1. Ernest Hemingway

2. Life Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. He started working as a reporter at the age of 17. He joined the WWI effort, spending many years in Europe as part of an ambulance team. Upon his return, he started working for the papers again, but was sent back to Europe many times. During the 1920’s, Hemingway became part of the expatriate movement and stayed in France (during which time he wrote The Sun Also Rises).

3. Life Hemingway also spent a great deal of time near the Spanish Civil War gaining the content for For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway loved the outdoors and athletics. He often chose subject such as war, hunting, bull-fighting, sailing, etc. in order to show the contrast between primitive, courageous people and the brutality of the modern world. Hemingway lived in many places in the US, Canada, and overseas. He had lived in Chicago, Toronto, Cuba, Key West, Michigan, and Idaho.

4. Life Hemingway lived permanently in Florida, but spent many of his summers, both in childhood and adulthood, in Michigan. In fact, many of his short stories are either set in Michigan, or even have Michigan in their title. Hemingway struggled with depression and alcoholism for most of his adult life. He was even subjected to shock therapy for his depression and mental illness. In was found early in 1961 that Hemingway was diagnosed with hemochromatosis, a disease which affects the bodies metabolism and ability to process certain minerals.

5. It is thought that this disease may have contributed to his mental decline. In 1961, though the reports called it an “accident,” Hemingway shot himself in the head with his favorite 12- guage shotgun. His father, brother, and sister also committed suicide.

6. Writing Hemingway wrote ten novels, had published ten collections of short stories, and published many other works of non- fiction. His style is described as such: “His straightforward prose, his spare dialogue, and his predilection for understatement are particularly effective in his short stories.” Hemingway often writes in an objective narrative style, perhaps due to his journalistic background. Hemingway’s work is sometimes dark and brooding, with elements of existentialist truths.

7. He often writes about “the athlete,” women, death, courage, emancipation, emasculation, and nature. Many critics find Hemingway homophobic and misogynistic. Hemingway could most likely be considered a “Modernist” writer. The Modernist time period took place from somewhere around 1920 and ended sometime in the 1960’s. It was a refutation of the Victorian ideals of nature and dwelled more on the individual, decay, and alienation. Form also became experimental. See handout on “Modernism”