ernest hemingway brief biography

Ernest Hemingway

Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway is seen as one of the great American 20th century novelists, and is known for works like 'A Farewell to Arms' and 'The Old Man and the Sea.'

(1899-1961)

Who Was Ernest Hemingway?

Ernest Hemingway served in World War I and worked in journalism before publishing his story collection In Our Time . He was renowned for novels like The Sun Also Rises , A Farewell to Arms , For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea , which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. In 1954, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize. He committed suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho.

Early Life and Career

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Cicero (now in Oak Park), Illinois. Clarence and Grace Hemingway raised their son in this conservative suburb of Chicago, but the family also spent a great deal of time in northern Michigan, where they had a cabin. It was there that the future sportsman learned to hunt, fish and appreciate the outdoors.

In high school, Hemingway worked on his school newspaper, Trapeze and Tabula , writing primarily about sports. Immediately after graduation, the budding journalist went to work for the Kansas City Star , gaining experience that would later influence his distinctively stripped-down prose style.

He once said, "On the Star you were forced to learn to write a simple declarative sentence. This is useful to anyone. Newspaper work will not harm a young writer and could help him if he gets out of it in time."

Military Experience

In 1918, Hemingway went overseas to serve in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian Army. For his service, he was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, but soon sustained injuries that landed him in a hospital in Milan.

There he met a nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky, who soon accepted his proposal of marriage, but later left him for another man. This devastated the young writer but provided fodder for his works "A Very Short Story" and, more famously, A Farewell to Arms .

Still nursing his injury and recovering from the brutalities of war at the young age of 20, he returned to the United States and spent time in northern Michigan before taking a job at the Toronto Star .

It was in Chicago that Hemingway met Hadley Richardson, the woman who would become his first wife. The couple married and quickly moved to Paris, where Hemingway worked as a foreign correspondent for the Star .

Life in Europe

In 1925, the couple, joining a group of British and American expatriates, took a trip to the festival that would later provide the basis of Hemingway's first novel, The Sun Also Rises . The novel is widely considered Hemingway's greatest work, artfully examining the postwar disillusionment of his generation.

Soon after the publication of The Sun Also Rises , Hemingway and Hadley divorced, due in part to his affair with a woman named Pauline Pfeiffer, who would become Hemingway's second wife shortly after his divorce from Hadley was finalized. The author continued to work on his book of short stories, Men Without Women.

Critical Acclaim

Soon, Pauline became pregnant and the couple decided to move back to America. After the birth of their son Patrick Hemingway in 1928, they settled in Key West, Florida, but summered in Wyoming. During this time, Hemingway finished his celebrated World War I novel A Farewell to Arms , securing his lasting place in the literary canon.

When he wasn't writing, Hemingway spent much of the 1930s chasing adventure: big-game hunting in Africa, bullfighting in Spain and deep-sea fishing in Florida. While reporting on the Spanish Civil War in 1937, Hemingway met a fellow war correspondent named Martha Gellhorn (soon to become wife number three) and gathered material for his next novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls , which would eventually be nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Almost predictably, his marriage to Pfeiffer deteriorated and the couple divorced. Gellhorn and Hemingway married soon after and purchased a farm near Havana, Cuba, which would serve as their winter residence.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Hemingway served as a correspondent and was present at several of the war's key moments, including the D-Day landing. Toward the end of the war, Hemingway met another war correspondent, Mary Welsh, whom he would later marry after divorcing Gellhorn.

In 1951, Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea , which would become perhaps his most famous book, finally winning him the Pulitzer Prize he had long been denied.

Personal Struggles and Suicide

The author continued his forays into Africa and sustained several injuries during his adventures, even surviving multiple plane crashes.

In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Even at this peak of his literary career, though, the burly Hemingway's body and mind were beginning to betray him. Recovering from various old injuries in Cuba, Hemingway suffered from depression and was treated for numerous conditions such as high blood pressure and liver disease.

He wrote A Moveable Feast , a memoir of his years in Paris, and retired permanently to Idaho. There he continued to battle with deteriorating mental and physical health.

Early on the morning of July 2, 1961, Hemingway committed suicide in his Ketchum home.

Hemingway left behind an impressive body of work and an iconic style that still influences writers today. His personality and constant pursuit of adventure loomed almost as large as his creative talent.

When asked by George Plimpton about the function of his art, Hemingway proved once again to be a master of the "one true sentence": "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, a 62-year-old short story by Hemingway, "A Room on the Garden Side," was published for the first time in The Strand Magazine . Set in Paris shortly after the liberation of the city from Nazi forces in 1944, the story was one of five composed by the writer in 1956 about his World War II experiences. It became the second story from the series to earn posthumous publication, following "Black Ass at the Crossroads."

QUICK FACTS

• Name: Ernest Hemingway
• Birth Year: 1899
• Birth date: July 21, 1899
• Birth State: Illinois
• Birth City: Cicero (now in Oak Park)
• Birth Country: United States
• Gender: Male
• Best Known For: Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway is seen as one of the great American 20th century novelists, and is known for works like 'A Farewell to Arms' and 'The Old Man and the Sea.'
• Writing and Publishing
• Astrological Sign: Cancer
• Oak Park and River Forest High School
• Death Year: 1961
• Death date: July 2, 1961
• Death State: Idaho
• Death City: Ketchum
• Death Country: United States

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CITATION INFORMATION

• Article Title: Ernest Hemingway Biography
• Author: Biography.com Editors
• Website Name: The Biography.com website
• Url: https://www.biography.com/writer/ernest-hemingway
• Access Date:
• Publisher: A&E Television Networks
• Last Updated: May 7, 2021
• Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
• Never confuse movement with action.
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• All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.
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• Never that think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.

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World War I

Becoming a writer, life in paris, getting published, back to the u.s., the spanish civil war, world war ii, the pulitzer and nobel prizes, decline and death.

• B.A., English Literature, University of Houston

Ernest Hemingway (July 21, 1899–July 2, 1961) is considered one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Best known for his novels and short stories, he was also an accomplished journalist and war correspondent. Hemingway's trademark prose style—simple and spare—influenced a generation of writers.

Fast Facts: Ernest Hemingway

• Known For : Journalist and member of the Lost Generation group of writers who won the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize in Literature
• Born : July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois
• Parents : Grace Hall Hemingway and Clarence ("Ed") Edmonds Hemingway
• Died : July 2, 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho
• Education : Oak Park High School
• Published Works : The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, Death in the Afternoon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, the Old Man and the Sea, A Moveable Feast
• Spouse(s) : Hadley Richardson (m. 1921–1927), Pauline Pfeiffer (1927–1939), Martha Gellhorn (1940–1945), Mary Welsh (1946–1961)
• Children : With Hadley Richardson: John Hadley Nicanor Hemingway ("Jack" 1923–2000); with Pauline Pfeiffer: Patrick (b. 1928), Gregory ("Gig" 1931–2001)

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, the second child born to Grace Hall Hemingway and Clarence ("Ed") Edmonds Hemingway. Ed was a general medical practitioner and Grace a would-be opera singer turned music teacher.

Hemingway's parents reportedly had an unconventional arrangement, in which Grace, an ardent feminist, would agree to marry Ed only if he could assure her she would not be responsible for the housework or cooking. Ed acquiesced; in addition to his busy medical practice, he ran the household, managed the servants, and even cooked meals when the need arose.

Ernest Hemingway grew up with four sisters; his much-longed-for brother did not arrive until Ernest was 15 years old. Young Ernest enjoyed family vacations at a cottage in northern Michigan where he developed a love of the outdoors and learned hunting and fishing from his father. His mother, who insisted that all of her children learn to play an instrument, instilled in him an appreciation of the arts.

