Simone de Rochefort on Ernest Hemingway

Hosted by Chris Piuma and Suzanne Conklin Akbari with Simone de Rochefort

For me, in coming to Hemingway in the 2010s as a queer woman, to start reading the work of this man who can be incredibly polarizing and incredibly cruel to women and queer people (although that’s very complicated…)—for me, having the context of who he was and the dramatic backstory behind [The Sun Also Rises] made me able to deal with the ugly parts of it a little more.

Simone de Rochefort is a Senior Video Producer at Polygon, where she co-hosts the podcast The Polygon Show. She’s also one of the hosts of the tech podcast Rocket on Relay FM, which recently celebrated its 250th episode. And, luckily for us, she is also a passionate amateur Hemingway enthusiast. We were excited to bring her on the show to talk about how and why she fell in love with Hemingway, how she navigates his more problematic aspects, and how to reclaim Hemingway for women and queers.

19b. Bonus: Simone de Rochefort on Ernest Hemingway.

The Spouter-Inn Simone de Rochefort from Polygon joins us to share her enthusiasm for Hemingway. More episodes

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Show Notes.

Simone de Rochefort on Twitter, her podcasts The Polygon Show and Rocket, and her work on Polygon’s YouTube channel.

Ernest Hemingway: A Moveable Feast and the re-edited 2009 version.

Other Ernest Hemingway novels mentioned: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and The Garden of Eden.

A. Scott Berg: Max Perkins: Editor of Genius.

Dear Scott/Dear Max: The Fitzgerald Perkins Correspondence.

Matthew J. Bruccoli: Fitzgerald and Hemingway: A Dangerous Friendship.

Lesley M. M. Blume: Everybody Behaves Badly: The True Story Behind Hemingway’s Masterpiece The Sun Also Rises.

Djuna Barnes: Nightwood.

Our episodes on the Iliad and The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.

Mikaella Clements: The Queerness of Ernest Hemingway.

Simone’s quote comes from Adam Gopnik: Hemingway, the Sensualist.

Simone discusses her Dream Daddy avatar on The Polygon Show episode 7.

Support The Spouter-Inn on Patreon and you’ll get to hear a short bonus bit where Simone offers an unflattering anecdote about Hemingway.