Born at eight o’clock in the morning on July 21, 1899, in a suburb of Chicago, Ernest Hemmingway was one of six children. In later life, he would refer to his hometown of Oak Park as a “place of wide lawns and narrow minds.” He was named after his maternal grandfather, Ernest Hall. His father, Dr. Clarence Edmonds Hemmingway, was a pious churchgoer, and his mother, Grace Hall, sang in the church choir.
Ernest revealed his writing talent at an early age, publishing his first literary work at the age of seventeen. After graduating from high school, his parents wanted him to go to college, but he opted to join the armed forces or learn to write. During World War One, his father forbade him to join the military. He tried anyway but was deferred because of poor vision. And so he applied for a job as a journalist. In October of 1917, the “Kansas City Star” hired him as a reporter.
All of Hemmingway’s works are drawn from his wide range of experiences in World War One, The Spanish Civil War and World War II. He lived in Paris from 1921 to 1931, becoming one of the “Lost Generation” of American expatriate writers, a term coined by Gertrude Stein. He married four times and led a turbulent life that while marked with much success was also marred by many affairs, drinking to excess and depression. He received the Noble Prize for Literature in 1954 and seven years later on July 2, 1961 shot himself in the head. His brother and one of his grandchildren, model, Margot Hemmingway, also committed suicide, making this a terrible family legacy.
His novels and short stories greatly influenced the parameters of American fiction and are as well read and significant today as they were on the day they were written. His bold, terse style is like no one else’s and the world lost a truly gifted writer when it lost Ernest Hemmingway.
What are some of YOUR favorite Hemmingway writings? Please share.