In high school, Hemingway co-edited the school newspaper and competed on the football and swim teams. Fond of impromptu boxing matches with his friends, Hemingway also played cello in the school orchestra. He graduated from Oak Park High School in 1917.

Hired by the Kansas City Star in 1917 as a reporter covering the police beat, Hemingway—obligated to adhere to the newspaper's style guidelines—began to develop the succinct, simple style of writing that would become his trademark. That style was a dramatic departure from the ornate prose that dominated literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After six months in Kansas City, Hemingway longed for adventure. Ineligible for military service due to poor eyesight, he volunteered in 1918 as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross in Europe. In July of that year, while on duty in Italy, Hemingway was severely injured by an exploding mortar shell. His legs were peppered by more than 200 shell fragments, a painful and debilitating injury that required several surgeries.

As the first American to have survived being wounded in Italy in World War I , Hemingway was awarded a medal from the Italian government.

While recovering from his wounds at a hospital in Milan, Hemingway met and fell in love with Agnes von Kurowsky, a nurse with the American Red Cross . He and Agnes made plans to marry once he had earned enough money.

After the war ended in November 1918, Hemingway returned to the United States to look for a job, but the wedding was not to be. Hemingway received a letter from Agnes in March 1919, breaking off the relationship. Devastated, he became depressed and rarely left the house.

Hemingway spent a year at his parents' home, recovering from wounds both physical and emotional. In early 1920, mostly recovered and eager to be employed, Hemingway got a job in Toronto helping a woman care for her disabled son. There he met the features editor of the Toronto Star Weekly , which hired him as a feature writer.

In fall of that year, he moved to Chicago and became a writer for  The Cooperative Commonwealth , a monthly magazine, while still working for the Star .

Hemingway, however, longed to write fiction. He began submitting short stories to magazines, but they were repeatedly rejected. Soon, however, Hemingway had reason for hope. Through mutual friends, Hemingway met novelist Sherwood Anderson, who was impressed by Hemingway's short stories and encouraged him to pursue a career in writing.

Hemingway also met the woman who would become his first wife: Hadley Richardson. A native of St. Louis, Richardson had come to Chicago to visit friends after the death of her mother. She managed to support herself with a small trust fund left to her by her mother. The pair married in September 1921.

Sherwood Anderson, just back from a trip to Europe, urged the newly married couple to move to Paris, where he believed a writer's talent could flourish. He furnished the Hemingways with letters of introduction to American expatriate poet Ezra Pound and modernist writer Gertrude Stein . They set sail from New York in December 1921.

The Hemingways found an inexpensive apartment in a working-class district in Paris. They lived on Hadley's inheritance and Hemingway's income from the Toronto Star Weekly , which employed him as a foreign correspondent. Hemingway also rented out a small hotel room to use as his workplace.

There, in a burst of productivity, Hemingway filled one notebook after another with stories, poems, and accounts of his childhood trips to Michigan.

Hemingway finally garnered an invitation to the salon of Gertrude Stein, with whom he later developed a deep friendship. Stein's home in Paris had become a meeting place for various artists and writers of the era, with Stein acting as a mentor to several prominent writers.

Stein promoted the simplification of both prose and poetry as a backlash to the elaborate style of writing seen in past decades. Hemingway took her suggestions to heart and later credited Stein for having taught him valuable lessons that influenced his writing style.

Hemingway and Stein belonged to the group of American expatriate writers in 1920s Paris who came to be known as the " Lost Generation ." These writers had become disillusioned with traditional American values following World War I; their work often reflected their sense of futility and despair. Other writers in this group included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and John Dos Passos.

In December 1922, Hemingway endured what might be considered a writer's worst nightmare. His wife, traveling by train to meet him for a holiday, lost a valise filled with a large portion of his recent work, including carbon copies. The papers were never found.

In 1923, several of Hemingway's poems and stories were accepted for publication in two American literary magazines, Poetry and The Little Review . In the summer of that year, Hemingway's first book, "Three Stories and Ten Poems," was published by an American-owned Paris publishing house.

On a trip to Spain in the summer of 1923, Hemingway witnessed his first bullfight. He wrote of bullfighting in the Star , seeming to condemn the sport and romanticize it at the same time. On another excursion to Spain, Hemingway covered the traditional "running of the bulls" at Pamplona, during which young men—courting death or, at the very least, injury—ran through town pursued by a throng of angry bulls.

The Hemingways returned to Toronto for the birth of their son. John Hadley Hemingway (nicknamed "Bumby") was born October 10, 1923. They returned to Paris in January 1924, where Hemingway continued to work on a new collection of short stories, later published in the book "In Our Time."

Hemingway returned to Spain to work on his upcoming novel set in Spain: "The Sun Also Rises." The book was published in 1926, to mostly good reviews.

Yet Hemingway's marriage was in turmoil. He had begun an affair in 1925 with American journalist Pauline Pfeiffer, who worked for the Paris Vogue . The Hemingways divorced in January 1927; Pfeiffer and Hemingway married in May of that year. Hadley later remarried and returned to Chicago with Bumby in 1934.

In 1928, Hemingway and his second wife returned to the United States to live. In June 1928, Pauline gave birth to son Patrick in Kansas City. A second son, Gregory, would be born in 1931. The Hemingways rented a house in Key West, Florida, where Hemingway worked on his latest book, "A Farewell to Arms," based upon his World War I experiences.

In December 1928, Hemingway received shocking news—his father, despondent over mounting health and financial problems, had shot himself to death. Hemingway, who'd had a strained relationship with his parents, reconciled with his mother after his father's suicide and helped support her financially.

In May 1928, Scribner's Magazine published its first installment of "A Farewell to Arms." It was well-received; however, the second and third installments, deemed profane and sexually explicit, were banned from newsstands in Boston. Such criticism only served to boost sales when the entire book was published in September 1929.

The early 1930s proved to be a productive (if not always successful) time for Hemingway. Fascinated by bullfighting, he traveled to Spain to do research for the non-fiction book, "Death in the Afternoon." It was published in 1932 to generally poor reviews and was followed by several less-than-successful short story collections.

Ever the adventurer, Hemingway traveled to Africa on a shooting safari in November 1933. Although the trip was somewhat disastrous—Hemingway clashed with his companions and later became ill with dysentery—it provided him with ample material for a short story, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro," as well as a non-fiction book, "Green Hills of Africa."

While Hemingway was on a hunting and fishing trip in the United States in the summer of 1936, the Spanish Civil War began. A supporter of the loyalist (anti-Fascist) forces, Hemingway donated money for ambulances. He also signed on as a journalist to cover the conflict for a group of American newspapers and became involved in making a documentary. While in Spain, Hemingway began an affair with Martha Gellhorn, an American journalist and documentarian.

Weary of her husband's adulterous ways, Pauline took her sons and left Key West in December 1939. Only months after she divorced Hemingway, he married Martha Gellhorn in November 1940.

Hemingway and Gellhorn rented a farmhouse in Cuba just outside of Havana, where both could work on their writing. Traveling between Cuba and Key West, Hemingway wrote one of his most popular novels: "For Whom the Bell Tolls."

A fictionalized account of the Spanish Civil War, the book was published in October 1940 and became a bestseller. Despite being named the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1941, the book did not win because the president of Columbia University (which bestowed the award) vetoed the decision.

As Martha's reputation as a journalist grew, she earned assignments around the globe, leaving Hemingway resentful of her long absences. But soon, they would both be globetrotting. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, both Hemingway and Gellhorn signed on as war correspondents.

Hemingway was allowed on board a troop transport ship, from which he was able to watch the D-day invasion of Normandy in June 1944.

