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Revision as of 00:51, 11 January 2003 by 64.228.30.174 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 - July 2, 1961) was an American author with a troubled, chaotic life. Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He committed suicide in Ketchum, Idaho.
In later life, he was mentored by Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound.
Awards:
- Silver Medal of Military Valor (medaglia d'argento) in World War I
- Pulitzer Prize in 1953 (for The Old Man and the Sea)
- Nobel Prize in literature in 1954 (also partly for The Old Man and the Sea)
Biography
He starting writing for the Kansas City Star and adopted as his personal standand the main directives of newspaper's stylebook: "Brevity, a reconciliation of vigour with smoothness, the positive approach".
After marrying, the Hemingways decided to live abroad for a while, and, following the advice of Sherwood Anderson, they picked Paris, where they felt Ernest could develop his literary skills better than anywhere else.
Sherwood Anderson wrote him a letter of recommendation to Gertrude Stein. She became his mentor and opened the door to the Parisian Modern Movement happening in Montparnasse Quarter. His other mentor was Ezra Pound, the founder of Imagism. In retrospective, Hemingway once said about them: "Ezra was right half the time, and when he was wrong, he was so wrong you were never in any doubt about it. Gertrude was always right." (to John Peale Bishop; Cowley (4.), p. xiii). He even considered giving Mr. Pound the Nobel Prize gold medal. At the same time, he became a close friend of James Joyce whose "Ulysses" with its stream-of-consciousness techniques had a tremendous impact on the literary scene. These authors and many others met at Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare & Co., 18 Rue de l'Odéon, Paris.
In Montparnasse, Hemingways favorite restaurant was La Closerie des Lilas. On the terrace of La Closerie des Lilas, over just six weeks, Hemingway wrote the entire novel The Sun Also Rises.
But the last impulse he required came in an unsuspected and painful way. His manuscripts, among them "A Farewell to Arms" were stolen at Gare de Lyon when his wife Hadley wanted to bring them along to Lausanne to meet him. This loss was a big gain after all, because by re-writing the novel he had also time to reconsider, thus improving it. The second version was a great deal less flowery, stripped of all decoration, reduced to the bare essentials, matter-of-factly, concentrated and compressed.
During this peaceful life among friends, he was able to develop his literary skills; in times of war, inspired by death, he would use them.
Anti-fascism and experiences in Spain (1937-1938)
In the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway supported the Spanish Loyalists -- Communists, socialists and anarchists -- because they were opposed to the fascist Rebels.
After being involved in the Loyalist propaganda film Spain in Flames (?), he and John Dos Passos went to Spain and founded the Contemporary Historians, Inc. which produced another film called The Spanish Earth (directed by Joris Ivens).
In addition to that, Hemingway became war correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) and so he saw much of the fighting and could collect experiences for a new novel. While he was in Spain, his second marriage went to pieces. A liaison with Martha Gellhorn was revealed when a Rebel shell hit the hot-water boiler of the correspondents' hotel "Florida".
After The Spanish Earth was boxed and shipped, he left with the promise to propagandize for the Loyalists' cause; he spoke out in Shakespeare & Co. and addressed the Writers' Congress in New York on the June 4, 1937. In his speech he stressed he was anti-fascist, not pro-Communist (Writer As Artist (7.), p. 224)
- There is only one form of government that cannot produce good writers, and that system is fascism. For fascism is a lie told by bullies. A writer who will not lie cannot live and work fascism.
Due to his reputation, The Spanish Earth was even shown in the White House and his article "Fascism is a Lie" was published in New Masses. Furthermore, he established an ambulance fund and financed it by collecting money at Hollywood parties.
He returned to see the fascist rebel General Franco control two thirds of Spain, but the Loyalists still fighting on. The Fifth Column was finished just before the taking of Teruel in January 1938. He wrote it, according to the preface, under constant bombardment in the Hotel Florida; it appears as though he had again needed the thrilling aura of death to inspire him.
After short stays in Paris due to liver troubles and in Key West, he came back to Spain to see Loyalists retreating on all fronts, then returned to America to organize the experiences he gathered into a novel, the narrations of the different characters clearly originate here.
For information on Hemingway only, you might skip the sections on Frederic Henry and Robert Jordan. For a quick read, you can start at Young and Innocent
The sources of quotes are noted in the bibliography section. For easier reading, this text is split in several sections.
You can get an all-in-one HTML version at , or another version of the same document at
Grace Under Pressure
Death and Violence in Ernest Hemingway's Life and Work
1. Introduction
Death and violence were the two great constants in Hemingway's troubled, chaotic life. As an infant, he joined his father on hunting trips. At ten, he got his first shotgun. Fifty-one years later, he used a gun to kill himself. In the meantime, he had hurt many and many had hurt him. He was a tough, strong man with strong principles.
Hemingway "believed that life was a tragedy and knew it could only have one end", yet he was blessed with talent and drive. That may have made it harder for him to admit his failures and correct them.
Books and Beyond
- Famous at Twenty-Five Thirty a Master
- From Boy to Man Hemingways First World War
- From Reality to Fiction A Farewell to Arms
- The Time in Between
- Spain in Flames
- For Whom the Bell Tolls
Robert Jordan and Frederic Henry: Two Facets of Hemingway
- Background
- Character
- Development
- Catherine: A vehicle for the women in Hemingway?s life
- Background
- Character
- Development
- Pablo
- Hemingway Up Close and Personal
- Young and Innocent
- Things Turn Sour
- The Endless Dark Nothingness
- Sure Shots The Second World War
- The Downward Spiral
Conclusion
Appendix
Miscellany
Yes and yes. There is obviously a need to restructure the whole text, biographic information should be separated from information on the two particular books, and a trivia section should be included. I will make some of those changes myself, but help is really welcome. -- SoniC