Sunrise: 06:52 AM EDT - Sunset: 08:14 PM EDT
Tour 7: Literary Landmarks
Click map to see the route
“Key West,” Wallace Stevens once wrote in a letter, “is the real thing... the sweetest doing nothing contrived.” Ernest Hemingway, tipped off by John Dos Passos, who described it as “looking like something in a dream,” stopped off in 1928. A literary parade of writers, poets and songwriters have followed in Papa Hemingway’s footsteps. The last resort, at the end of a southern archipelago, is Key West--a two-by-four mile expanse of limestone rock that's infused with culture, history, intriguing characters and a tradition of "live and let live." Its enduring charms and an allure of subtropical palms, a turquoise sea, and an adventurous spirit, have lured authors, novelists, short- story writers, playwrights, biographers, journalists,publishers and literary agents to the island. The frost-free city is America's foot in the Caribbean. A spark of creativity and the notion of sanctuary continue to draw creative types seeking a haven to this wintertime retreat. Pulitzer prizes, and even a Nobel prize, have been awarded to writers calling Key West home during the last century. Key West has spun a magical web. From Ernest Hemingway to John Dos Passos, from Elizabeth Bishop and John Dewey to Tennessee Williams, from poet Robert Frost to Cuban patriot Jose Marti, to contemporary writers such as Thomas Sanchez, Annie Dillard and James Gleick--all have been captivated and inspired.