While in London during the war, Hemingway began an affair with the woman who would become his fourth wife—journalist Mary Welsh. Gellhorn learned of the affair and divorced Hemingway in 1945. He and Welsh married in 1946. They alternated between homes in Cuba and Idaho.

In January 1951, Hemingway began writing a book that would become one of his most celebrated works: " The Old Man and the Sea ." A bestseller, the novella also won Hemingway his long-awaited Pulitzer Prize in 1953.

The Hemingways traveled extensively but were often the victims of bad luck. They were involved in two plane crashes in Africa during one trip in 1953. Hemingway was severely injured, sustaining internal and head injuries as well as burns. Some newspapers erroneously reported that he had died in the second crash.

In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the career-topping Nobel Prize for literature.

In January 1959, the Hemingways moved from Cuba to Ketchum, Idaho. Hemingway, now nearly 60 years old, had suffered for several years with high blood pressure and the effects of years of heavy drinking. He had also become moody and depressed and appeared to be deteriorating mentally.

In November 1960, Hemingway was admitted to the Mayo Clinic for treatment of his physical and mental symptoms. He received electroshock therapy for his depression and was sent home after a two-month stay. Hemingway became further depressed when he realized he was unable to write after the treatments.

After three suicide attempts, Hemingway was readmitted to the Mayo Clinic and given more shock treatments. Although his wife protested, he convinced his doctors he was well enough to go home. Only days after being discharged from the hospital, Hemingway shot himself in the head in his Ketchum home early on the morning of July 2, 1961. He died instantly.

A larger-than-life figure, Hemingway thrived on high adventure, from safaris and bullfights to wartime journalism and adulterous affairs, communicating that to his readers in an immediately recognizable spare, staccato format. Hemingway is among the most prominent and influential of the "Lost Generation" of expatriate writers who lived in Paris in the 1920s.

Known affectionately as "Papa Hemingway," he was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in literature, and several of his books were made into movies. 

• Dearborn, Mary V. "Ernest Hemingway: A Biography." New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2017.
• Hemingway, Ernest. "Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition." New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014.
• Henderson, Paul. "Hemingway's Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934–1961." New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2011.
• Hutchisson, James M. "Ernest Hemingway: A New Life." University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016.
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Biography Online

Ernest Hemingway Biography

Hemingway lived through the major conflicts of Europe during the first half of the Twentieth-Century. His war experiences led to powerful accounts, which described the horrors of modern war. Two major books include; A Farewell to Arms (1929) – about the First World War, and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) – about the Spanish Civil War. Many of his books are considered classics of American literature.

Hemingway was born in 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. After leaving school, he worked as a journalist for the Kansas City City Star. He later writing was influenced by the style guide of the paper. “Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative.”

Hemingway, 1918

However, after a few months of work, in 1918 he enlisted with the Red Cross to volunteer as an ambulance driver in the First World War. He was sent to the Italian front where he saw the horrors of the trench war. In July 1918, he was seriously wounded from mortar fire, but, despite his injuries and coming under machine-gun fire – still managed to carry two Italian comrades to safety. He was awarded the Italian Silver Medal for this act of bravery.

Whilst recuperating from his injuries he fell in love with a Red Cross nurse, Agnes von Kurowsky, but she rejected his offer of marriage. This rejection left a powerful emotional scar. A decade later, in 1929 Hemingway would write a semi-autobiographical novel, – A Farwell to Arms based on his war experiences . The main character in the book is an ambulance driver who becomes disillusioned with the war and then elopes with a Spanish girl to Switzerland.

Hemingway returned home to the US, but fell out with his mother. Hemingway disliked the moralising tone of his outwardly religious mother, who accused Hemingway of living based on ‘lazy loafing and pleasure seeking,’ Hemingway’s free spirit rebelled against his mother’s more religious, moralistic approach and he walked away from his family and was never reconciled.

In 1921 he married Hadley Richardson, the first of four wives, he moved to Chicago and then Paris, where he spent much of the inter-war years. He worked as a correspondent for the Toronto Star and became acquainted with many modernist writers, such as James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound who lived in Paris at the time. In 1926, he published a successful novel “The Sun Also Rises,” which was based on a generation of American socialites who drifted around Europe. For his part, Hemingway enjoyed the atmosphere and intellectual curiosity of Paris in the ‘roaring twenties.’

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

– Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

In 1932, he wrote a non-fiction book “The Dance of Death” which was a sympathetic look at the Spanish custom of bullfighting. Hemingway pondered the question of whether it was justified to torment and kill an animal for sport. Hemingway was fascinated by the heroic, yet barbaric act which appealed to the Latin machismo and to Hemingway was not a sport but art and “the only art in which the artist is in danger of death.”

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Hemingway in Spain

In 1937, he went to Spain to cover the Spanish Civil war. He advocated international support for the Popular Front – who were fighting the fascist regime led by Franco. He later wrote a book – For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), which captures the struggles and brutality of the Spanish civil war. During the Second World War, he continued to work as a foreign correspondent. He was present at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris.

Literary recognition

After the Second World War, Hemingway bought a home in Finca Vigia (“Lookout Farm”), in Cuba. Here in Cuba, he wrote “The Old Man and the Sea” (1952) – story about an elderly fisherman and devout Catholic, Spencer Tracy. The novel was praised by critics and he awarded the Pulitzer Prize. (1953)

In 1954, Hemingway was involved in two plane crashes which left him severely injured and in pain for the rest of his life.  After the crash, Hemingway was bed-ridden for a couple of years. Towards the end of the year, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature (1954). His citation for the Nobel Prize was

“his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.”

For many years, Hemingway had sought the Nobel Prize, but when he was notified of the award, he humbly suggested other writers may have deserved it more. He was concerned that news of his near-death, may have affected the sympathies of the jury

Then in 1960, Fidel Castro’s rise to power in Cuba forced him to return to the US – he returned to Ketchum, Idaho. The last years were very difficult for Hemingway, he suffered from great physical pain, his mental clarity diminished, he struggled to write and he suffered from increasing depression. He tried electric shock therapy but to no avail. In 1961, at the age of 62, he killed himself with a shotgun.

Writing style of Hemingway

Hemingway’s style had some similarities to other modernist writers. It was a reaction against the more elaborate, turgid style of the nineteenth century. Hemingway’s writing was direct and minimalist – often leaving things unstated, but at the same time profoundly moving for bringing the reader into the heart of the story and experience.

“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.”

– Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway termed his style the Iceberg theory.

“If a writer of prose knows enough of what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an ice-berg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. A writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing.”

—Ernest Hemingway in Death in the Afternoon

Hemingway said the facts float above the water, but the structure is kept out of sight. Behind the minimalist prose is a great effort, but the result is simplicity, immediacy and clarity.

He was married four times.

“There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention.”

– Ernest Hemingway – Preface to The Great Crusade (1940) by Gustav Regler

Religious views of Hemingway

Hemingway was born and raised in a strict Protestant tradition. After he married his second wife, he converted to Catholicism. Although he was not always observant in attending mass, he was fascinated by Catholic rites, and would frequently visit churches on his own and light a candle. In his writings, he was also interested in the idea of pilgrimage, to Catholic sites.

After his serious injury in July 1918, he was baptized by an Italian priest and given the last rites. Hemingway also describes a spiritual experience during his serious injury. He says he felt that his

“soul or something coming right out of my body, like you’d pull a silk handkerchief out of a pocket by one corner. It flew around and then came back and went in again and I wasn’t dead anymore.” ( link )

Selected list of works by Hemingway

• Indian Camp (1926)
• The Sun Also Rises (1926)
• A Farewell to Arms (1929)
• The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber (1935)
• For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940)
• The Old Man and the Sea (1951)
• A Moveable Feast (1964, posthumous)
• True at First Light (1999)

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan .  “Ernest Hemingway Biography ”, Oxford, UK. www.biographyonline.net. Last updated 13 March 2020. Published 11th Feb 2013.

