SOURCE: Schorer, Mark. Review of Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, by Carlos Baker. American Literature 41, no. 4 (January 1969-70): 592-94.

In the following essay, Schorer applauds the abundance of research and fact in Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, but perceives the biography as lacking interpretation and insight into the true character of Hemingway.

Carlos Baker tells us at the outset what his book [Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story] will and will not be, what we may expect and what we are not to expect. He will not critically explore Hemingway's “literary output.” He will not propose any “thesis” to explain Hemingway's “psychological outlook” or “the nature and direction of his career.” These exclusions, as stated, are only sensible: Mr. Baker has indeed already published a well-known (probably overly respectful) critical analysis of Hemingway, and the last kind of biography one would be interested in reading is a reductive exercise...