Ernest Hemingway  Hemingway was born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois  He was the second of six children and had four sisters and one brother  His father was a doctor and also an avid hunter and outdoorsman Hemingway Family Hemingway fishing

 In High School, Hemingway played football and learned to wrestle  During this time he also incurred permanent eye damage. This caused him to be rejected by the Army during WWI  Hemingway was also the editor of his high school newspaper, The Trapeze Hemingway, Junior in High School Hemingway at 17 with his family

Young Hemingway’s account of a high school football game

Hemingway after high school  After graduating, Hemingway went to Kansas City and became a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star  In 1918, Hemingway joined the Red Cross and was an ambulance driver in Italy during World War I  This experience provided background for the book A Farewell to Arms  While serving on the Italian front, Hemingway was seriously wounded  The war experiences (the cruelty and endurance it requires) forms a major part of Hemingway’s writing.

Military photo, prior to injury Driving an ambulance Hemingway recovering from his injury

After the war  After the war, Hemingway settled in Paris, the literary capital of the world  He worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.  During this time, he became acquainted with Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and Sherwood Anderson, all American expatriates.  Hemingway soon became a spokesman for the Lost Generation writers and other artists disillusioned by the war.  From , he was a war correspondent on the Western Front during World War II

Literary Awards  Hemingway’s novel The Old Man and the Sea, published in 1952 won him a Pulitzer and Nobel Prize Hemingway receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature

Personal Life  Hemingway was married four times.  Elizabeth Hadley Richardson was the first, and eight years older than Hemingway  Pauline Marie Pfeiffer was a well-educated, devout Catholic with a huge trust fund  Martha Ellis Gellhorn who was the only of his wives to leave him  Mary Welsh was his fourth wife, a journalist from Minnesota, who married him in 1946 and was with him until his death

 Hemingway moved from one exotic locale to another including; Spain, Cuba, Africa, and Key West, Florida  He cultivated a reputation as a tough, hard-drinking man’s man

 On July 2, 1961, Hemingway died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound in Ketchum, Ohio  It is said that in the last few years of his life, Hemingway was a very troubled man. He even received rounds of electro-shock therapy shortly before he killed himself

Hemingway’s Heroes  Hemingway’s heroes live adventure-filled lives that are driven by courage and limited by fear  They hide a sensitive heart under a tough exterior  “Grace under pressure” is their motto  His heroes are hemmed in by forces beyond their control

Hemingway’s Style  Simplicity is the key to Hemingway’s style  Short sentences, carefully selected words, and realistic dialog are all Hemingway trademarks 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. Hemingway upon receiving the Nobel Prize in literature, 1954