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway at Amazon

Ernest Hemingway – A Biography

Ernest Hemingway  – A biography by Mary Dearborn at Amazon

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Ernest Hemingway

Introduction, general overviews.

• Short Fiction
• Posthumous Works
• Selected Works
• Bibliographies
• Personal Reminiscences
• Correspondence
• Collections
• The Torrents of Spring
• The Sun Also Rises
• A Farewell to Arms
• To Have and Have Not
• For Whom the Bell Tolls
• Across the River and Into the Trees
• The Old Man and the Sea
• Posthumous Fiction
• Short Stories
• Hemingway and Other Writers
• Dramatizations of Hemingway

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Ernest Hemingway by Sara Kosiba LAST REVIEWED: 29 August 2012 LAST MODIFIED: 29 August 2012 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199827251-0022

Ernest Hemingway (b. 1899–d. 1961) was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and spent his formative years there. In addition he spent summers with his family in northern Michigan, a setting that later became the focus of much of his fiction. Hemingway’s search for knowledge and adventure after high school led him to a brief job reporting for the Kansas City Star , and in 1918, during World War I, he enlisted in the American Red Cross. He was wounded in Italy a few months after enlisting and returned to Oak Park profoundly influenced by the experience. In 1921 Hemingway returned to Europe, where he served as a roving correspondent for the Toronto Star and began to refine his craft as a writer with two collections of stories published by Parisian presses. His first American publication was In Our Time (1925), a series of stories and vignettes based on his experiences of northern Michigan and his reporting and travels. The Torrents of Spring (1926), a Michigan-based story and parody of the work of Sherwood Anderson and Gertrude Stein, was a symbol of Hemingway’s break with his mentors and with his initial publisher, Boni and Liveright. All of Hemingway’s major work from that point on was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, where he formed a famous friendship with the editor Maxwell Perkins. Hemingway’s career took off with the publication of The Sun Also Rises (1926), an insightful portrayal of American expatriate life in Europe in the 1920s and one of the first books to show his strong interest in the Spanish bullfighting tradition. A Farewell to Arms (1929), based in part on Hemingway’s own World War I experiences in Italy, became a best seller and helped cement his name in the literary world. Several other novels followed: To Have and Have Not (1937); his Key West novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), which used material from the Spanish Civil War; and Across the River and Into the Trees (1950), set in Italy after World War II. In 1952 The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize, and in 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His prolific literary contributions also include collections of short stories, many of which have appeared in anthologies and textbooks. He also published nonfiction, memoirs, and essays, often about hunting, fishing, and bullfighting, all activities long associated with Hemingway’s life and career. His literary career continued to expand even after his death, with several of his manuscripts adapted into posthumous publications, including A Moveable Feast (1964, revised edition 2009), his memoir of Paris in the 1920s.

Despite the large amount of discussion devoted to Hemingway’s biography and career, there are few full-length, comprehensive overviews of his life and work. Baker 1972 and Young 1966 , for example, are influenced by the fact that both critics began working and writing while Hemingway was still alive and provide a sense of where Hemingway scholarship was at that point in time. Many of these books, while not reflecting the most recent ideas in Hemingway scholarship, do provide strong foundational details necessary to understand Hemingway’s life and work. Waldhorn 1972 provides a good general overview of Hemingway’s career. Donaldson 1977 and Rovit and Brenner 1986 are updated one-volume studies of Hemingway merging biography and criticism. Trogdon 2007 , while not looking at Hemingway’s life in detail, is one of the few detailed studies of his publishing career.

Baker, Carlos. Hemingway: The Writer as Artist . 4th ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972.

Focuses primarily on Hemingway’s work between 1920 and 1952. The first two chapters, on Hemingway’s early career, are revised in the fourth edition, and two new chapters on A Moveable Feast and Islands in the Stream , respectively, have been added.

Donaldson, Scott. By Force of Will: The Life and Art of Ernest Hemingway . New York: Viking, 1977.

Donaldson’s book combines biography and literary criticism. Provides a strong sense of the major themes in Hemingway’s life and work by drawing on biographical information, excerpts from letters, and different works of his fiction.

Rovit, Earl H., and Gerry Brenner. Ernest Hemingway . Boston: Twayne, 1986.

Originally published by Rovit in 1963. Examines Hemingway’s life and work in historical and literary context. The 1986 version has updated references and bibliography along with a chapter focusing on the posthumous works A Moveable Feast , The Dangerous Summer , “African Journal,” and Islands in the Stream .

Trogdon, Robert W. The Lousy Racket: Hemingway, Scribner’s, and the Business of Literature . Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2007.

Overview of Hemingway’s interactions with Scribner’s, his publisher throughout his career. Examines the editing, promotion, and sales of his books and Hemingway’s own influence and interaction in that process.

Waldhorn, Arthur. A Reader’s Guide to Ernest Hemingway . New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1972.

Good general introduction to Hemingway’s writing. Provides chapters on Hemingway’s life and writing style and major themes in his work. Also contains an annotated bibliography of resources and some additional reference material regarding films based on his work.

Young, Philip. Ernest Hemingway: A Reconsideration . University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1966.

Revised version of Young’s Ernest Hemingway (New York: Rinehart, 1952). Psychoanalytic examination of important themes in Hemingway’s work. Young notes in the 1966 edition that the text is the same other than “changes of tense, deletion of old footnotes and substitution of others, the addition of several details and the striking of a few” (p. iv).

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FAMOUS AUTHORS

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway; one of the most renowned author and journalist of this era, was born on the 21st of July 1899 in Oak Park, Chicago, USA. Born to a simple family, Hemingway worked his way from a reporter for The Kansas City Star then a volunteer for an ambulance unit in World War-I, a journalist in Chicago to a Nobel prize awarded writer who inspired wide range of authors and writers. An institute in himself Hemingway was awarded Nobel Prize for his contribution to literature in 1954.

His writing style became an inspiration for many crime and pulp fiction novels. He wrote in a very distinctive minimalist way. Writing short stories, Hemingway knew how to get the most from the least. With his tightly written prose, he was a master of narration and a brilliant writer. He was not in favor of using emotions. He believed it was easy and useless to do so. Instead he formed sculptures to portray the ‘original feeling’.

His first books include ‘Three stories and Ten Poems’ (1923), ‘In Our Time’ (1924) and ‘The Torrents of Spring’ although his first serious novel and without a doubt the reason of his establishing fame was ‘The Sun also Rises’ (1926) which was later recognized as his greatest work piece. Other major works include ‘Death in the Afternoon’, The Green Hills of Africa’ and ‘To Have and Have Not’.

Though a successful writer, Hemingway never disowned his past. He shared his life experiences on various occasions. He remembered his mother dressing him up as a little girl and the sorry incident of his father taking his own life in 1928. He used his life experiences as inspirations for many of his books. When the United States entered the First World War, Ernest Hemingway volunteered to work in an ambulance unit in the Italian army. His first duty was to visit an explosion site where his unit had to salvage the remains of female workers. He described this unpleasant incident in his book ‘Death in the Afternoon’. Another book ‘A farewell to Arms’ was inspired by a love affair he had with a nurse during his stay at the hospital.

After returning home from the war, Hemingway became a reporter for the American and Canadian newspapers. He was then sent to Europe to cover happenings such as the Greece Revolution. In 1921, he moved to Paris where he worked as an article writer for the ‘Toronto Star’.

