Ernest Hemingway

His father, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, was a physician, and his mother, Grace Ernestine, née Hall (1872-1951), was devoted to music and very religious. They lived in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. They had a cottage named Windermere on Walloon Lake in northern Michigan. They also later bought a homestead on the other side of the lake called Longfield Farm, where the family spent the summer months. Ernest was born in 1899, the second of six children - he had four sisters and a youngest brother, Leicester. His mother wanted him to be a well-behaved child, and their relationship was complicated even in adulthood. His father fostered in him a love of the outdoors, they went hunting and fishing together, he learned to camp, and he helped on the farm. He was physically fit, liked to swim and hike with his classmates in the area. Although he had poor vision in one eye, he was an excellent shot. He showed his strength in boxing and canoeing down the river. He played the cello in the school orchestra. While in high school, he attempted poetry, short stories and newspaper columns. After graduation he declined to go to college and in October 1917 became a reporter for the Kansas Star. He was determined to become a writer. A year later he went to the Italian front in World War I as a Red Cross ambulance volunteer. In June 1918, he was caught up in heavy fighting as an ambulance driver on the Piave River. Here he was severely wounded by mortar shrapnel. Despite his multiple wounds, he carried an unconscious Italian soldier on his back to safety. He was the first American wounded in Italy and was awarded the Italian Silver Medal for his brave action. He was treated in a hospital in Milan, where he fell in love with a nurse, Agnes von Kurowski (1892-1984). Ernest returned to the U.S. in January 1919, where he was hailed as a hero. Agnes remained in Europe and after a few months ended their relationship because she fell in love with a young Italian lieutenant. After the war he wanted to devote himself to writing. He lived in Toronto, where he worked as a journalist for the Toronto Star and began writing short stories that no one wanted to print. In October 1920, he settled with friends in Chicago, and there he met his future wife, twenty-eight-year-old Hadley Elizabeth Richardson (1891-1979). The wedding took place in September 1921, and the newlyweds set off for Europe. Initially, they lived in Paris, where they established contacts with foreign journalists and well-known personalities of the art world. Hemingway became a member of a group of American intellectuals centred around Gertrude Stein - the so-called "Lost Generation". He made his living as a reporter for the Toronto Star and other newspapers, and travelled to many countries (Turkey, Italy, Germany, Switzerland) to report. In addition, he wrote short stories, short stories and poems. While in Europe, however, he lost all of his manuscripts when Hadley had the briefcase in which he was taking them to Ernest in Lausanne stolen on a train. He was left with only two short stories, My Dad and Up in Michigan, which caused him to become deeply depressed. He returned to writing in Italy in the spring of 1923, when he finished a story for the first time since losing the manuscripts. He gave it the title Out of Season and it marked a major breakthrough in his style, and his poetic gifts were evident in it. The Hemingways spent the end of their first stay in Europe in Spain, where they saw bullfighting and bullfighters for the first time. This is also where his nickname Papá was coined. Ernest described his impressions of his visit to Spain in five short sketches. In August 1923 he received his first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems, for proofreading. Shortly afterwards, he and Hadley, who was pregnant, left for America. In Toronto, Hemingway returned to his job as a journalist at the Star. In October 1923 they had a boy, whom they named John Hadley Nicanor (after the Spanish toreador Nicanor Villalta), later called Bumby because of his plumpness. In December, he published a book, In Our Time, in a limited edition of 170 copies, in which he included fourteen short sketches with various themes from the American Midwest, the war in Italy, and bullfighting in Spain. Another edition of this book was published in the autumn of 1925, with a print run of 1300 copies.In January 1924, the Hemingways returned to Paris, where their circle of acquaintances had expanded to include F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda. Here the family lived on the small capital Hadley had inherited from her father and on irregular royalties from Ernest's newspaper articles. At the same time, he wrote short stories, drawing their themes from his trips to Europe, especially Spain. He began work on a novel set among the bullfighters and the Spanish fiesta. He completed the novel, The Sun Also Rises/Fiesta, in early 1926. His novel The Torrents of Spring, a parody of the mannerist style of Sherwood Anderson, an American novelist and former friend of Hemingway, was published during this period.Hemingway's personal life underwent a major change. For several months he had been in a relationship with a young American woman of his acquaintance, Pauline Marie Pfeiffer (1895-1951), and