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UPCOMING FREE ACTIVITIES
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August 30, 2016

About the reason why a Spanish school has the name of Hemingway

“Why use the name of Hemingway if you are teaching Spanish, not English?” This is one of the most frequently asked questions by our students when they come to do a Spanish course in Bilbao. Ernest Hemingway wasn’t a Spanish author, this is clear. However, he developed a very strong relationship with Spain and in his work we can find evidence that indicate us that he was a strongly devoted person to Spain. Many of our students know Spain and its traditions through the pages of Hemingway’s books. He is kind of our cultural ambassador in the world. He also was fascinated by our country and his books and chronicles about Spain keep entertaining all people interested in our culture.

It is said that the writer himself said that he loved Spain more than any other country, excluding, of course, his birth country. Hemingway was an American writer and journalist that in his young age was doing practically nothing but sports. But then a change happened and he started to dedicate his time to journalism and became one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. It was Gertruda Stein who told Hemingway he had to visit Spain and so the young Ernest listened to her and fell in love with the country. Probably it was because of the pretty women that served him as inspiration when writing his novels. For example, Maria Sans from Catalonia which was a real person behind the character of María in the novel of “For whom the bell tolls”.

His tight relationship with the Spanish people and culture was reflected also in his books that later on made possible his winning of the Pulitzer Prize and also a Nobel in Literature. We already mentioned “For whom the bell tolls”, the books in which we can find the character of María. We cannot forget about Ernest Hemingway being interested in bullfighting and the art of tauromaquia. He probably owned this to the fact that the first city in Spain he visited was Pamplona, known most importantly for the festivities in honor of San Fermín. He immortalized the motive of bulls and the festivities in Pamplona in his novel “The sun also rises” considered his first successful book. Other novels speaking of the subject were “The Dangerous Summer” and “Death in the afternoon”. In the second mentioned book, Hemingway expressed his admiration towards tauromaquia and the union between life and death that is present
in all of the bull festivities celebrated till present times.

In order not to talk just about his relationship with bulls, Ernest also was in Spain during the cruellest and most crucial moments of Spanish history – The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Ernest served as war reporter for NANA (North American Newspaper Alliance). During this period, he fell in love with his colleague, Martha Gelhorn, who lately became the third wife of the writer. She ended her life the same way as Hemingway did, she committed suicide.

Bilbao also has enjoyed the presence of this great famous man. He kept coming frequently to the Bull Square Vista Alegre to do what all journalists do – tell the world what’s happening in one of the biggest bullfighting squares in Spain.

If you would like to know more about the city that, as we mentioned, was united with the great Hemingway, and use well your time also to study, don’t hesitate to contact our Instituto that has his name. We will be more than lucky to have you here, in the only Spanish school for foreigners in Bilbao. If you have any questions or you want to take any of our courses, write us an email to info@institutohemingway.com
and we assure you, you will not regret it.


Looking forward to hearing from you!

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