Hemingway received the Nobel Prize in 1954. Although he always thought this was given to him in pity due to his obituary notices. Hemingway started going into depression with the deaths of some of his close friends. He was also seriously injured in two successive plane crashes. He received third degree burns while at a fishing expedition shortly after his recovery from the plane crash. Hemingway went through a lot of hurt and depression during the 1950s till his death. Later the doctors believed he had a genetic disease in which a person is prone to suicide due to inherent depression. During his last years his behavior is said to resemble his father’s before he had committed suicide. In 1961 Ernest Hemingway committed suicide.

Hemingway’ distinct influence on literature can be witnessed in continuous tributes and recognitions that followed his demise.

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Ernest Hemingway Biography

Born: July 21, 1898 Oak Park, Illinois Died: July 2, 1961 Ketchum, Idaho American author

Ernest Hemingway, American Nobel Prize-winning author, was one of the most celebrated and influential literary stylists of the twentieth century. His critical reputation rests solidly upon a small body of exceptional writing, set apart by its style, emotional content, and dramatic intensity of vision.

Childhood in the Midwest

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1898. His father was a country physician who taught his son hunting and fishing; his mother was a religious woman, active in church affairs, who led her son to play the cello and sing in the choir. Hemingway's early years were spent largely in fighting the feminine influence of his mother while feeding off the influence of his father. He spent the summers with his family in the woods of northern Michigan, where he often accompanied his father on professional calls. The discovery of his father's apparent lack of courage, later depicted in the short story "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife," and his suicide several years later left the boy with an emotional scar.

Despite the intense pleasure Hemingway took from outdoor life and his popularity in high school—where he distinguished himself as a scholar and athlete—he ran away from home twice. However, his first real chance for escape came in 1917, when the United States entered World War I (1914–18; a war in which forces clashed for European control). Eager to serve his country in the war, he volunteered for active service in the infantry (foot soldiers) but was rejected because of eye trouble.

Hemingway then enlisted in the Red Cross medical service, driving an ambulance on the Italian front. He was badly wounded in the knee yet carried a wounded man on his back a considerable distance to the aid station. After having over two hundred shell fragments (parts of bullets) removed from his legs and body, Hemingway next enlisted in the Italian infantry, served on the Austrian front until the armistice (truce), and was decorated for bravery by the Italian government. Hemingway soon returned home where he was hailed as a hero.

Learning his trade

In 1923 Hemingway published his first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems. The poems are insignificant, but the stories give strong indication of his emerging genius. With In Our Time (1925) Hemingway drew on his experiences while summering in Michigan to depict the initiation into the world of pain and violence of young Nick Adams, a model for later Hemingway heroes.

Major novels

Hemingway returned to the United States in 1926 with the manuscripts of two novels and several short stories. That May, Scribner's issued Hemingway's second novel, The Sun Also Rises. This novel, the major statement of the "lost generation," describes a group of Americans and Englishmen, all of whom have suffered physically and emotionally during the war.

In December 1929 A Farewell to Arms was published. This novel tells the story of a tragic love affair between an American soldier and an English nurse set against the backdrop of war and collapsing world order. It contains a philosophical expression of the Hemingway code that man is basically helpless in a violent age: "The world breaks everyone," reflects the main character, "and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that it will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of those you can be sure that it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry."

Hemingway revealed his passionate interest in bull-fighting in Death in the Afternoon (1932), a humorous and unique nonfiction study. Hemingway's African safari in 1934 provided the material for another nonfiction work, The Green Hills of Africa (1935), as well as two of his finest short stories, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro."

In 1940 Hemingway published For Whom the Bell Tolls, his most ambitious novel. A wonderfully clear narrative, it is written in less lyrical and more dramatic prose (nonpoetry writing) than his earlier work.

World War II

Following the critical and popular success of For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway lapsed into a literary silence that lasted a full decade and was largely the result of his strenuous, frequently reckless, activities during World War II (1939–45; a war in which France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States fought against Germany, Italy, and Japan). In 1942, as a Collier's correspondent with the Third Army, he witnessed some of the bloodiest battles in Europe. At this time he received the nickname of "Papa" from his admirers, both military and literary.

In 1944 while in London, Hemingway met and soon married Mary Welsh, a Time reporter. His three previous marriages—to Hadley Richardson, mother of one son; to Pauline Pfeiffer, mother of his second and third sons; and to Martha Gelhorn—had all ended in divorce. Following the war, Hemingway and his wife purchased a home, Finca Vigía, near Havana, Cuba.

In 1952 The Old Man and the Sea was published. A novella (short novel) about an extraordinary battle between a tired old Cuban fisherman and a giant marlin, it was immediately hailed as a masterpiece and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. A year later, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Hemingway's declining physical condition and increasingly severe mental problems drastically reduced his literary output in the last years of his life. A journey to Africa planned by the author and his wife in 1954 ended in their plane crash over the Belgian Congo. Hemingway suffered severe burns and internal injuries from which he never fully recovered. Additional strain occurred when the revolutionary Cuban government of Fidel Castro (1926–) forced the Hemingways to leave Finca Vigía.

After only a few months in their new home in Ketchum, Idaho, Hemingway was admitted to the Mayo Clinic to be treated for hypertension (high blood pressure) and depression, and was later treated with electroshock therapy, a radical therapy where an electric current is sent through the body. Made bitter by an illness that humiliated him physically and impaired his writing, he killed himself with a shotgun on July 2, 1961.

Many of Hemingway's unpublished and unfinished works were published after his death. Because of his amazing body of work, and his intense approach to life, Hemingway was arguably one of the most influential American writers of the twentieth century.

For More Information

Baker, Carlos. Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story. New York: Scribner, 1969.

Hotchner, A. E. Papa Hemingway: A Personal Memoir. New York: Random House, 1966.

Meyers, Jeffrey. Hemingway: A Biography. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

Plath, James. Remembering Ernest Hemingway. Key West, FL: Ketch & Yawl Press, 1999.

Reynolds, Michael. Hemingway: The Paris Years. New York: Blackwell, 1989.

Voss, Frederick. Picturing Hemingway: A Writer in His Time. Washington, DC: New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999.

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Ernest Hemingway, 1899–1961: A Brief Biography

• Published: January 2000
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Born in a Chicago suburb on July 21, 1899, Ernest Hemingway was a child of the twentieth century, responding to its every pressure, recording its progress, and aging as it aged. His life seemed to embody the promise of America: with good fortune, hard work, talent, ambition, and a little ruthlessness a man can create himself in the image of his choosing. As a young man in Paris, Hemingway dedicated himself to his writing, and he let nothing interfere with his goal, not parents nor wives, not friends nor children. He created a public persona to match his prose, becoming the person he wanted to be. Like other self-made Americans, however, Hemingway’s invented self was a mask that he wore with less and less ease as he grew older. Despite this public image, his raucous life and several wives, and the critics who turned on him, he left stories and novels so starkly moving that some have become a permanent part of our cultural inheritance.

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Ernest Hemingway’s Biography The Enduring Legacy

Reading comprehension: ernest hemingway’s biography.

Develop your reading skills. Read the following biography of Ernest Hemingway and do the comprehension task.

The Enduring Legacy of Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway, an American author and journalist, left an indelible mark on 20th-century literature with his distinctive style and adventurous life. Born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, Hemingway’s upbringing in the Midwest shaped his worldview and influenced his literary pursuits. Tragically, he passed away on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho, where he succumbed to suicide.

Hemingway’s writing is characterized by its economical and understated prose, which had a profound impact on the development of fiction in the 20th century. His own life of adventure, coupled with his iconic public persona, continues to inspire subsequent generations of writers and readers alike. Most of Hemingway’s prolific output occurred between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s, culminating in his recognition with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Throughout his career, he penned seven novels, six collections of short stories, and two non-fiction works, with additional publications released posthumously.