his marriage to Hadley ended in divorce in January 1927. In May Ernest and Pauline married. Hemingway's first novel had favorable reviews and sold well, but his next book of short stories, Men Without Women, was not as well received. Still, Hemingway was becoming a well-known writer not only in America but also in Europe. This allowed him to retire from journalism and devote himself exclusively to literary work. In 1929, he published A Farewell to Arms, in which he translated his experiences from his wartime deployment in Italy into novel form. The book became a bestseller and also marked a considerable improvement in his financial situation. It definitely decided his world fame. During the following years Hemingway stayed mostly in America, where he fished in Florida or hunted game out west in Wyoming and Montana. He returned regularly to Paris and to the corridor in Spain. He was working on a book called Death in the Afternoon, which treats the subject of bullfighting in a factual manner. It was published in 1932 but did not get very good reviews. He also wrote several short stories. The death of his father at the end of 1928, which ended his illness by suicide, caused a psychological shock. In the early 1930s he and Pauline bought a large house in Key West, where they settled with their two sons, Patrick (b. 1928) and Gregory (1931-2001), who had been born in Kansas City before that. In 1934 he published a collection of fourteen short stories under the title Winner Take Nothing. In addition to writing, during this period he pursued his main life hobbies: travel, fishing, game hunting, and boxing. At the turn of 1933-1934 he spent several weeks on safari in Africa. On his return he bought a boat, which he named Pilar, and with it he went out to sea with friends to catch big fish (swordfish, tuna). His experiences on the African safari inspired him to write a novel, which was published in 1935 under the title Green Hills of Africa. He also wrote short stories, as well as articles for Esquire and other similar magazines. He was working on a new novel, the main character of which was Harry Morgan, the captain of a fishing boat. The novel was published in October 1937 under the title To Have and Have Not and, despite mixed reviews from critics, sold very well. Hemingway took part in the Spanish Civil War as a reporter. He was also involved in the screenplay of the documentary The Spanish Earth, which was filmed by his friends in support of the Republicans. He saw with his own eyes the fighting on the front lines as well as the aftermath of the bombing of towns and villages. Aware that fascism could only be defeated with the help of the US and democratic states, he appealed to President Roosevelt in this sense. He foresaw that Spain was merely a prelude to a much larger conflict. He decided to write a play, The Fifth Column, from the background of wartime Madrid, which has autobiographical elements in it. Before it was released in the theater, Hemingway included it in the introduction of his set of earlier short stories, published by Scribner in the fall of 1938, entitled The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories. After returning to the U.S. in late November 1938, he processed his Experiences of the Civil War into several short stories (among others. The Denunciation, Butterfly and Tank, No One Ever Dies) and began to write a novel that he had been carrying around in his head for a long time. He was joined in Spain by journalist and writer Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998), whom he already knew from America, and with whom he developed a love affair. They began living together in Cuba at the Finca Vigía house near Havana. His marriage to Pauline was dissolved in November 1940, and he married Martha immediately afterwards. The novel For Whom the Bell Tolls , a true account of the war, was completed in the summer of 1940. Critics called it his best work and it was a huge success with readers. The book was based on a feature film starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergmann. It was released in 1943. In early 1941, he and Martha spent several weeks in the Far East, where they were sent as correspondents of the Sino-Japanese War. They returned to Cuba, and after the U.S. entered the war, Hemingway organized an anti-espionage group there to eliminate the activities of fascist anti-American elements. With his ship Pilar, he searched for German submarines. His amateur efforts yielded no results and were terminated after a few months. He practically discontinued literary production in 1942. He was involved in the preparation of an anthology of works of war, which was released in October under the title Men at War. Hemingway wrote a wide-ranging introduction to it. In living with Martha, problems began to emerge from Ernesto's lifestyle, in which friends, fishing and alcohol took an important place. Independent and ambitious, Martha was convinced he should join the war in Europe, as his eldest son had done. She herself went to London as a journalist in October 1943. Hemingway arrived in London in May 1944 as a war correspondent. He and Martha took part as observers of the Allied invasion of Normandy, but after that their paths diverged. Martha went to Italy to watch the fighting by the Italian front and Ernest returned to