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Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 - July 2, 1961) was an American author with a troubled, chaotic life. Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He died in Ketchum, Idaho.

He starting writing for the Kansas City Star and adopted for his personal standand the main directives of newspaper's stylebook: "Brevity, a reconciliation of vigour with smoothness, the positive approach". In later life, he was mentored by Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound.

Awards:

• Silver Medal of Military Valor (medaglia d'argento) in World War I
• Pulitzer Prize in 1953 (for The Old Man and the Sea)
• Nobel Prize in literature in 1954 (also partly for The Old Man and the Sea)

Biography

Anti-fascism and experiences in Spain (1937-1938)

In the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway supported the Spanish Loyalists -- Communists, socialists and anarchists -- because they were opposed to the fascist Rebels.

After being involved in the Loyalist propaganda film Spain in Flames (?), he and John Dos Passos went to Spain and founded the Contemporary Historians, Inc. which produced another film called The Spanish Earth (directed by Joris Ivens).

In addition to that, Hemingway became war correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) and so he saw much of the fighting and could collect experiences for a new novel. While he was in Spain, his second marriage went to pieces. A liaison with Martha Gellhorn was revealed when a Rebel shell hit the hot-water boiler of the correspondents' hotel "Florida".

After The Spanish Earth was boxed and shipped, he left with the promise to propagandize for the Loyalists' cause; he spoke out in Shakespeare & Co. and addressed the Writers' Congress in New York on the June 4, 1937. In his speech he stressed he was anti-fascist, not pro-Communist (Writer As Artist (7.), p. 224)

There is only one form of government that cannot produce good writers, and that system is fascism. For fascism is a lie told by bullies. A writer who will not lie cannot live and work fascism.

Due to his reputation, The Spanish Earth was even shown in the White House and his article "Fascism is a Lie" was published in New Masses. Furthermore, he established an ambulance fund and financed it by collecting money at Hollywood parties.

He returned to see the fascist rebel General Franco control two thirds of Spain, but the Loyalists still fighting on. The Fifth Column was finished just before the taking of Teruel in January 1938. He wrote it, according to the preface, under constant bombardment in the Hotel Florida; it appears as though he had again needed the thrilling aura of death to inspire him.

After short stays in Paris due to liver troubles and in Key West, he came back to Spain to see Loyalists retreating on all fronts, then returned to America to organize the experiences he gathered into a novel, the narrations of the different characters clearly originate here.

For information on Hemingway only, you might skip the sections on Frederic Henry and Robert Jordan. For a quick read, you can start at Young and Innocent

The sources of quotes are noted in the bibliography section. For easier reading, this text is split in several sections.

You can get an all-in-one HTML version at , or another version of the same document at

Grace Under Pressure
Death and Violence in Ernest Hemingway's Life and Work

1. Introduction

Death and violence were the two great constants in Hemingway's troubled, chaotic life. As an infant, he joined his father on hunting trips. At ten, he got his first shotgun. Fifty-one years later, he used a gun to kill himself. In the meantime, he had hurt many and many had hurt him. He was a tough, strong man with strong principles.

Hemingway "believed that life was a tragedy and knew it could only have one end", yet he was blessed with talent and drive. That may have made it harder for him to admit his failures and correct them.

Books and Beyond

• Famous at Twenty-Five Thirty a Master
• From Boy to Man Hemingways First World War
• From Reality to Fiction A Farewell to Arms
• The Time in Between
• Spain in Flames
• For Whom the Bell Tolls

Robert Jordan and Frederic Henry: Two Facets of Hemingway

• Frederic Henry

Background

Character

Development

Catherine: A vehicle for the women in Hemingway?s life

• Robert Jordan

Background

Character

Development

Pablo

Hemingway Up Close and Personal

• Young and Innocent
• Things Turn Sour
• The Endless Dark Nothingness
• Sure Shots The Second World War
• The Downward Spiral

Conclusion

• Violence and Redemption
• Why It Went Wrong

Appendix

• Bibliography

Miscellany

• Image of letter from Hemingway's typewriter

Yes and yes. There is obviously a need to restructure the whole text, biographic information should be separated from information on the two particular books, and a trivia section should be included. I will make some of those changes myself, but help is really welcome. -- SoniC