Following his high school graduation, Hemingway briefly worked as a reporter for The Kansas City Star before embarking on a journey to the Italian front to serve as an ambulance driver during World War I. His wartime experiences provided the backdrop for his seminal novel, “A Farewell to Arms,” published in 1929. Subsequently, Hemingway married Hadley Richardson in 1922 and relocated to Paris, where he immersed himself in the vibrant expatriate community of the 1920s, interacting with leading modernist writers and artists.

Despite his initial marriage, Hemingway’s personal life was marked by turmoil, with subsequent marriages to Pauline Pfeiffer and Martha Gellhorn ending in divorce. Drawing from his involvement in the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway crafted another literary masterpiece, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” His encounters during World War II led to his marriage to Mary Welsh, but the relationship ultimately faltered.

In the later years of his life, Hemingway’s health deteriorated, exacerbated by two plane crashes during a safari in Africa. Despite the success of works like “The Old Man and the Sea,” Hemingway battled chronic pain and illness, ultimately leading to his tragic decision to end his life in 1961.

Hemingway’s legacy endures through his profound literary contributions and his enduring influence on subsequent generations of writers. Though his life was marked by triumphs and tragedies alike, his literary achievements continue to captivate readers around the world, ensuring his place among the literary giants of the 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia

Ernest Hemingway: A Biography by Mary V. Dearborn (review)

• Scott Donaldson
• University of Idaho Department of English
• Volume 37, Number 1, Fall 2017
• pp. 114-119
• 10.1353/hem.2017.0021
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Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway is an American novelist, short-story writer, journalist, and sportsman. He termed his understated and economical style as iceberg theory and had greatly influenced the fiction of the twentieth century. He was greatly admired by later generations because of his public image and adventurous lifestyle. From the mid-1920s to the mid-1950s, he produced the majority of his works. In 1984, Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in literature. In total, he published six short-story collections, seven novels, and two nonfiction works. He published three novels, three nonfiction works, and four short-story collections posthumously.  Most of his works are usually considered as the classic of American literature. 

Ernest Hemingway Biography

Ernest Hemingway was born on 21 st July 1898 in Oak Park. His father was an apothecary or country physician and taught Hemingway fishing and hunting. Hemingway’s mother was a fairly religious woman and active in the activities of the church. She made Hemingway sing in the choir and play the cello. His mother was a dominant figure in the family. Hemingway depicts the lack of courage of his father in the short story “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife.” His father committed suicide that left an emotional scar in Hemingway’s life.

Hemingway received intense outdoor life and popularity in high school and was known as an athlete and scholar; however, he twice ran away from home. In 1917, he, for the first time, got a real chance to escape from the home. He enlisted himself in World War I (1914-1918). In the war, he was enthusiastic about serving his country. He volunteered for infantry; however, he was rejected due to weak eyesight.  

Then, Hemingway registered himself in the Red Cross medical service. He would drive the ambulance to the Italian front, taking wounded soldiers to the aid station. He himself got badly wounded by shelling. He was then shortlisted for infantry and fought on the Austrian frontline. He was awarded an honor of bravery by the government of Italy. After the war, Hemingway returned to the home and was greeted as a hero. 

Literary Career

Soon after his return to the home, Hemingway started working for the Toronto Star, in the Near East, as a foreign correspondent. When he went back to Michigan, he had already decided to pursue a career in literature and writing fiction. The well-known author Sherwood Anderson was immensely impressed with Hemingway’s journalism and the several short-stories that he published in the magazine for the experiment. Anderson gave him a letter of introduction to Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein when Hemingway decided to go back to Europe. Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein were the two American writers in Europe. Hemingway married Hadley Richard in 1921, and the two traveled to Paris. Over there, he met the two authors and learned a lot from the. Though the monetary resources were meager, this period of Hemingway’s life was the happiest one and artistically productive.

Hemingway published his first collection of fiction, Three Stories and Ten Poems in 1923. The poems did not receive any admiration; however, the short-stories were the one which paved a path for an emerging genius. In the novel, With In Our Time, published in 1925, Hemingway describes his own experiences at Michigan to illustrate the beginning of the world of pains and violence in the life of his character Nick Adam. Nick Adam was then a model for the upcoming fictional heroes of Hemingway.

In 1926, Hemingway returned to the United States. He took the manuscripts of several short stories and two novels along with. In May 1926, Hemingway published his second novel, The Sun Also Rises . The novel is mainly about the lost generations and illustrates a group of Englishmen and Americans who have suffered both physically and mentally from the war.

Hemingway published A Farewell to Arms in December 1929. The novel is a masterpiece and expresses Hemingway’s code of man’s helplessness in the violent age of war.  In 1932, Hemingway published a nonfiction work Death in the Afternoon .  In 1932, the African safari of Hemingway provided his content for his other nonfiction work, The Green Hills of Africa published in 1935, two best short stories, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”  Hemingway published his most ambitious novel For Whom the Bell Tolls in 1940.

World War II

After receiving the critical success from the novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls , Hemingway did not publish another book for a decade. This literary silence was due to his energetic activities in the Second World War. 

Hemingway met Mary Welsh in 1944 and soon married her. Mary Welsh was a reporter of Time. He had been married thrice before to Hadley Richardson, Martha Gelhorn, and Pauline Pfeiffer ended in divorce. After the war, Hemingway started living near Havana, in Cuba.

Hemingway published a novella The Old Man and the Sea in 1952. The novella was instantly recognized as a masterpiece, and in 1953, it was awarded the Pulitzer. In 1954, Hemingway won a Nobel Prize for Literature.

In the last years of his life, Hemingway’s physical and mental health was deteriorating, and he was not able to write. In 1952, Hemingway and his wife planned to travel to Africa; however, the journey ended in a plane crash. Hemingway met severe internal injuries and burned from which he never recovered. In the following year, Hemingway was forced to leave his home near Havana by the Cuban government. 

Hemingway was then suffering from depression and hypertension and was admitted to the Mayo clinic for treatment. He was given electroshock therapy and radical therapy. Bitter with his illness and physically humiliated, Hemingway shot himself to death on 2 nd July 1961.

Many of his works were published after his death. He is recognized as one of the most influential writers of twentieth-century America.

Ernest Hemingway’s Writing Style

The distinctive writing style of Hemingway was a source of controversy and comments among the critics. Essentially, he has a direct, simple, and unadorned style, which is most probably resulted from his journalism and newspaper training. He does not use an unnecessary adjective in his work. Unlike his Victorian Predecessors, he skillfully describes his emotions without using the flowery language, and it greatly inspired the readers. Harry Levin, in the chapter “Observation of Style of Hemingway,” in his book Contexts and Criticism , says that while writing, Hemingway’s more emphasis is on nouns among all parts of speech. This is because nouns come nearest to things, threading them side by side by using conjunctions. Hemingway approaches the actual flow of experience in his writings.

Hemingway is considered to be a master of writing dialogues. When the readers, for the first time, we’re introduced to his writings, they agree that it is the way for characters to talk appropriately. However, when his dialogues are examined closely, it does not belong to the ordinary speech of ordinary people, and people rarely talk like this. It is due to the fact that Hemingway’s emphasis is calculated, and there is repetition, which makes us remember the dialogues. It is surprising to know that when Hemingway attempted to write a play, he encountered failure. 

The views of critics vary significantly in the writing style of Hemingway. Hemingway describes his own writing in a collection of his observations on life and death and love and art that he gave to Wisdom Foundation in California, sometime before his death. The collection was published in January 1693 by Playboy Magazine. In the collection Hemingway writes that his most works are done in his head; he never start writing until he orders his ideas in his head; he, frequently, recite his dialogues as if they are written on a piece of paper and censor them through his ears; and he never writes any sentence until he assured that it would be clear to everyone. 

