Here is a little video of the hotel then and now. At 0:59 there’s a grainy photo of the original monument. Google brings up no other works by this artist. Ironic that it lasted less than 20 years, but is immortalized by Hemingway, who doesn’t even describe it. https://youtu.be/xhLNQK69xoM
Thanks Mia, I even enjoyed feebly prolonging the story via the hotel reviews ("The staff are friendly and very helpful especially Lorenzo who was very informative and nothing was too much trouble." "The gentleman who looks after the desk is very good man and
very helpful specially for the vegetarian people.")
The first statue is erected to memorialize "Brotherly soldiers in the supreme sacrifice, gloriously joined, in the greatest Italian victory", and then "melted down for military hardware" in the next war less than two decades later. That seems like the core of a flash fiction story.
I love this shirt summation and interpretation of the story. It's in the link in the ascent. Thank you, Mia.
"As the central trope of "Cat in the Rain" the war monument is a mute reminder of the incomplete lives toward which the narrative's modalities point. Indeed, this concise little tale of a woman's thwarted yearnings coincides with the aborted dreams memorialized in the sculptures--both the "American girl" and the "fallen" Italian soldiers have been robbed of the natural fulfillment life might be expected to hold"
Thanks for finding and sharing this Mia. Inspiring to see the real view from the room in the video and think how Hemingway made a story partly from his experience at this hotel. While it’s fascinating in itself, it also somehow gives me hope in the opportunities that are open to us to include the specificity of real life in writing our fiction.
Here is a little video of the hotel then and now. At 0:59 there’s a grainy photo of the original monument. Google brings up no other works by this artist. Ironic that it lasted less than 20 years, but is immortalized by Hemingway, who doesn’t even describe it. https://youtu.be/xhLNQK69xoM
If you squint, you can see the cat!
As a journalist, Hemingway would've been impressed by your sleuthing, Mia. I know I am!
This is yet another example of how this class rounds out the learning experience in new and fascinating ways. Thank you for sharing.
Oh wow, my family lives in a nearby town, Chiavari. I have to check out the hotel in the summer!
Story Club field trip? George would get room 66.
Thanks Mia, I even enjoyed feebly prolonging the story via the hotel reviews ("The staff are friendly and very helpful especially Lorenzo who was very informative and nothing was too much trouble." "The gentleman who looks after the desk is very good man and
very helpful specially for the vegetarian people.")
The first statue is erected to memorialize "Brotherly soldiers in the supreme sacrifice, gloriously joined, in the greatest Italian victory", and then "melted down for military hardware" in the next war less than two decades later. That seems like the core of a flash fiction story.
I love this shirt summation and interpretation of the story. It's in the link in the ascent. Thank you, Mia.
"As the central trope of "Cat in the Rain" the war monument is a mute reminder of the incomplete lives toward which the narrative's modalities point. Indeed, this concise little tale of a woman's thwarted yearnings coincides with the aborted dreams memorialized in the sculptures--both the "American girl" and the "fallen" Italian soldiers have been robbed of the natural fulfillment life might be expected to hold"
What brilliant sleuthing, thanks, Mia. I'm with Vibeke – wouldn't it be great to have a Story Club tour of places like this?
I love me a mansard roof!
For another take on this relationship, try reading "The Paris Wife" by Paula McLain, a fictional memoir of Hemingway's first wife, Hadley Richardson.
One day maybe , we make a George Saunders Story Club excursion to that hotel
Thanks for finding and sharing this Mia. Inspiring to see the real view from the room in the video and think how Hemingway made a story partly from his experience at this hotel. While it’s fascinating in itself, it also somehow gives me hope in the opportunities that are open to us to include the specificity of real life in writing our fiction.
Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing
It is so much--though a bit grander--as I pictured it, with the palms prominent. A great pre-war building.
Very impressive research!