European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 21, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine Haw Roa Tomt Iri diversity it tolerated in key a Etc where the conch train Tow tourist through the Streett and there it no Lack of entertainment. Key West mys Ripe where authors Are idolized and Good literature is sometimes even read by Jane Button United press International Hemingway lived and wrote there. Poet Hart Crane wrote about the City but never visited. Seven pulitzer prize winners Are among those who live or regularly visit key West a 12 Square mile Florida Island which sometimes honors its literati in ways a Little less than de Ngu Euf More than 50 published writers including pulitzer winners Phil Caputo. John Hersey James Kirkwood Joseph lash Alison Lurie James Merrill and Richard Wilbur Are permanent or Winter residents. Yet most of key West s bookstores Are the Type thai sell a rated videotapes and leather implements of bondage. Hemingway is immortalized on to shirts and bar stools and honoured with a july festival devoted to Beer drinking and Beard growing. The City holds an annual literary seminar in february that coincides with the Busk Erlest a gathering of Street Corner sword Swallower mimes and clowns in drag fishermen sailors treasure Hunters and the generally restless Drill through key West and bidders Al Multi million Dollar land auctions Wear Shoi is and to shirts. Tennessee Williams revered the Island As a Haven Lor those who choose to drop out of conventional  but he was beaten up by a gang of Young laughs who disapproved As he staggered and Sang his Way Down Duval Street one night with his Friend Dolson Rader. The conch train a Olsn Evesque Tram with red and White striped awnings tows tourists past Williams Little Leon Street House with its while Gazebo and past the cat infested mansion where Hemingway wrote a Farewell to arms the train Driver urges tourists to see Ernes Hemingway s House feel the personality of Tho Man radiate around Youl visitors stand reverently before the Hemingway bookshelves and count the cats toes to confirm they Are genuine extra dig led descendants of Hemingway s own. Hemingway is everywhere Here but key West writers Light to exorcise his ghost or deny it exists at All and show their irritation at being compared to him. Hemingway is highly overrated said Phil Capulo who like Hemingway tackles Iho Manly subject of War in his books Horn of Africa a Rumor of War and Del Corso s gallery. I d rather be compared to Joseph Conrad than Hemingway Caputo said. Conrad achieved Depths Hal i Dpn l think Hemingway Over sow Andrj to was a much bettor Poison " Thomas a guano who lived in Koy Wool for 10 years and Mada in Tho Selling for his pull scr waning novel ninety two in Iho Shade has abandoned Iho Balmy Island Lor a Montana cat Lac ranch decrying the encroaching iral Fie and Chain hotels. Tho writers who remain arc divided Over what or whether the Island has con Nulod to their work. Trio subtropical climate is Tho initial draw. Locals claim in is the Only place in the nation Hal has Novor seen Snow. We come Down Here to got away from Tho cold weather. But you would t Como Back every year just for Iho fishing and the weather said biographer William Wright whose books have chronicled the lives of Marjorie merr Iwother Post Lillian Hellman and Claus Vonbulow. There is a fabulous symbiosis Here Hal i find very congenial. The natives Are Friendly Wright said. Geographically it is the end of the line the southernmost chunk of land in the string of keys thai stretch ram Florida s Atlantic coast into Tho Gull of Mexico. It s pleasant. It s Quiel. Divor Sily is tolerated said writer Lurie. Iii becomes noisy and uniform and people Start leaving it will become  authors Are idolized Good literature is adored and sometimes even read. Here in key West everybody knows How hard in is to write a Book said Wright. Writers mingle and gossip in key West but jokingly refer to their Friendship As an occupational  James Merrill Connecticut s poet laureate who lives in key West from mid december to March and won the 1977 pulitzer for his divine comedies claimed Lurie and Wilbur for friends Long before anyone won  we go to each others House for dinner. We gossip about each other about the absent people Merrill said. There s very Little talk about writing among  the Island is no poetic Muso Lor Merrill who deliberately positioned his writing desk to face away from the window at his Shady Green and White wooden House. It s pleasant when you Stop writing to have Lovely weather and to be Able to bicycle to the Market he said. But when it comes time to write it could be  Thomas Sanchez current resident and author of Rabbit Boss and zoot suit murders would like to believe there is no writers Colony. I think As soon As you have a writers Colony anywhere it is the end of something. It s not the  Bui he adds whether or not there is a writers Community there exist groups of writers. To do see one another. You could Call new York City a Community of writers this place gets he attention because it s so  too Small for those who would protect in from invading hordes. Tell Thorn about the drug smugglers and the mos Quilos. That will scare them Oil Sanchez advises. To Prova in is the imagination not the vivid Orange sunsets or the warm Gulf breezes thai fuel their work key West authors observe Hal they All came from elsewhere that there have been no indigenous key Wesl writers the great key West novel has not been written said Joy Williams author of the changeling and nominated Lor tha National Book award for her 1974 novel slate of Grace. Eventually what we gain from key Wesl will evolve and be discovered in other books. One does not read crime and punishment to find out about is. Petersburg she reminds. When the current resident writers move on through death or disenchantment others will follow lured by the key West mystique by curiosity or by the sub tropical Sun. There s no danger that a writer will became an endangered species. Ii we Lall they la come crawling right Over us said Williams. Key Wesl is going to figure for a Long  saturday March 21, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 13