Hemingway: “Bonefish for Grandma”

If there was any doubt about Ernest Hemingway’s disdain for anything small (read: unmanly), in his new book Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 (Google Books version here), Paul Hendrickson unearths a letter from Hemingway to a fishing compadre which highlights the author’s feelings on bonefish. Referring to the Bahamian series of islands known as Bimini, Hemingway wrote the island has a “good harbor, no mosquitoes, lots of wahoo, big and small marlin and wonderful bonefishing if you want to bring your grandmother along [our emphasis].”