Ernest Hemingway (Ernest Miller Hemingway): biography and creativity (photo)

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The world-famous American writer Ernest Hemingway gave the reading part of the planet a lot of literary masterpieces. He wrote about what he learned, saw, felt himself. Perhaps that is why the works of Ernest Hemingway are so lively, rich and exciting. The basis of his novels and stories was life itself, in all its diversity. Simplicity of presentation, brevity of formulations and a variety of illusions in the works of Hemingway brought new colors to the literature of the 20th century and enriched it. In this article, we will try to shed light on the facets of his creative life hidden from the eyes of the reader.

Childhood and adolescence

Ernest Hemingway (photos provided by various periods of the writer's life) was born at the turn of the century: July 21, 1899. His parents lived at that time near Chicago, in a small town called Oak Park. Ernest's father, Clarence Edmond Hemingway, worked as a doctor, and his mother, Grace Hall, devoted her whole life to raising children.

From early childhood, his father instilled in Ernest a love of nature, hoping that he would follow in his footsteps -engaged in natural science and medicine. Clarence often took his son on a fishing trip, devoted him to everything he knew himself. By the age of eight, little Ernie knew the names of every plant, animal, fish, and bird that could be found in the Midwest. The second passion of young Ernest was books - he could sit for hours in his home library, studying historical literature and Darwin's works.

The boy's mother made plans for her future son - she forced him to play the cello and sing in the church choir, often even to the detriment of schoolwork. Ernest Hemingway himself believed that he did not have any vocal abilities, therefore he avoided excruciating musical torture in every possible way.

The real happiness for the young naturalist was summer trips to northern Michigan, where the Hemingways had Windmere Cottage. Walks in quiet, extraordinarily beautiful places near Lake Walloon, next to which the family house was located, were a joy for Ernest. Nobody forced him to play and sing, he was completely free from the bustle of household chores. He could take a fishing rod and go all day to the lake, forget about time, walking in the forest or playing with Indian boys from a neighboring village.

Passion for hunting

Ernest had a particularly warm relationship with his grandfather. The boy loved to listen to stories about life from the lips of the old man, many of which he later transferred to his works. In 1911, his grandfather gave Ernie a gun, and his father introduced him to the ancient male occupation - hunting. Since then, the guy has another passion in life, whichhe would later dedicate one of his first stories. Most of the work will be occupied by descriptions of the father, whose personality and life have always worried Ernest. For a long time after the tragic death of a parent (Clarence Edmond Hemingway committed suicide in 1928), the writer tried to find an explanation for this, but did not find it.

Reporting

After school, Ernest did not go to university, as his parents wanted, but moved to Kansas City and got a job as a correspondent for a local newspaper. He was entrusted with the district of the city, where the station, the main hospital and the police station were located. Often during working hours, Ernest had to deal with hired killers, prostitutes, scammers, witness fires and other not very pleasant incidents. He scanned every person with whom fate confronted the young man like an X-ray - he observed, tried to understand the true motives of his behavior, caught gestures, the manner of his conversation. Later, all these experiences and thoughts will become the plots of his literary works.

While working as a reporter, Ernest Hemingway learned the main thing - to express his thoughts accurately, clearly and specifically, without missing a single detail. The developed habit of always being in the center of events and the formed literary style will later become the basis of his creative success. Ernest Hemingway, whose biography is full of paradoxes, loved his job very much, but left it to voluntarily go to war.

This is a scary word"war"

In 1917, the United States announced its entry into the First World War, American newspapers encouraged young guys to put on military uniforms and go to the battlefield. Ernest, with his romantic nature, could not remain indifferent and wanted to immediately become a part of this event, but met with stiff resistance from his parents and doctors (the guy had poor eyesight). However, Ernest Hemingway managed to get to the front in 1918 by enrolling in the ranks of the Red Cross volunteers. Everyone who wanted to was sent to Milan, where their first task was to clear the territory of the ammunition factory, blown up the day before. On the second day, young Ernest was sent to a front-line detachment in the town of Shio, but even there he failed to witness real hostilities - playing cards and baseball, which most soldiers did, did not at all resemble the guy's ideas about war.

Ernest Hemingway finally achieved his goal by volunteering to deliver food to soldiers directly on the battlefield, in the trenches. "Bye weapons!" - an autobiographical work in which the writer conveyed all the emotions and observations of that period of his life.

