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Ernest Hemingway Summary
Ernest Hemingway Summary
Ernest Hemingway wasn’t just an immensely talented author; he was also an icon of 20th-century bullishness and masculinity, a surprisingly sensitive soul, and one of the most beautiful, awful, and intriguing figures in literary history.
Ernest Hemingway’s life may not have been the longest, but Ernest Hemingway filled it with drama, driven by ambition and streaked with blood. “I believe that proper and honest love creates a respite from death. Not being loved or not loved well is all cowardice, which is the same thing.”
Ernest Hemingway Facts
| Born: | 21 July, 1899 |
| Died: | 2 July, 1961 |
| Cause of Death: | Suicide |
| Parents: | Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, Grace Hall Hemingway |
| Wives: | Hadley Richardson (1921-1927), Pauline Pfeiffer (1927-1940), Martha Gellhorn (1940-1945), Mary Welsh (1946) |
| Children: | Jack > Patrick > Gloria |
Wounds from Childhood and War
Desperation gripped Ernest Hemingway’s mother to have twin children. To feed her fantasies, she often dressed the young Ernest in clothes identical to his sister’s, referring to them as her “sweet Dutch dollies.” Just why little Ernestine, as his mother often referred to him, became so obsessed with masculinity is indeed no surprise.
The outbreak of European conflict in 1914 marked the beginning of Hemingway’s first war. He first volunteered in France for the Red Cross before becoming an ambulance driver for U.S. forces after they entered the war in 1917.
In July 1918, Ernest Hemingway was struck by shrapnel from an Austrian mortar shell while serving in Italy. His experience in Italy would lay the foundations of the plot for his novel A Farewell to Arms, arguably one of his finest works.
The Golden Age of Paris
It isn’t easy to think of Ernest Hemingway without seeing Paris. He was one of the elite writers, artists, musicians, and thinkers who lived in the city during its golden age, a period masterfully captured in Hemingway’s final book, A Moveable Feast. Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson, soon befriended many local personalities, such as Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso, and James Joyce. “You’re too self-effacing; it’s not manly.
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Download Now (1393 KB)Declare yourself as the best writer! If you’re a writer, But you’re not, as long I’m around unless you wanna put the gloves on and settle it.” But, in 1927, Hemingway’s marriage ended when Hadley discovered his affair with a fashion reporter, Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced, and Hemingway remarried the same year.
In 1928, Ernest and Pauline Hemingway moved to Key West, Florida. Papa Hemingway and his mutant cats The Hemingway Home is one of Florida’s most well-known sights and tourist destinations. Pauline’s Uncle Gus purchased their now-legendary house on Whitehead for the Street.
The lovely house, which was also extraordinarily expensive, is still filled with the Hemingways’ personal touches. These include trophies from foreign expeditions, a writing studio, and a unique breed of six-toed mutant tomcats descended from Hemingway’s pets.
The Fight against Fascism
In 1937, Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to report on the Spanish Civil War, a devastating conflict between governmental Republicans and Franco’s fascists, for the North American Newspaper Alliance.
Naturally, he couldn’t resist getting involved. Hemingway paid to send ambulances to Spain, produced and narrated a pro-Republican documentary, and is even thought to have fought behind fascist lines.
The war strained Ernest Hemingway’s marriage with Pauline, a devout Catholic, and a fascist sympathizer. He soon fell in love with the woman who would become his next wife: Martha Gellhorn. After a painful and dramatic split with Pauline, Hemingway and Martha married and bought a home together outside Havana.
A Madcap War
For Ernest Hemingway, the Second World War was a little more colorful than the First. He first approached Cuba’s U.S. Ambassador and offered to set up a spy network to monitor Nazi sympathizers on the island. His undercover operatives included servers, fishermen, prostitutes, aristocrats, and priests.
Hemingway then requested a supply of bazookas, hand grenades, machine guns, and radio equipment from the embassy to use his fishing boat for hunting German submarines in the Caribbean.
Hemingway and his “Rough Riders” never quite managed to sink a U-boat, however, and Martha Gellhorn considered the enterprise no more than an excuse for Hemingway and his pals to waste fuel and go drinking. “Not a bad way to start the day, huh?”
Hemingway finally topped it all when he “liberated” the bar of the Paris Ritz days after the Germans had already left by showing up with a jeep and a machine gun, demanding entry, and racking up a tab for 51 dry Martinis.
The Nobel Prize
Having divorced Martha during World War II, Ernest Hemingway returned to Cuba to live with his latest wife, Mary.
In 1954, he received literature’s highest honor: the Nobel Prize. According to The New York Times, he was granted the prize for “his powerful, style-forming mastery of the art of modern narration, as most recently displayed in The Old Man and the Sea.” Six years later, Hemingway and Mary left Cuba and moved to Idaho.
Ernest Hemingway Death
The 1960s saw Ernest Hemingway endure a steep decline in his physical and mental health. Eventually, he checked in to the Mayo Clinic to receive electroshock therapy for his growing paranoia and anxiety. But it didn’t help. Despite further “treatment” at the clinic, Hemingway’s suicidal tendencies worsened considerably, and on July 2nd, 1961, Hemingway shot himself with his favorite shotgun.
At the time of his death, Hemingway had published seven novels, married four women, fought in three wars, and survived two plane crashes. He was buried in Ketchum, Idaho, but his legacy as a man whose life was more significant and stranger than the fiction he wrote has lived on for years afterward. Here’s to you, Papa.
People Also Ask?
How did Ernest Hemingway die?
The 1960s saw Ernest Hemingway endure a steep decline in his physical and mental health. Eventually, he checked in to the Mayo Clinic to receive electroshock therapy for his growing paranoia and anxiety. But it didn’t help. Despite further “treatment” at the clinic, Hemingway’s suicidal tendencies worsened considerably, and on July 2nd, 1961, Hemingway shot himself with his favorite shotgun.
How old was Ernest Hemingway when he died?
61 year old
Who is Ernest Hemingway?
Ernest Hemingway wasn’t just an immensely talented author; he was also an icon of 20th-century bullishness and masculinity, a surprisingly sensitive soul, and one of the most beautiful, awful, and intriguing figures in literary history.
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