Experts in Cuba to Preserve Hemingway´s Documents
Specialists from the United States and Cuba expressed the desire to preserve Nobel Prize of Literature (1954) laureate Ernest Hemingway´s documents in both countries.

The call was made in the Ambos Mundos Hotel on the second day of the 10th International Colloquium dedicated to the author of "Farewell to Arms," also attended by researchers and experts from France, Italy, Great Britain and Puerto Rico.

Boston"s Presidential Museum and Library John F. Kennedy curator Susan Wrynn mentioned the meticulous preservation work carried out for 10 years in this center to study Hemingway"s life and work.

"We have 90 percent of Hemingway´s documents, including 7,500 manuscripts, 1,400 documents, 2,500 letters to relatives and friends, as well as books, personal objects and audiovisual media," she said.

In the conference, Wrynn highlighted the existence of the manuscript of the famous novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls," written by the novelist at Ambos Mundo hotel in 1939, as well as his typed versions and a copy of the first edition.

The US research center is the only one in the world with Hemingway´s audiovisual collection, including some readings in his voice, discs and speeches, including his acceptance letter for the Nobel Prize.

Meanwhile, a group of Cuban analysts led by Nestor Alvarez focused their debate on the restoration of Hemingway"s correspondence at the Vigia Farm in Havana, for which they used high quality manufactured paper.

They also announced they have finished the digitalization process of the archives in the Hemingway Museum, his residence between 1940 and 1961.

Moreover, Pan-American University of Texas (United States) professor Douglas La Prade praised the depth of the Cuban research on the universal writer, mainly those about his anti-war posture.

The book "Hemingway in the Romano Keys," by Cuban narrator and historian Enrique Cirules, was presented during the second day of the meeting, dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the publication of "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

Recipient of a mention at the Casa de las Americas Award 1998, Cirules´ book deals with one of the less known aspects of Hemingway"s life: the search for Nazi submarines in the northern coast of eastern Cuban province of Camaguey.

The debates of the symposium will finish tomorrow, with topics such as the presence if the Spanish Civil War in Hemingway stories and his passionate vocation for Cuban culture.