Ernest Hemingway and Marlene Dietrich: penpal love

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Ernest Hemingway was married, and Marlene Dietrich is also not free. They themselves could not explain the nature of their mutual attraction, but remained faithful to him until the very last days of the writer. Soul mates who felt each other even at a distance.

Acquaintance

The acquaintance of the already famous writer Ernest Hemingway and the Hollywood actress, the fatal and mysterious Marlene Dietrich happened during a cruise on an ocean liner in 1934. As Marlene later recalled, her love arose at first sight and remained with her forever. It didn’t matter that the correspondence replaced personal meetings. And in correspondence, as you know, the hidden corners of the soul open more easily.

Love is the connecting thread

As Hemingway wrote, he and Marlene loved each other, but they never woke up in the same bed. Their meetings were so rare and accidental that sometimes they themselves could not believe that they had each other. And only letters filled with depth, the power of desire and sadness were proof that there are feelings, despite all the circumstances. He compared thinking about her to the beating of his heart, and her embrace to returning home. Time without him Marlene considered her pain. But even the years of communication with the writer remained an inexplicable mystery for her. "Who am I to you?" - she wrote in her letters.

Their relationship remained platonic, but they were closer in souls than sometimes the most passionate lovers. Their delicate connection, like a thread connecting two people across distances, was much more than just communication between a man and a woman. It would seem, how can you feel what another person is thinking when you do not see him and do not always even guess about the events of his life? And they knew about each other's state with some kind of mystical instinct, like kindred spirits who may not even speak, but just feel …

"The best counselor in my life" - so called Marlene Hemingway. He talked about her, not otherwise than about a holiday that never ends. Marlene's incredible personality is reflected in the features of the heroines of Hemingway's novels "The Garden of Eden" and "Island in the Ocean". Their letters to each other are, perhaps, the main part of the novel itself, and the strength of feelings that they expressed on paper helped to make up for the lack of personal contact. "I love, it is no longer possible!", "I will love you for eternity!" - such phrases in letters of Marlene and Hemingway to each other were constant.

The highest happiness is to know that the one you love is happy

The story of his acquaintance with his future wife Mary Welch can also speak about the level of relations between Dietrich and Hemingway. She rejected the writer's persistent advances. Then Hemingway turned to Marlene for help and could not even imagine how her sincere love would result in persistent stories for Mary about his incredible merits. It all ended with the wedding of Ernest and Welch. Marlene managed to maintain an excellent relationship with Mary - no jealousy and unconditional trust.

Marlene wrote in her memoirs that in fact she is a very weak and dependent woman, but if someone close to her needs her help, she becomes like a lioness. She was ready to fight for Hemingway's happiness.

And only in memory you will remain mine

In 1961, Marlene took the leave of the writer hard, for a long time she could not believe that he was no longer there. In her letters there are lines about how she lacks Hemingway's subtle humor, his optimism and cheerfulness, his ironic jokes. And in his surviving letters about Marlene there are so many warm words about the actress, “she is beautiful, kind, kind..in trousers and soldier's boots, and in an evening dress on the screen."