First love

In July 1918, a young driver, trying to save a wounded sniper, was hit by Austrian machine guns. When they brought him half-dead to the hospital, there was no living place on him - his whole body was covered with wounds. After removing twenty-six fragments from the body and treating all the wounds, the doctors sent Ernest to Milan, where he had a shot knee cup replaced with an aluminum prosthesis.

In Milan's Ernest HospitalHemingway (biography from official sources confirms this) spent more than three months. There he met a nurse, whom he fell in love with. Their relationship was also reflected in his novel A Farewell to Arms!

Return Home

In January 1919, Ernest returned home to the United States. He was greeted as a real hero, his name could be seen in all the newspapers, the King of Italy awarded the brave American with the Military Cross and the Medal of Valor.

During the year, Hemingway healed his wounds in the family circle, and in 1920 he moved to Canada, where he continued his correspondent research. The Toronto Star newspaper, in which he worked, gave the reporter freedom - Hemingway was free to write anything, but received a salary only for approved and published materials. At this time, the writer creates his first serious works - about the war, about forgotten and useless veterans, about the stupidity and excesses of power structures.

Paris

In September 1921, Hemingway started a family, the young pianist Hadley Richardson became his chosen one. Together with his wife, Ernest realizes another dream - he moves to Paris, where, in the process of careful, conscious study of the basics of writing, he hones his literary skills. Hemingway described life in Paris in the book A Holiday That Is Always With You, which became famous only after his death.

Ernest had to work hard and hard to provide for himself and his wife, so heSubmitted weekly essays to the Toronto Star newspaper. The editors received from their already freelance correspondent what they wanted - a description of the life of Europeans in detail and without embellishment.

In 1923, Ernest Hemingway, whose stories have already been read by thousands of people, replenishes his experience with new acquaintances and impressions, which he will later convey to the reader in his works. The writer becomes a frequent visitor to the bookstore of his friend Sylvia Beach. There he rents books, and also meets many writers and artists. With some of them (Gertrude Stein, James Joyce), Hemingway developed warm friendships for a long time.

Recognition

The first literary works of the writer, which brought him fame, were written by him in the period from 1926 to 1929. "The Sun Comes Out", "Men Without Women", "The Winner Takes Nothing", "The Assassins", "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" and, of course, "Farewell to Arms!" captured the hearts of American readers. Almost everyone knew who Ernest Hemingway was. Reviews of his work, although they were contradictory (some considered the writer immensely talented, others - mediocre), they further aroused public interest in the works. His books were bought and read even during the economic crisis in the US.

Life in motion

Ernest often moved from place to place, most of all in his life he loved to travel. So, in 1930, he once again changed his place of residence, this time staying in Florida. There he continues to create, fish and hunt. In September 1930Hemingway gets into a car accident, after which he recovers his he alth within six months.

In 1933, an avid hunter embarks on a long-planned trip to East Africa. There he experienced a lot: successful fights with wild animals, and infection with a serious infection, and exhausting long-term treatment. He recorded his impressions of that period of life in a book called "Green Hills of Africa".

Couldn't sit still Ernest Hemingway. The biography of the writer contains information that he could not remain indifferent to the Spanish Civil War and went there as soon as the opportunity arose. There he became the screenwriter of a documentary film about the course of hostilities in Madrid called "Land of Spain".

In 1943, Ernest Hemingway returned to the profession of a journalist and went to London to cover the events of the Second World War. In 1944, the writer takes part in combat flights over Germany, leads a detachment of French partisans, and bravely fights on the battlefields in Belgium and France.

In 1949, Hemingway moved again - this time to Cuba. There his best story was born - "The Old Man and the Sea", for which the writer was awarded the Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes.

In 1953, Ernest again travels to Africa, where he gets into a serious plane crash.

Tragic end of story

In addition to the fact that the writer in the last years of his life suffered from many physicaldiseases, he experienced a deep depression. It always seemed to him that he was being watched by FBI agents, that his phone was tapped, letters were read, and bank accounts were regularly checked. For treatment, Ernest Hemingway was sent to a psychiatric clinic, where he was forcibly given thirteen sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. This led to the fact that the writer lost his memory and could no longer create, which further aggravated his condition.

A few days after being discharged from the clinic at his home in Ketchum, Ernest Hemingway shot himself with a gun. 50 years after his death, it became known that the mania of persecution was not at all groundless - the writer was indeed carefully monitored.

The great writer Ernest Hemingway, whose quotes are now known by heart by millions of people around the globe, lived a difficult, but bright and eventful life. His wise words and works will forever remain in the hearts and souls of readers.