Ernest Hemingway(1899-1961)

Early Life

Born in raised in Oak Park, Illinois:

“the town where the saloons end and the churches begin”

“it was developed to hold at bay the corruption of the city”

“a town of wide lawns and narrow minds”

Cultured place

His Life

Beginnings as a writer

October 1917: becomes a cub reporter for the Kansas City StarBegins with obituaries

Internalized the newspaper’s rules for style: “short first paragraphs, vigorous language, no superfluous words, few adjectives, no trite phrases”

Said he “learned to write a simple, declarative sentence” from the experience

His Life (cont.)

Joins Red Cross Ambulance Corps.

Italian front- wounded and falls in love with a nurse

Married four timesPulitzer Prize (1953);

Nobel Prize for Literature (1954)

Shot himself in 1961

Fun Facts

Most widely imitated author of the 20th century

Friends with CastroLoved hunting,

fishing, and boxing

Writing Style

Short, crisp, sensual sentences

Iceberg Principal: "I always try to write on the principle of the iceberg. There is seven-eighths of it under water for every part that shows. Anything you know you can eliminate and it only strengthens your iceberg."

Hemingway Hero- tough, lives dangerously, loves sports, sensual)

Novels

A Farewell to ArmsThe Sun Also RisesThe Old Man and the SeaFor Whom the Bell Tolls