By The Week US
Copyright theweek
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Less than $3 per week
View Profile
The Explainer
Talking Points
The Week Recommends
Newsletters
From the Magazine
The Week Junior
Food & Drink
Personal Finance
All Categories
Newsletter sign up
Culture & Life
Patrick Hemingway: The Hemingway son who tended to his father’s legacy
He was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway
Newsletter sign up
His father’s outsized reputation, Patrick said, “didn’t bother me because I don’t think that I was terribly ambitious.”
(Image credit: Paul Marotta / Getty Images)
The Week US
17 September 2025
Patrick Hemingway was comfortable in the shadow of his famous father, Ernest Hemingway. Though the elder Hemingway was famously troubled and mercurial, their affection was deep and mutual. “I would rather fish with you and shoot with you than anybody that I have ever known since I was a boy,” Ernest wrote in a letter to his son. Patrick completed Ernest’s unfinished novel True at First Light and published Dear Papa, a collection of 120 letters the two exchanged over a period of 30 years. His father’s outsized reputation, Patrick said, “didn’t bother me because I don’t think that I was terribly ambitious.”
Patrick Miller Hemingway was born in Kansas City, Mo., to Ernest and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, during a stopover in the family’s many travels. The middle child of three boys, Patrick mostly spent his childhood “in Key West with summers in Wyoming and Idaho while his private school education was punctuated by regular hunting and fishing trips,” said The Times (U.K.). Inspired by his father’s 1935 novel The Green Hills of Africa, Patrick moved to Tanzania in 1951, funding the move by selling the Arkansas plantation he inherited on his mother’s death. He became a safari guide, hunter, and forestry officer for the United Nations, returning to the U.S. in 1975.
Hemingway “managed a long life in a family haunted by suicide and mental illness,” said the Associated Press. Patrick’s brother Gregory, who transitioned and adopted the name Gloria, struggled with alcohol abuse and died in a Miami jail cell in 2001. Ernest famously suffered from depression and alcoholism and shot himself in 1961. “Under proper treatment, he would have had a nice old age,” Patrick said, before adding sardonically, “there’s no such thing as a nice old age.”
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today’s Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
The Week US
Social Links Navigation
Denmark’s record-setting arms purchase raises eyebrows and anxiety
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
By eschewing American-made munitions for their European counterparts, the Danish government is bracing for Russian antagonism and sending a message to the West
Is hate speech still protected speech?
Talking Points
Pam Bondi’s threat to target hate speech raises concerns
‘Mental health care is health care’
Instant Opinion
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
You might also like
A tour of Sri Lanka’s beautiful north
The Week Recommends
‘Less frenetic’ than the south, this region is full of beautiful wildlife, historical sites and resorts
Giorgio Armani obituary: designer revolutionised the business of fashion
In the Spotlight
‘King Giorgio’ came from humble beginnings to become a titan of the fashion industry and redefine 20th century clothing
Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale – a ‘comfort’ watch for fans
The Week Recommends
The final film of the franchise gives viewers a chance to say goodbye
The Paper: new show, same ‘warmth and goofiness’
The Week Recommends
This spin-off of the American version of The Office is ‘comfortingly and wearyingly familiar’
Rachel Jones: Gated Canyons – ‘riotously colourful’ works from an ‘exhilarating’ painter
The Week Recommends
The 34-year-old is the first artist to take over Dulwich Picture Gallery’s main space
Born With Teeth: ‘mischievously provocative’ play starring Ncuti Gatwa
The Week Recommends
‘Sprightly’ production from Liz Duffy Adams imagines the relationship between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
Art review: Lorna Simpson: Source Notes
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, through Nov. 2
Jessica Francis Kane’s 6 favorite books that prove less is more
The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
View More ▸
Contact Future’s experts
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Advertise With Us
The Week is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street
