Literary Giants - Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1899. His father, Clarence was a physician and his mother, Grace, gave voice and music lessons. Hemingway’s father instilled in him a love of the outdoor sports; camping in remote or isolated areas, hunting and fishing. These early experiences would always have a place in his heart and bring him comfort.

Hemingway graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1917. He showed superior skills both academically and athletically. He showed a particular talent in English classes and gained his first writing experience with the school’s newspaper and yearbook, later serving as editor. He boxed and played American football. He graduated in June, 1917, marking the end of his formal education.

He began his literary career as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star. It was a job he would give up after 6 months but the experience he gained with their writing style would influence him throughout his life.

Hemingway tried to join the army but his poor vision kept him out. He joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. The brutalities of war affected him deeply. He was wounded on July 8, 1918 ending that career. He was treated in Milan where he met and fell in love with his nurse. She was older and the relationship ended when he returned to the US and she stayed, getting involved with another soldier. It left an enduring mark on his psyche and provided inspiration for, and was fictionalized in, A Farewell to Arms.

Back in Oak Park Hemingway worked as a freelancer for the Toronto Star and married Hadley Richards. In December, 1921, they moved to Paris for the next 2 years. He would become involved in the American expatriate circle known as the Lost Generation. After a successful stint as a foreign correspondent he returned to Toronto, Canada where his first son Jack was born. Most of his work for the Star was published in the 1985 collection Dateline: Toronto.

In April, 1925 he met F. Scott Fitzgerald and they became close friends. It was rumored that they had an affair but there was never any evidence that either of them was homosexual. In 1927 he was divorced and married Pauline Pfeiffer and they moved to Key West, Florida. The following year his father committed suicide. In that same year his second son, Patrick, was born followed a few years later by Gregory, his third child.

A Farewell to Arms was published in 1929 and its success made Hemingway financially independent. He returned to Key West, Florida establishing his first American home. In his den on the upper floor of the converted garage he completed an estimated 70% of his life’s writing. The roller coaster of his life influenced and was often depicted in his stories. In 1940 he was divorced again and lost his beloved Key West home. A few weeks later he married Martha Gellhorn, a woman he had met and lived with while in Spain.

Hemingway took part in naval warfare in World War II. That was cut short and he went to Europe as a war correspondent for Collier’s magazine. After the war he spent time in Italy writing. Newly divorced, he married war correspondent Mary Welsh, whom he had met in 1944 while overseas.

The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952 and was very successful. He earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. These awards took him to international recognition. Around this time Hemingway was on a safari and was involved in two successive plane crashes. He sustained multiple injuries including a major concussion causing a temporary loss of vision in one eye and hearing in one ear, paralysis of the spine, a crushed vertebra, ruptured liver, spleen and kidney, and first degree burns on his face, arm and leg. The extent of his injuries had some American newspapers reporting his death. The next month he sustained second degree burns on his legs, front torso, lips, left hand and right forearm leaving him in agony. After these injuries, he started drinking heavily which impeded his recovery. His blood pressure and cholesterol were extremely high and he suffered from aortal inflammation and depression.

Hemingway was given ECT (Electroconvulsive Therapy), better known as shock treatments which caused memory loss and made his depression worse. In the spring of 1961 he attempted suicide and received ECT again. In a family sporadically plagued by suicide, Hemingway took his own life just three weeks before his 62nd birthday. On July 2, 1961, he put the butt of a shotgun on the floor, centered his forehead over it, and pulled both triggers.

During his life and after, he received many honors and tributes, writing numerous books, short stories, poems, papers and articles of which several were not published until after his death. Some of his best known works include The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Seas, In our Time, and For Whom the Bell Tolls.