Ernest Hemingway n Ernest Hemingway was born on

Ernest Hemingway

n Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21 st, 1899 in Oak Park, IL, near Chicago. His father was a doctor and his mother taught music. They made sure their children were well-schooled in the arts. Ernest grew up in a environment rich in culture, religion, and science.

n After graduating high school in 1917, Hemingway moved to Kansas City to work as a cub reporter for the Star. He would later point to the Star stylebook as an influence in his writing. It instructed writers to use “short declarative sentences. ”

n 1918 - World War I volunteered as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross; wounded on July 8 on the Italian front near Fossalta di Piave. An Austrian mortor shell shattered his knee, then hit by machine gun fire, suffered 227 wounds in his legs; had an urequited love affair with nurse Agnes von Kurowsky in Milan while healing. She dismissed him as being too young. Ten years later he recounted his experiences in A Farewell to Arms.

n Elizabeth Hadley Richardson 1921 - married to Hadley Richardson, eight years his senior. An attractive woman and uncensorious drinking companion; they move to Paris, France on Sherwood Anderson's advice. The couple rented a room for $2 in Paris. They paid bills with Hadley’s trust fund. During 1925, he was also forming his good friendship with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Hemingway left Paris in 1928, but returned in 1944 as the city was freed from Germans.

Boxer, Bullfighter, Fisher, Hunter, Alcoholic, Womanizer…. n 1923 attended his first bullfight in Pamplona with Hadley. Then spent as much time in Pamplona as possible. Never ran with the bulls, but he did try his hand at amateur bullfighting. In 1926, the same year that The Sun Also Rises was published, Hemingway began an affair with Pauline Pfeiffer, a close friend of him and his wife. By 1927, he was divorced and remarried.

Key West n n n 1928 - Hemingway chose to cut ties with the Paris group. It was normal for him to turn his back on people who helped him. He relocated to Key West with his new wife; birth of son Patrick. In 1928, his father committed suicide in Oak Park, IL; A Farewell to Arms published

n n n He lived a disciplined life in Key West. He wrote from 6 am until noon, had lunch, and then spent the remainder of the afternoon fishing or on another outdoor activity. 1931 - bought a home in Key West, FL and lived there for ten years Hemingway frequented fishing trips in the Florida Straights and Cuba.

n In 1933, he and Pauline went on his lifelong dream of a safari. It would lead to many short stories including “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Green Hills of Africa. ”

n n In 1937, Hemingway traveled to Spain as a correspondent. The country was divided in civil war. He had company on his trip: Martha Gellhorn. She was a reporter he met in 1936, in Key West. 1940 - divorces Pauline Pfieffer, marries Martha Gellhorn; purchases Finca Vigia in Cuba; For Whom the Bell Tolls is published

Hemingway got caught up in patriotic fevor after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Legends say he used his fishing boat, Pilar, to patrol water for German subs. As the war ended, so did his marriage to Gellhorn. Once again, he was in love. This time with Mary Welsh, a writer for TIME magazine. They married in 1946, and she stayed with him until his death in 1961.

Mary Gellhorn

n n While living in Cuba, Hemingway was working on a novel about the sea. Publishers sent it back saying it was unpublishable, but they did like the last part, about an old Cuban man and his battle with a monster marlin. “The Old Man and the Sea” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1952. Then in 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. It was the high point of his career. He was unable to attend the awards ceremony because he was recovering from an event that some say led to his death.

While on safari in 1954, Hemingway and his wife were involved in a plane crash in the African bush. Their injuries were not life threatening, and they managed to call another plane. But the second plane crashed on take-off. Many papers reported that he had died, but everyone had survived. Mary suffered broken ribs and Hemingway virtually lost all kidney function. Because of the loss of kidney function, he was developed high blood pressure. He was given a drug for high blood pressure that’s side effect was depression.

n n Hemingway became withdrawn and moody; sometimes suffering from delusions. Some believe he was upset because he could no longer write well. Other claim, “he was depressed because he saw the black emptiness of human existence, or something philosophical. ” 1960 - moves to Ketchum, Idaho; hospitalized for uncontrolled high blood pressure, liver disease, diabetes, depression Hemingway underwent shock therapy for his depression. They gave him 36 shock treatments that caused serious memory loss. Sometimes he didn’t even know his name. He would be sent home to recover, take his blood pressure drug, and then in a matter of weeks, was

n n n He would get on his knees and beg his wife not to take him back for the shock treatments. On the first day he returned from his 36 th treatment, he killed himself with a shotgun. He had convinced his doctors he could return home. Ironically, his father had committed suicide, and later, his granddaughter as well. On July 1, 1996, one day before the anniversary of her grandfather's own suicide, Hemingway was found dead in her studio apartment in Santa Monica, California at age 42. She had taken an overdose of phenobarbital, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's findings one month later.

n “The archetypal portrait of Hemingway is a guy with a rifle, standing on top of a dead rhinoceros, or next to a marlin hanging from a scale. ”