Ernest Hemingway - Biography

Ernest Hemingway is one of the best American writers of twentieth century. In 1954, he won a Nobel Prize in literature. His controversial writing provoked critics. His most famous novels are The Old Man and the Sea (published in 1952), The Sun Also Rises (1926), and A Farewell to Arms (1929). He also wrote many short stories. Some of his friends were Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Ford Madrox Ford, F. Scrott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda (Contemporary Literary Criticism 4).

Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, to Clarence Edmond and Grace Hall. He was the oldest of six children. Hemingway was raised in the First Congregational Church, but later he converted to Catholicism (Byrd 1). He lived in an attractive house at 493 North Oak Park Avenue. His mother frequently took him to the museum in Chicago, and gave her son piano lesson (May 897). When he was a teenager he became interested in literature. He also wrote a weekly column for his high school paper, he contributed stories and poems to the paper. (U*X*L Biographies 2)

After his graduation in 1917, he took a job as a junior reporter for the Kansas City Star. He covered the police and hospital beats. He wrote briefly, selectively, precisely and timely. Hemingway demonstrated his talent, when he was only 17. (U*X*L Biographies 2)
In 1918 Hemingway enlisted as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross and he was sent to Italy. On July 8 he was wounded in both legs by mortar fire at Fosstale di Piave (wounded in both legs-Contemporary Literary Criticism 4). He was hospitalized for a while and formed a relationship with a nurse. (May 900) He fell in love with her, but she left him for an older man. He returned to United States decorated as hero; although broken heart outshined his triumph. He returned to journalism and worked for the Toronto Star. (Contemporary Literary Criticism 4). Although he didn’t get the job, he was allowed to write stories to the paper. (Nagel 2)

In 1921, Hemingway got married to Hadley Richardson. After that he left to Paris, and arranged that he will send stories for the paper from many places in Europe. He had some time to develop his own writing, since he wrote stories to the paper only occasionally. Unfortunately, most of his works were lost with his valise that was stolen from the train. (Nagel 2-3)

In 1923, Robert McAlmon’s Contact Publishing Company published Hemingway’s stories and selection of poetry. The book was titled Three Stories and Ten Poems. The book contained stories My Old Man, Out of Season, and Up in Michigan. In 1925, his another book entitled In Our Time was published in New York by Boni & Liveright. The book contained stories as Indian Camp, Soldier’s Home, and Big Two-Hearted River. (Nagel 3)
People became saying that Hemingway took Sherwood Anderson’s style. To show that they were wrong Hemingway wrote The Torrens of Spring. This book was a parody of Sherwood’s style, his character and his ideas of life. After that incident their friendship ended. (Byrd 2)
In February 1926, Hemingway went to New York where he fell in love with Pauline Pfeiffer. He went back to Paris and agreed with his wife for separate residences. They finally divorced in June that year. (Byrd 4)

Meanwhile Hemingway’s next work got published. The Sun Also Rises came out In October 26, 1926. He spent some time with Pauline and her sister Virginia in Switzerland. ON May 10, 1927 Hemingway got married to Pauline. Pauline wanted to give birth to her first son on American soil. They moved to Key West, Florida, where Hemingway enjoyed fishing and started his new book A Farewell to Arms.
Soon after Hemingway finished the book, in 1929 his father committed suicide what greatly disturbed Hemingway. He questioned his father’s lack of courage. Hemingway defined courage as ”grace under pressure”. Hemingway took nickname “Papa”. It stayed with him for the rest of his life. (Byrd 2)

In 1930s Hemingway spent some time traveling. He went to American West, Africa, Cuba, and Florida. He covered the Spanish Civil War as a correspondent. He worked on his extensive essay about a bullfighter, Death in the Afternoon. In 1933 another collection of stories came out, Winner Take Nothing, followed by Green Hills of Africa (1935) and To Have and Have Not, what was considered one of Hemingway’s weakest novels. He wrote several different books during the time he spent in Spain, but the most significant one was For Whom the Bell Tolls, a novel published in 1940. (Nagel 4)

The time before and during World War II changed Hemingway’s life. He divorced his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, in 1940 and almost immediately he married to Martha Gellhorn. Hemingway and his third wife moved to the Cuban village of San Francisco de Paula near Havana. Hemingway went to England to work as a correspondent for Collier’s. His wife, Martha Hemingway went with him. In England he formed a relationship with another writer Mary Welsh. She also wrote about war. He divorced with Martha and married Mary in Havana 1946. (Nagel 4)

They both moved to Cuba where Hemingway worked on his novel entitled Across the River and Into the Trees. Book was published in 1950, and seemed almost like a parody of Hemingway style and characteristic. The book didn’t get a good review. His good luck came back with his next novel The Old Man and the Sea, published in 1952. This book won a Pulitzer Prize for Hemingway. In 1954 Hemingway won a Nobel Prize for Literature. He continued to travel to Africa with Mary Hemingway, in 1953. This trip cost Hemingway lots of head and abdominal injuries in a plane crash. After Fidel Castro took power over Cuba, Hemingway moved to Ketchum, Idaho, where he continued to work on sketches of life from Paris. But his age seemed to create difficulties for Hemingway. (Nagel 4-5)
At the end of his life he suffered for depression, hypertension, mild diabetes. He became confused, suspicious, and aggressively suicidal. He was released from Mayo Clinic in Minnesota; he went back home to Idaho and committed suicide with his favorite shotgun few days later, on July 2, 1961. Right before his death he suffered that he couldn’t write, he thought government agents had watched him. (Nagel 5)