by Emma Nichols ~ Ever read For Whom the Bell Tolls or The Old Man and The Sea for your English class? Even if you haven’t, you’ve likely heard the name of the author, one of the most famous writers of all time—Ernest Hemingway. What you may be surprised to learn is that Penn State is the headquarters for a massive project to collect and publish over six-thousand of the author’s letters in 17 volumes over the course of several decades. The first four have been published and the next is expected out in 2020.
I sat down with Hemingway Letters Project associate editor and English department assistant research professor Verna Kale to talk about her work on the project, her own writing life, and her life beyond Penn State. Kale first began teaching at Penn State as a teaching assistant in 2003 during the first year of her graduate program. In 2010 she pursued her PhD which was quickly followed with her beginning a teaching job at the Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia until 2017. After hearing about the Hemingway Letters Project, Kale moved back to Pennsylvania and became the associate editor along with General Editor, Professor Sandra Spanier. Kale also teaches English Department courses such as English 200, English 15, English 433, English 184 and more!
Kale does not get a lot of free time, but when she does she enjoys spending time with her two young children Betty and Julian and her dog Zelda whom she named after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife. She is also currently working on getting her yard certified as “pollinator friendly,” as she is someone who appreciates the environment and thinks it is important that we protect it.
Penn State College of Liberal Arts, Verna Kale
The following are highlights of my conversation with Kale on October 11th, where she details her beginnings in the English department, as well her motivation behind the Hemingway Letters Project.
Background
Born and raised in North Carolina and South Carolina, Verna Kale lived with her parents and two brothers. Their family did not have a great deal of money but her father worked as a fabric salesman and her mother worked as a high school English teacher.
EN: Did growing up with a mother who was a high school English teacher influence what career you pursued?
VK: I spent a lot of free time as a child reading the books I found around my house from my mother’s work. I ended up reading basically all of the books a student was required to read in high school. I was on a path that focused on science. I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for my undergraduate degree and then attended Penn State for graduate school. When I first arrived at college, I already had many AP science credits and was able to place out of labs which granted me the freedom to take the English courses of my choosing. I had always thought English was so fun and when it came down to deciding on a major, I ended up ditching biology and went for the double major in English and German.
“It is a comprehensive scholarly documentary edition of all of the known letters of Ernest Hemingway. It is being published by Cambridge University Press.”
Hemingway Letters Project
EN: What exactly is the Hemingway Letters Project?
VK: It is a comprehensive scholarly documentary edition of all of the known letters of Ernest Hemingway. It is being published by Cambridge University Press. I enjoy being the associate editor for this project because Hemingway is an obsession of mine and it is kind of ridiculous that my hobby and my life’s work get to be my job everyday.
EN: What intrigued you about this project and made you want to be apart of it?
The Hemingway Society
VK: “When I was applying to graduate school, I asked one of my professors at UNC for a letter of recommendation and I told him I was interested in studying Hemingway. My professor mentioned a new project that was in the works at Penn State and it ended up being the Hemingway Letters Project! While I was a graduate student at Penn State, I became a research assistant for the project.”
Writing Life
EN: Have you had your writing published in any other publications?
VK: “I have written a biography of Hemingway which took about 4 years to perfect. I also write poetry and non-fiction in addition to academic articles. I have also written a piece of flash creative non fiction called Growing Season. It had gotten rejected from the first place I sent it to, but when I sent it out again, it ended up getting published in River Teeth A journal of Nonfiction Narrative.”
EN: What is your favorite thing about this project?
VK: “I like how the letters show people that Hemingway is a lot more complicated a person than the public icon that people think they know when they think about him. I love that Hemingway really is a funny and generous person, which I happened to learn while on this project.”
Want to learn more about the Hemingway Letters Project? Visit the website of the Hemingway Society for more information!
If you are interested in getting involved in the Hemingway Letters Project I have some good news… you can! The project now has internships available for undergraduate students. This internship is a great opportunity to develop reading and writing skills and learn more about Ernest Hemingway! Talk to English Department internship coordinator Steele Nowlin to learn more.