BY KAREN BOSSICK
Michael D. Wilson examined Ernest Hemingway use of hyphens in his thesis for his Master of Liberal Arts degree from the University of Chicago.
His work on the “Hemingway Hyphen” was motivated from a close examination of the text in “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” which Hemingway wrote in Room 206 of the Sun Valley Lodge. And he explored how Hemingway’s vivid writing is a product of that hyphen, setting the tempo.
Now Wilson will enjoy a residency at the historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House during the month of March.
While here Wilson will discuss his observations in a livestream on “Hemingway’s Coda” at 6 p.m. Thursday March 18 at www.livestream.com/comlib. He also will explain the algorithm he developed to sift through Hemingway’s language and how that algorithm can be used to explore literary innovation.
"I'm looking forward to walking the hallowed grounds of where Hemingway created and produced so voraciously," says Wilson, of his upcoming time in Ketchum. "Also, it will be a time to further investigate how vividly language makes the world go around."
Wilson is currently the faculty director for Innovators for the Americas and Entrepreneurship for the Miami Herbert Business School at the University of Miami in Florida.
Prior to his journey through academe, he founded several startup companies and consulted with Fortune 500 companies. He also founded a large Internet Service Provider serving greater New England.
"His perspectives on language and innovation are particularly compelling, and during a month when we are examining Hemingway closely in advance of the new Ken Burns/Lynn Novick documentary coming out in April, Michael's work will shed light on an entirely different approach to evaluating Hemingway's literary legacy," said Martha Williams, the library's programs and education manager.
Since 2019, the residency program has hosted screenwriters, poets, novelists, historians, and musicians, helping the Library to promote ongoing literary work and creativity in the Wood River Valley.