Ernest Hemingway

Childhood  Born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois  Second of 6 kids  Parents were Dr. Clarence Edmonds Hemingway and Grace Hall Hemingway

Early Adulthood  At 17, he wrote for the Kansas City Star  “The newspaper advocated short sentences, short paragraphs, active verbs, authenticity, compression, clarity and immediacy” (Wilson)  Joined a volunteer ambulance unit in the Italian army in WWI  Wounded by fragments from an Austrian mortar shell  Awarded the Italian Silver Medal for Valor

Paris  Moved to Paris in his 20s as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star  Became a member of a group of expatriate Americans in Paris, later called “The Lost Generation” by Gertrude Stein  Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald  Stein hosted many salons for other expatriates to discuss literature and the arts

Marriages  Elizabeth Hadley Richardson ( )  Had a son, Jack Hemingway in 1923  Pauline Pfeiffer ( )  Had 2 sons, Patrick Hemingway in 1928 and Gregory Hemingway in 1931  Martha Ellis Gellhorn ( )  Mary Welsh Monks ( )

The End  Settled in Ketchum, Idaho  His health began to deteriorate partly due to his heavy alcohol abuse  Admitted to the Mayo Clinic for his mental health and was given shock treatments  Memory Loss  He became unable to write like he used to  July 2, 1961 he shot himself in the head

Novels  The Torrents of Spring  The Sun Also Rises  A Farewell to Arms  For Whom the Bell Tolls  The Old Man and the Sea  A Moveable Feast

Short Stories  “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”  “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”  “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”  “Cat in the Rain”  “Big Two-Hearted River”  “Hills Like White Elephants”

Awards/Accomplishments  Pullitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea  Nobel Prize for Literature  American Academy of Arts and Letters Award of Merit

A Modernist Writer of the Lost Generation  One of the foremost authors of the era between the two world wars, Hemingway in his early works depicted the lives of two types of people.  One type consisted of men and women deprived, by World War I, of faith in the moral values in which they had believed, and who lived with cynical disregard for anything but their own emotional needs.  The other type were men of simple character and primitive emotions, such as prizefighters and bullfighters. Hemingway wrote of their courageous and usually futile battles against circumstances.

Viewpoint  For Hemingway, God did not exist, and the universe is indifferent. The resulting world is hostile and muddled, and without God and faith, moral values are also meaningless. War is an example of this.

Writing Style  A few characteristics:  Stark minimalist nature  Grade school-like grammar  Austere word choice  Unvarnished descriptions  Short, declarative sentences  Uses language accessible to the common reader

Iceberg Principle  Hemingway's theory of omission is widely referred to as the "iceberg principle." By omitting certain parts of a story, he actually strengthens that story. The writer must be conscious of these omissions and be writing true enough in order for the reader to sense the omitted parts. When the reader senses the omitted parts, a greater perception and understanding for the story can be achieved.

Symbolism  Hemingway disliked discussions regarding the symbolism in his works. The "iceberg principle," however, by its very nature, invites symbolic interpretations and Hemingway acknowledged this in his own subtle way.  No good writer ever prepared his symbols ahead of time and wrote his book about them, but out of a good book which is true to life symbols may arise and be profitably explored if not over-emphasized.

Famous Words  Ernest Hemingway, when asked what was the most frightening thing he ever encountered, answered: "A blank sheet of paper.“  There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. They are the very simplest things, and because it takes a man's life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave.

Famous Words  I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars. Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon. The moon runs away. But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? We are born lucky. Yes, we are born lucky. (The Old Man and the Sea)  You expected to be sad in the fall. Part of you died each year when the leaves fell from the trees and their branches were bare against the wind and the cold, wintry light. But you knew there would always be the spring, as you knew the river would flow again after it was frozen. When the cold rains kept on and killed the spring, it was as though a young person had died for no reason. (A Moveable Feast)

Famous Words  Our nada who art in nada, nada be thy name thy kingdom nada thy will be nada as it is in nada. Give us this nada our daily nada and nada us our nada as we nada our nadas and nada us not into nada but deliver us from nada; pues nada. Hail nothing full of nothing, nothing is with thee. (A Clean, Well-Lighted Place)A Clean, Well-Lighted Place  Click here for additional notes.here

Famous Words  If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks every one and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. ( A Farwell to Arms)

 For a true writer each book should be a new beginning where he tries again for something that is beyond attainment. He should always try for something that has never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then sometimes, with great luck, he will succeed.  Ernest Hemingway, in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech

The Old Man and the Sea