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Who Was Ernest Hemingway?
Ernest Hemingway was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, renowned for his terse prose and powerful narratives. After serving in World War I and working as a journalist, he gained widespread acclaim with his short story collection In Our Time. His celebrated novels include The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, the latter of which earned him the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. A year later, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. He died by suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho.
Early Life and Career
Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Cicero (now Oak Park), Illinois. Raised by his parents, Clarence and Grace Hemingway, in a conservative Chicago suburb, young Ernest spent much of his youth in northern Michigan, where the family had a cabin. It was there that Hemingway developed a lifelong passion for hunting, fishing, and the outdoors.
During high school, Hemingway contributed to his school newspaper, Trapeze and Tabula, primarily covering sports. After graduating, he took his first job as a journalist with the Kansas City Star, where he honed the distinct, minimalist writing style for which he became famous. Reflecting on his time there, Hemingway said, “On the Star you were forced to learn to write a simple declarative sentence. This is useful to anyone.”
Military Experience
In 1918, Hemingway joined the Italian Army during World War I, serving as an ambulance driver. He was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery but was soon severely wounded and hospitalized in Milan. During his recovery, he met a nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky, and proposed to her, but she ultimately left him for another man. This heartbreak deeply affected Hemingway and influenced his works, including A Farewell to Arms and the short story “A Very Short Story.”
Still recovering from his war injuries, Hemingway returned to the United States, spending time in northern Michigan before working for the Toronto Star. It was in Chicago that he met Hadley Richardson, his first wife, and the couple soon moved to Paris, where Hemingway took up a position as a foreign correspondent.
Life in Europe
While living in Paris, Hemingway became part of the literary group that Gertrude Stein famously called “The Lost Generation.” Under Stein’s mentorship, he connected with literary and artistic greats like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso, and James Joyce. In 1923, Hemingway and Hadley welcomed their son, John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway.
In 1925, after attending the Festival of San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain, Hemingway wrote his first novel, The Sun Also Rises. The novel, which explores the disillusionment of the post-World War I generation, is widely considered one of his finest works.
Following its success, Hemingway and Hadley divorced, partly due to his affair with Pauline Pfeiffer, whom he married shortly afterward. During this period, Hemingway continued to write, publishing the short story collection Men Without Women.
Critical Acclaim
In 1928, following the birth of their son Patrick, Ernest Hemingway and his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, relocated to Key West, Florida, while spending their summers in Wyoming. It was during this period that Hemingway completed A Farewell to Arms, his critically acclaimed novel set against the backdrop of World War I, which cemented his position as a major figure in 20th-century literature.
Throughout the 1930s, when not writing, Hemingway sought adventure. He engaged in big-game hunting in Africa, attended bullfights in Spain, and fished off the coast of Florida. In 1937, while covering the Spanish Civil War as a journalist, he met Martha Gellhorn, a fellow correspondent who would later become his third wife. This experience also provided inspiration for his next major work, For Whom the Bell Tolls, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
As his personal life became increasingly tumultuous, Hemingway’s marriage to Pauline Pfeiffer deteriorated, leading to their divorce. He soon married Gellhorn, and the couple purchased a farm near Havana, Cuba, where they lived during the winters.
When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Hemingway resumed his role as a war correspondent and witnessed several key events, including the D-Day landing. Toward the war’s end, he met Mary Welsh, another correspondent, and they married after his divorce from Gellhorn.
In 1951, Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea, one of his most famous works, finally earning him the Pulitzer Prize.
Personal Struggles and Suicide
Despite his literary success, Hemingway’s adventurous lifestyle took a toll on his physical health. He suffered multiple injuries, including surviving two plane crashes during his African expeditions. In 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, marking the pinnacle of his career. However, his mental and physical health continued to decline. Suffering from depression, high blood pressure, and liver disease, Hemingway’s condition worsened. He wrote A Moveable Feast, a memoir reflecting on his years in Paris, before retiring permanently to Idaho.
On the morning of July 2, 1961, Hemingway tragically took his own life at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.
Legacy
Hemingway’s legacy endures through his influential body of work and his distinctive, economical writing style, which continues to inspire authors worldwide. His larger-than-life persona, marked by a relentless pursuit of adventure, paralleled his literary achievements.
When interviewed by George Plimpton about the essence of his craft, Hemingway encapsulated his philosophy with remarkable clarity: “From things that have happened and from things as they exist and from all things that you know and all those you cannot know, you make something through your invention that is not a representation but a whole new thing truer than anything true and alive, and you make it alive, and if you make it well enough, you give it immortality.”
In August 2018, The Strand Magazine published a previously unreleased Hemingway short story, “A Room on the Garden Side,” written in 1956. Set in Paris shortly after the city’s liberation during World War II, it became the second of five stories from this period to be published posthumously, following “Black Ass at the Crossroads.” This release underscored the enduring interest in Hemingway’s work, even decades after his death.