Moreover, he writes that he also consider his writing to be more suggestive than direct; to understand his writing, the reader should either use his own imagination or lose most elusive part of his (Hemingway’s) thoughts; he takes great effort to write his works; constantly revising and trimming them; he cares for his works from his heart; he cut them with endless care, and polish them until they appear to be brilliant. He also says that the idea that others, while writers try to give in long sentences, he polished them and presented them in a “tiny gem.”

He summarizes his writing style by suggesting other writers how they must write. He says that the style of the writer must be personal and direct with rich and earthy imagery; his words must be simple yet vigorous; brevity is a gift of brilliant writers, the greatest writers, indeed, are hard workers, attentive scholars, and proficient stylists.

The following are the detailed descriptions of the writing style of Hemingway.

A Truly Simple Sentence

Truth and simplicity are the milestones of Hemingway’s style. Hemingway asserts that the writer must write about what he has experienced and express them in the most simple way possible. By stating that writers must write true sentences, Hemingway briefly established the founding principle for himself that governed his work and influenced his aesthetics. There are three different types of truth in Hemingway’s writing.

The first truth is of experimental adequacy: he writes about what he has experienced in real life, the second is historical adequacy: in his narratives, Hemingway includes the untransformed facts from history in his work; due to this adequacy, the readers can easily identify the people, places, and events in the text of Hemingway. The third is stylistic meditation: the adequacy that emerges in Hemingway’s text even when facts are transformed; it is only possible for the writer when he is a writer with a careful and selective process.

The complexity of simplicity

The writing of Hemingway may appear to be simple; however, the apparent simplicity of Hemingway’s style is sustained by an extraordinary complexity of different levels. Hemingway asserts that “prose is architecture, not interior decoration,” and writing prose is the hardest thing to do. By this statement, he means that the process of selection of lexical items and the accurate syntactic arrangement must be done carefully. Indeed, Hemingway was a very painstaking writer. He defined his writing as a process of “getting the words right.”

The essence of “getting the words right” is summarized by Baker that Hemingway would always write slowly and revise his text carefully by eliding, substituting, cutting, and experimenting with syntax to see if it is economical and then write all those words that are safe and comprehensive.

The words economy and simplicity define the ideal of Hemingway when he struggles to get the words right. In his writings, Hemingway avoids using superfluous and flowery words. When he has a choice among words, he will use the one which is ordinary and understandable. 

However, Terence Doody says the style of Hemingway is not “simply simple.’ He says that, though Hemingway worked hard to polish and restore for us his naïve experiences in the world, he uses his simplicity of style in different ways to achieve certain effects upon the reader; more precisely, he wants to recover his experiences in the mind of readers. 

For example, in the classic analysis of Hemingway’s style, Harry Levin recognizes the essential simplicity of Hemingway’s style and his use of language. He says that the literary vocabulary of Hemingway is not widespread and consists of short words. Due to which every word has hard use. Moreover, the syntax of sentences is informal and appears to be flowing. It is so simplified, so is the extent of the simple system of English inflections. Therefore, one can say that simplicity of Hemingway’s writing is based on repetitive use of words. Moreover, Hemingway’s more emphasis is on nouns among all parts of speech. This is because nouns come nearest to things, threading them side by side by using conjunctions. Hemingway approaches the actual flow of experience in his writings. For him, nouns are the keywords, and with it, a promise of continuity varies occasionally. 

The rhetorical scheme of Hemingway is polysyndeton. Polysyndeton is the simple childish habit of linking together sentences. The subject of a sentence is linked with the predicate, provided it is not taken for granted. In chapter twenty of the Death in the Afternoon , Hemingway produced one of the finest pieces of prose, and most probably, it is the best passage written about Navarra. He focuses on the nouns and says 

“If I could … make clouds come fast in shadows moving over wheat and the small, careful stepping horses; the smell of olive oil; the feel of leather; rope soled shoes; the loops of twisted garlic; earthen pots; saddlebags carried across the shoulder; wineskins; the pitchforks made of natural wood (the tiny were branches); the early morning smells; the cold mountain nights and long hot days of summer, with always trees and shade under the trees, then you would have a little of Navarra. But it’s not in this book.”

The passage is much longer in the text. In this passage, the emphasis is mainly on nouns; there is a carefully selected list of objective correlatives; he presents the details with no ornaments or subjective appreciation. The genius of Hemingway lies in the selection of objects and their simple presentation. He draws the picture/image of a region merely by listing them, and this is the biggest achievement and makes a lasting impression on the minds of readers. The acuteness of the selection of elements by Hemingway can be realized by those who have lived in Navarra in Hemingway’s time.

Poetry is written into prose

Another striking quality of Hemingway’s prose is its rhythm. The rhythm of the prose of Hemingway’s plays an important role in the reader’s perception of the text. For instance, in the passage taken from the novel The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway reproduces the beating of drums, noises of the fiesta and rhythm of music with the rhythm of sentences:

“The fiesta was really started. It kept up day and night for seven days. The dancing kept up, and the drinking kept up, the noise went on.”

The monosyllabic words assist the rhythmical distribution of stressed and unstressed syllables in the sentences. In the passage, eighteen out of twenty-six words are monosyllabic. The three-times repetition of the syntactic scheme and the three tome repetition of the phrasal verb “keep up” functions as the connection between the second and third sentences. The above-quoted chapter twenty of Death in the Afternoon is also highly rhythmic.

To conclude, the style of Hemingway can be described in three words: simplicity, truth, and poetry. The truth in experimental adequacy, the truth in non-transformed historical adequacy, and the truth are transformed historical adequacy. Simplicity in Hemingway’s style is sought to transfer the pure and true experiences, determined enough to inculcate the absolutely necessary and irreplaceable fact in the text. Lastly, poetry emerges with the intention of the author to get the words right. It is a distinctive writing style of Hemingway that makes him a master figure and his works the masterpieces of twentieth-century American English literature.

Works Of Ernest Hemingway

• The Old Man and the Sea
• The Sun Also Rises

• Biographies & Memoirs
• Community & Culture

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Ernest Hemingway: A Brief Biography from Beginning to the End Paperback – June 7, 2021

History Hub presents a brief biography of Ernest Hemingway from beginning to end, whose remarkable story impacts our lives even today.

Ernest Hemingway sits on the pantheon of few great authors together with Mark Twain, Sinclair Lewis, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose words were more than enough to mold the shape of literature. Besides his books, Hemingway’s adventurous life and public image earned him admiration from succeeding generations. Gaining widespread popularity during the first and second World Wars, Hemingway’s books were among the bestselling and critically acclaimed works of his time. But the life of the Pulitzer-winner and Nobel laureate had never been smooth-sailing from the start. Hemmingway filled it with many challenges and problems hidden behind his success as an author and his public image of an "outdoor man."

Discover in this short yet concise biography the remarkable story of a life who impacted future generations. This book also contains 30 questions for an in-depth discussion into the life of Ernest Hemingway.

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• Print length 44 pages
• Language English
• Publication date June 7, 2021
• Dimensions 6 x 0.11 x 9 inches
• ISBN-13 979-8516815645
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Product details

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B096TW82QM
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (June 7, 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 44 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8516815645
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.89 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.11 x 9 inches

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10 Best Ernest Hemingway Movie Adaptations, Ranked

T he American Noble and Pulitzer Prize winner Ernest Hemingway is among the most celebrated authors who ever lived. His work, which was mostly produced between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, often offers audiences thoughtful meditations on solitude and the complications of life, making for some of the most intriguing novels ever written.

