast.
Pieces of Hemingway's Legacy
Why do we need another Hemingway Biography?
When I embarked on this journey, I had read all of Hemingway’s books but not his biographies. At this point, I have read around 30 biographies, likely over 50 volumes and exhausted the internet. All of them are missing some part of his life. Nobody takes the project from his birth to his death and include an epilogue covering the causations and attitudes of suicide in American life and society.
None of the biographies discussed the correct causes of his suicide. They usually blame heredity because his father, a brother a sister and his granddaughter all committed suicide. This is the first biography that reveals the actual cause of his suicide due to CTE and finite details of the incidents leading to the 10 major concussions and the additional 25 concussions from shock therapy.
Furthermore, this biography discussed in detail the elements and environment for each of the 10 major concussions. Each has a different story in a different adventure that put him in harm's way.
None of the biographies discuss the post-traumatic stress from his World War I injuries. They do not discuss the effects of each concussion caused by war, falling skylights, automobile accidents, horse tossing, and aircraft crashes. This biography is different because of my knowledge as an aircraft pilot, military training, and my experience as a forensic investigator that enabled me to cover in detail each the technical aspects of each major incident and injury.
For instance, when Hemingway experienced two plane crashes in Africa, my knowledge and experience as an aviator takes the reader through the actual procedures that a pilot would use in setting up for emergency landing. I take the reader through the pilot error that the second pilot committed when he crashed the aircraft .
Based on my knowledge of head injuries to professional football players and their subsequent deaths from CTE, the reader is walked through the physiological, psychological and medical effects of CTE and the regression of the victim. How each concussion affected Ernest Hemingway. The misdiagnosis of his condition is discussed and how the 25 electroshock treatments destroyed his ability to think.
You visited many of the places where Hemingway lived and worked.
Setting the scenes for all of Hemingway’s adventures was highly detailed because of my familiarity with the locations and scenarios of each adventure. His descriptions of bull fighting are taken to another level because of my knowledge of the sport and the Spanish countryside. Walking the streets of Paris was relived because I traveled the routes from his apartment to the bistros during over 50 Parisian visits.
This is the 60th year of his death and it's time to publish a true and accurate account of Hemingway’s life and death. framing everything around the 10 concussions and 25 electric shock treatments that turned his brain into mush.
Why has Hemingway remained so popular with the public after all these years?
This is a wonderful question. Yes, his books are popular. The Old Man and the Sea has sold 13 million copies since 1953.Yes, his writings are taught in schools, but not as much as they should, they are taught in literature classes but hardly ever in writing classes. Nobody can teach the sparse and economical style of Hemingway.
I think the Hemingway myth is part of America’s cultural heritage and lifestyle. He was a man with many parts. Movies, television shows and books constantly revisit his history. Let's face it, he was a composite: writer, foreign correspondent, bare-knuckle fighter, whiskey drinker, sailor, big game hunter, deep sea fisherman, leader of partisans, soldier and gourmet.
Please share some of your accomplishments.
Well Doc, here I am at 83 years of age and still doing exciting architectural designs, writing books, collating my archaeological collections and having a lot of fun.
I was the owner and chief designer of a medium sized but world-famous engineering and architectural design company I sold in 2000. But I made my mark and was awarded numerous national design awards. Some of the projects I've designed are now landmarks:
Roosevelt Island Tramway, New York City; Jimmy Carter Presidential Library; Disneyworld; 1983 Worlds Fair, Knoxville; Orlando International Airport; San Juan Puerto Rico International Airport; 20 large aircraft hangars for United States military and the Georgia Tech Campanile.
My archaeological accomplishments encompass 50 years exploring the Maya civilization in the Yucatan Peninsula. I have made some important discoveries, but I think my discovery of the longest bridge in the ancient world is the most important. It was at the ancient Maya city of Yaxchilan, a 300-foot-long suspension bridge across the Usumacinta River. I have written four volumes on Maya technology.
Did you run before the bulls in Pamplona?
Yes
