Giuseppe Recchia came to Bolesławiec at the invitation of Józefa and Marek Witas. As he said in the Councillors’ Hall on 18 May, he devoted 30 years of his life to his latest book, “Hemingway for Cuba”. He first became interested in Ernest Hemingway’s biography in the early 1970s. At that time, he met Margot, the great Nobel laureate’s granddaughter, who revealed to him that her grandfather had not committed suicide at all. Recchia was a journalist then. That meeting changed his life—as a result, he decided to become a writer.
The figure of Ernest Hemingway fascinated him completely. He began travelling to Cuba. In the United States, he met Mary Welsh, the fourth and final wife of the author of “The Old Man and the Sea”. As he admitted, a great deal has already been written about the Nobel laureate, but each time a different image of Hemingway emerged from the texts. To Cuban fishermen, he was an ordinary man, one of them. To the American intelligence services, however, he was a dangerous criminal and communist. Some tried to discredit him by writing that he was a friend of Fidel Castro. As Recchia pointed out, Hemingway knew the Cuban leader, but they certainly were not friends.
Hemingway did not like crowds. He was taciturn. He felt comfortable only among people with whom he could identify. He did not have a very high opinion of writers. He compared them to mosquitoes. He wrote in simple language because he wanted ordinary people to understand his texts as well.
In the final years of his life, Hemingway complained that the CIA was persecuting him. “No one believed him; he was considered insane,” Giuseppe Recchia recounted. Agents—by no means only American ones—wondered what the distinguished writer was doing in Cuba. According to Recchia, as described in his book, the Americans blackmailed the Nobel laureate. They wanted to prove that he was dangerous. To this end, they conspired with Mary Welsh, who hated her husband. Hemingway was subjected to electroshock treatment, ruining his health. In the doctors’ opinion, near the end of his life the American writer would not even have been able to lift a pistol.
Recchia spoke of Hemingway as follows: “He was weak in body, but strong in spirit.” He adored women, and the feeling was mutual. Above all, he loved Italian and Cuban women. He travelled extensively. He was even in Poland for one day. In Cuba, he found peace, solitude and... plenty of beautiful women. All this meant that his best works were created there.
During Sunday’s meeting, the Italian artist also spoke about his writing evolution. At first, he was regarded as an avant-garde creator. He joked that during that period he had only four readers. Later, he became fascinated by stupidity, to which he even devoted a book (it has not yet been published in Poland). Over time, like Hemingway, he began writing in simpler language. “I had a problem when I considered myself an intellectual; now I consider myself someone normal,” Recchia stressed.
The Italian also spoke about his second passion—cinema. In his view, directing allows one to feel free. He also addressed the crisis facing Polish cinematography. He admitted that it surprised him, especially since our country is heir to a rich theatrical tradition (Recchia mentioned Tadeusz Kantor, Jerzy Grotowski and Henryk Tomaszewski). In his opinion, we have excellent actors and good screenwriters, but we lack outstanding directors.
Work is currently under way on a film adaptation of “Hemingway for Cuba”. Recchia himself will be behind the camera. Four Polish actors are to appear in the film, including the Italian artist’s friend, Henryk Baranowski. The Italian also intends to write a book about Poland and the Polish people. In addition, the director announced that he would organise a screening of his latest film in our town. It will be an intimate screening because, as he stressed, “if there are more than a hundred people, Hemingway will not come”.
(GA information)