London. There he met the American journalist Mary Welsh (1908-1986), who later became his fourth wife. He returned to France in July and was assigned to the 22nd Regiment of General Barton's Infantry Division. With this unit, he made it all the way to Paris via Rambouillet, earning the respect of the soldiers through his courage, experience and foresight. In the autumn, he took part in heavy fighting on the Siegfrid line in Germany, ending his mission after capturing the village of Grosshau near Düren. He was awarded the Bronze Star in 1947 for active participation in World War II. In March 1945, he returned to his residence in Cuba, and later Mary Welsh came to see him there. Both went through divorce proceedings and married in March 1946. At the time, Hemingway began writing a new novel, The Garden of Eden, but it was not published until a quarter-century after his death. In 1948, the couple made a trip to Italy, and in Venice, Ernest fell in love with 19-year-old Adriana Ivančičová. This sentiment inspired him to write about the relationship of an aging colonel and a young girl, which was published under the title Across the River and Into the Trees, first in Cosmopolitan magazine, in r. Then, in 1950, a book in Scribner's publishing house. It was received with disappointment by professional critics, but was a success with readers and sold well. At the turn of 1950-51, Hemingway experienced a period of creative upheaval, helped by Adriana Ivančičová's visit to Cuba. In addition to a few small prose pieces for the magazines, he continued to work on the intended trilogy on the war at sea. The most significant feat of the spring of 1951 was the tale of the ancient fisherman Santiago and his struggle with the big fish. The short novella The Old Man and the Sea, written over eight weeks, was first published in Life magazine in September 1952 in a print run of 5 million copies, followed by a book run in Scribner's publishing house. The reviews were overwhelmingly favorable, and the novella was described as his masterpiece. From a simple story, he created an existential drama about basic human virtues, heroism, courage and dignity. Hemingway won a Pulitzer Prize and a film version was being prepared with Spencer Tracy in the lead role. But in addition to his literary success, Hemingway suffered several personal losses during this period - his mother, his ex-wife, and the mother of his sons Pauline, as well as several close friends, died. In May 1953, he and Mary went on safari to Africa. Along the way, they stopped at a fiesta in Spain, where Hemingway met old acquaintances and met young hopeful bullfighters Antonio Ordóñez and Luis Dominguín. A half-year stay in Africa came to an end when he was badly loitered in a double plane crash in Uganda. He received treatment for his injuries in Venice and returned to Cuba in June 1954. In October, he was officially announced as having won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The justification stated: for the stylistic mastery of modern storytelling, which was most recently shown in The Old Man and the Sea, and for its influence on contemporary literary style. His health did not allow him to accept the award personally. He gave the medal to the Cuban national saint Copper Madonna and had it placed in a reliquary of the Temple of Our Lady in Santiago de Cuba. In the years that followed, Ernest Hemingway faced various health problems, whether they were the result of his earlier injuries and injuries or intemperate drinking. His personal drive and creative writing power stagnated. Although he tried to work as hard as he could, his literary work fell short of its former level. He began writing a new book on Africa, wrote several short stories about the experiences of World War II, and rewrote the Garden of Eden. The discovery of ancient documents from his first time in Paris inspired him to write a series of remembrance sketches, which were published under the title Moving Feast (A Moveable Feast) only in 1964. In 1958, he acquired a new house in Ketchum, in the mountains of Idaho, near Sun Valley, where he had been going since before the war. Cuba's hot climate and busy social life were not conducive to his health. But he retained the house in Cuba after the revolution and fidel castro's ascension. Hemingway celebrated his 60th birthday in a circle of friends in Spain and again used the stay to attend bullfights featuring Ordóñez and Dominguín as matadors. An article he had written about the corrido and rivalry of two bullfighters for Life magazine eventually reached the book's parameters. It was published in full by Scribner under the title Dangerous Summer in 1985. Upon his return to the U.S., Hemingway's condition gradually deteriorated, which was also reflected in his psyche. He had high blood pressure, an ill liver and kidneys, and was suffering from anxiety, depression and thinking about suicide. He was hospitalized repeatedly at the Mayo Clinic, where he was also treated with electroshock. He was discharged from hospital in June 1961 and returned home to Ketchum. On the morning of July 2, 1961, he shot himself with a shotgun wound. A doctor called in declared his death accidental, and Hemingway was buried with a church ceremony at Ketchum Cemetery. He left no explanatory note, and his friends agreed on the likelihood of suicide.