HFB Salutes: Martha Gellhorn

Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1908, Martha Gellhorn began her career as a journalist in 1927. In a long career that broke new ground for women, she covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War. With her constant focus on harm to civilians, her reporting was considered a morally courageous model. During World War II, she stowed away on a hospital ship in the D-Day fleet and went ashore as a stretcher bearer. In addition to writing numerous novels, her work appeared in Collier’s, Atlantic Monthly and the Guardian. She was also Ernest Hemingway’s third wife, a description she did not particularly care for as she had “no intention of being a footnote in someone else's life”. Interviews with Gellhorn were sometimes granted on the condition that Hemingway's name not be mentioned. Indeed, the “another” in her travelogue, Travels with Myself and Another: A Memoir refers to Hemingway. Despite her two marriages and numerous affairs, Gellhorn remained a staunchly independent high flying bird.

Following her death in 1998, Salon.com published a profile of Gellhorn by Kevin Kerrane, co-editor of an anthology of literary journalism which included works by Gellhorn. Kerrane reflects on his occasion of actually meeting Gellhorn in preparing for the anthology and ultimately sending Gellhorn a copy of the published anthology with a thank you note for her part:

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But her biographical note in the book included a poison passage: "Gellhorn's war reporting began in Spain. She traveled there with Ernest Hemingway, whom she later married. (He dedicated 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' to her.)" I had mentioned Hemingway because he was featured in the anthology, not only in Lillian Ross' profile but in an early story of his own from the Toronto Star. Still, I had overstepped my acquaintance with Gellhorn -- and worse, I had distorted the crucial facts of a daring journey. She had traveled to Spain alone, with only a knapsack and $50.

"I was very cross," Gellhorn wrote, "that you insisted on putting in Hemingway and the information was false. I did not go to Spain with him; anything but. I made my own way with some difficulty crossing the border of Andorra on foot. I dislike terribly this harping on Hemingway and as far as I know you do not mention the marriages of other authors in your book. So if there is another edition please remove all that."
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In 2007, the U.S. Postal Service immortalized with a “forever” stamp five American journalists who risked their lives reporting some of the most important events of the 20th Century, among them only one high flying bird: Martha Gellhorn.

Note: Reading Kerrane’s entire article on Gellhorn is highly recommended. And to hear a short interview with Gellhorn about the Spanish Civil War, click here for BBC 4 Radio live stream.

-- Clear Plastic Bag