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English Profs Begin Hemingway Letters Project
Dr. Hilary Justice
Dr. Hilary Justice
Hilary Justice, Assistant Professor of English, has been named an editor for The Hemingway Letters Project, a cooperative undertaking of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation/Society and The Hemingway Foreign Rights Trust. The undertaking, housed at Pennsylvania State University, will result in the publication of a projected twelve volumes of Hemingway’s estimated 7,000 to 8,000 pieces of correspondence. In addition, Rodger L. Tarr, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English, will also be involved as a textual advisor to the project. “The Hemingway Letters Project is of monumental importance in advancing our understanding of American literature, history, and culture,” Tarr said.  “Indeed, one might say world literature, history and culture since Hemingway’s interpretations of and influences on the cultures and literatures of the world are now an integral part of the fabric of literary and social discourse.”

The National Endowment for the Humanities recently announced funding of the The Hemingway Letters Project through its Scholarly Editions Grant Program. “That the prestigious NEH will provide funds for the editing is a register of the excitement surrounding this project,” stated Tarr. In addition, it has been named one of sixteen scholarly endeavors designated as a “We the People” project, which is a special recognition by the NEH for model projects that significantly advance the study, teaching, and understanding of American history and culture as well as provide a wealth of resources to current and future scholars.  

Hemingway

Hemingway did not make a habit of keeping copies of his correspondence, and his letters are broadly dispersed in library holdings, institutional archives, and private collections throughout the United States and Europe. The largest repository is the John F. Kennedy Library’s Hemingway Collection, which donated to the project copies of its entire holdings that number at more than 2,500 pieces. Many individual collectors, some of whom personally corresponded with Hemingway, have donated over 150 letters written by the iconic writer. “The letters are a vital link to our understanding of Hemingway’s full presence in the shaping of modern and post-modern literature,” said Tarr.   

Hilary K. Justice earned her Ph.D. in English Language and Literature at The University of Chicago. She received an A.M. from Trinity College at Hartford in English and an A.B. from Dartmouth College in Music. In addition to publishing widely on the works of Hemingway and other figures of the Modernist literary period, Justice serves on the Board of Directors of the International Hemingway Foundation/Society—the organization charged with overseeing domestic copyrights for the author’s work. She is also the MLA/ALA Coordinator for the International Hemingway Society. Justice also serves as scholar-consultant to many Hollywood projects focusing on Hemingway—most recently an episode of The West Wing and the film Papa starring Anthony Hopkins and Meg Ryan.  

Rodger L. Tarr is the editor of a number of books on Thomas Carlyle and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, most recently Max and Marjorie: The Correspondence of Maxwell E. Perkins and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1999) and Thomas Carlyle: Sartor Resartus (2000), which was awarded the prestigious Modern Language Association Seal for exceptional editing. The seal is given to book that meet the highest standards of scholarship as judged by a seven-member committee. His latest book is The Letters of Max Perkins and Elizabeth Lemmon (2003).
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