Thanks to his straightforward writing and approach to both novels and short stories, Hemingway has revolutionized modern literature, inspiring many writers even today. Given how many incredible and highly influential books the prolific Hemingway has worked on over the years, it only makes sense that a good chunk of those were adapted to the big screen at some point. As such, we celebrate the artist's work by looking back and analyzing the best Ernest Hemingway movie adaptations , from The Sun Also Rises to To Have and Have Not .

'The Sun Also Rises' (1957)

Director: henry king.

Filmed on location in France, Spain, and Mexico, The Sun Also Rises stars Tyrone Power , Ava Gardner , Mel Ferrer , and Errol Flynn . It focuses on a journalist injured in World War I, who moves to Paris for a fresh beginning. Complications arise when he forges new connections with a group of expatriates living a carefree life and finds himself in love with a woman named Brett Ashley, played wonderfully by Gardner.

Although it is not the best of the best Ernest Hemingway adaptations (it can feel a bit underwhelming after reading the book), The Sun Also Rises is still an entertaining and beautifully illustrated take on the novel of the same name , which is a fictionalized account of the events that the author experienced in Pamplona ( via Town&Country ) and one of his major works. Supposedly, according to Hemingway himself, the best part about the film is Errol Flynn.

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'A Farewell to Arms' (1932)

Director: frank borzage.

The first Hemingway novel to make it to the big screen tackles themes of war and purpose. A Farewell to Arms sees an American serving as an ambulance driver, Lt. Henry ( Gary Cooper ), and an English nurse named Catherine Barkley ( Helen Hayes ) fall head over heels for each other against the backdrop of World War I Italy.

Frank Borzage's pre-code romance drama, which was based on Ernest Hemingway's semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, earned Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Sound, though it was also nominated for the big prize, Best Picture, as well as Best Art Direction. Although it sent out a hopeful message about such dark times, A Farewell to Arms was one of the films banned for its treatment of war as well as sexual content when it premiered.

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'Islands in the Stream' (1977)

Director: franklin j. schaffner.

Franklin J. Schaffner 's Oscar-nominated feature is set in the British-controlled Bahamas and stars George C. Scott as the lead character. The movie portrays the story of an isolated sculptor who has left the civilized world to live a simple life in the Caribbean and revolves around the visit of his three sons before the start of World War II.

Islands in the Stream is undoubtedly one of the best Hemingway big screen adaptations ; it was assembled by his widow, Mary Hemingway , from among 332 works in progress Hemingway left behind at his death (via The New York Times). It ultimately resulted in an enthralling narrative that intrigues audiences, strong performances at its heart, and a great meditation on freedom and courage.

'For Whom the Bell Tolls' (1943)

Director: sam wood.

Directed and produced by Sam Wood , 1943's For Whom the Bell Tolls is now regarded as an epic American war film. It stars Gary Cooper and the extraordinary Ingrid Bergman (in her first technicolor movie) and tells the story of an American International Brigades volunteer, who is fighting against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War. He ultimately falls for a young woman fighter.

Nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, Wood's engaging movie earns a spot among the best movies based on Hemingway books , and that is thanks to its masterful acting and great casting. While far from a masterpiece (and definitely not everyone's cup of tea), For Whom the Bell Tolls is undeniably well-made.

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'The Killers' (1964)

Director: don siegel.

While John Cassavetes is known for being the father of independent cinema, given his career as a filmmaker , he was also a talented actor. The Killers proves this as he steps into the shoes of a car driver, the victim of a hit man ( Lee Marvin ) and his crime partner ( Clu Gulager ) who surprises them both by not getting away.

Don Siegel 's neo-noir crime film based on the Ernest Hemingway novel of the same name is the second big-screen adaptation of the book. Although not as good as the first one (nor the director's best effort), 1964's The Killers is nonetheless tense and stylish , offering an entertaining narrative that will likely satisfy viewers who have read the novel. What's more? Expect Ronald Reagan in his final film role before retiring from acting in 1966 to enter politics.

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'The Old Man and the Sea' (1958)

Director: john sturges.

Viewers are introduced to an elderly Cuban fisherman, played by Spencer Tracy , who hasn't caught anything for 84 days in this Ernest Hemingway big-screen adaptation. His only companion? A young boy, Manolin ( Felipe Pazos ), is forbidden to join him on his fishing journey. On the 85th day, he finally catches a marlin, struggling to bring it back to the shore for three days and nights.

The Old Man and the Sea deservedly took home the Academy Award for Best Score. However, despite the incredible music John Sturges' movie features, its strongest aspect is perhaps the message it sends about persistence and courage . Despite its flaws, Hemingway's tale — which earned the author a Pulitzer Prize and a Nobel Prize — is perfectly brought to life in this beautifully shot 1958 film. Tracy was Oscar-nominated, too.

'Captain Khorshid' (1987)

Director: nasser taghvai.

Made in Iran by talented filmmaker Nasser Taghvai , Captain Khorshid is one of the few Ernest Hemingway adaptations that aren't English-spoken. Taghvai's work is based on the author's novel To Have and Have Not but changes the setting to Cuba, the south of Iran, and the Persian Gulf. The plot follows a sailor ( Dariush Arjmand ) who is asked to take dangerous criminals out of the country with his boat. He manages to do this despite only having one hand.

Considered one of the best Iranian movies of all time, Captain Khorshid does a brilliant job of altering Hemingway's story's backdrop , adapting it to different circumstances, and providing audiences with a fresh and intriguing new take on the well-known novel. With great music and performances, the engaging and graphic Captain Khorshid is, all in all, a really solid adaptation.

Captain Khorshid is not available for streaming, renting, or purchasing at this time.

'The Breaking Point' (1950)

Director: michael curtiz.

The Breaking Point is the second adaptation of To Have and Have Not and features John Garfield (in his second to last film role) and Patricia Neal as the lead. In the movie, the captain of a charter boat who is facing financial difficulties finds himself forced to resort to illegal activities to keep up with the payments on his boat.

While Michael Curtiz 's The Breaking Point is arguably on a different level than that of Howard Hawks ' movie, the filmmaker does a pretty good job at adapting the Ernest Hemingway novel — perhaps an even better one, if we consider how faithful to the book both film versions are. Be that as it may, Curtiz's classic film noir is a heart-wrenching and fascinating tale of desperation and corruption .

'The Killers' (1946)

Director: robert siodmak.

Featuring Ava Gardner in one of her best roles (though she could've gotten more screen time), the first adaptation of The Killers endures the best. In this version, audiences take a sneak peek into an insurance detective's investigation into the execution by two professional hitmen of a former boxer, Swede ( Burt Lancaster ), who was unresistant to his murder.

Robert Siodmak 's compelling movie is told in reverse, which was kind of innovative for the time it was released. For film noir buffs, the quintessential The Killers is essential viewing, standing among the best of its genre during the 1940s. Plus, what is so great about Siodmak's movie is how it fully expands on Hemingway's story and gives it greater dimension , resulting in a way-better-than-average adaptation. As expected, Gardner shines brightly in her breakthrough role.

'To Have and Have Not' (1944)

Director: howard hawks.

Regardless of how far from a close of an adaptation it is, To Have and Have Not is an undeniable romance classic . Starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in two of their most memorable roles (the iconic real-life couple met on the set), the movie is set during World War II and follows Harry Morgan as he helps transport a French Resistance leader ( Walter Surovy ) and his wife ( Dolores Moran ) to Martinique. In the meantime, he finds himself swept off his feet by a beautiful lounge singer.

The fantastic acting performances and incredible narrative elevate this Ernest Hemingway performance to higher grounds. However, it is Bogart and Bacall's chemistry that makes To Have and Have Not so irresistible. The film was understandably one of the highest-grossing movies of the 1940s and endures as one of the most influential American features of all time.

NEXT: The 10 Best F. Scott Fitzgerald Movie Adaptations, Ranked

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