Ernest M. Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was a novelist and short story
writer, who became well known for the passion that he used in all
his writings. Many of his works are regarded as classics of
American Literature, and some have even been made into motion
pictures. The Old Man and the Sea, which is the story about an
old Cuban fisherman, was published in 1952. Because of this
creation, in 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in
Literature.
Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. He was educated
in Oak Park High School and graduated in 1917. After graduating,
Hemingway became a reporter for the Kansas City Star. He left
his job within a few months to serve as a volunteer ambulance
driver in Italy during World War I (1914-1918). After the war he
served as a correspondent on the Toronto Star and then settled
in Paris. While there, he was encouraged in creative work by the
American expatiate writers Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein.
During World War II, Hemingway became a reporter for the
United States First Army; although he was not a soldier, he
participated in several battles. After the war Hemingway settled
near Havana, Cuba in 1958. While Hemingway lived near Havana,
Cuba, a friend of his told him about an old man that lived
nearby. That’s where he got the idea of writing the Nobel Prize
short story winner titled, The Old Man and the Sea. The story of
the old man that his friend told him about made him think about
the sea and the way people go fishing everyday to eat in Cuba.
In some parts of this country, fishing is their only way of
survival. By fishing they are able to feed themselves and their
families. They also sell fish in order to attain money to
purchase any more materials and equipment that they may need in
the future.
“Hemingway’s economical writing style often seems simple and
almost childlike, but his method is calculated and used to
complex effect.” Hemingway provided detached descriptions of
action using simple nouns and verbs to capture the scenes
precisely in his writing. He avoided describing his characters’
emotions and feelings by using this method of writing. Instead,
Hemingway would use small phrases to describe his characters.
His writing tried to express a feeling that would capture the
readers’ attention and help them visualize the scene as if they
were really there. He believed that if the writer was actually
in the situation that he is writing about, the story would get
straight to the point and would eliminate all the little details.
Hemingway’s style of writing has had an enormous influence on
American writers. Many American writers have followed the
footsteps of Hemingway and have tried or are now using his
method.
Ernest Hemingway had a lot of important thoughts when
writing each and every one of his novelettes. He used themes of
helplessness and defeat in his original work, but he began to
express concern about social problems in the late 1930’s. One of
his novels, “To Have and Have Not” deals with political
injustices. In the novel For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), which
deals with the Spanish Civil War, he showed that the loss of
liberty anywhere in the world is a warning that liberty is
endangered everywhere. During the next decade Hemingway’s
literary efforts were Men at War: The Best War Stories of all
time (1942), which he edited, and the novel Across the River and
into the Trees (1950). In 1954 Hemingway wrote the short story
of The Old Man and the Sea with which he won the 1953 Pulitzer
Prize in literature. The next year after winning the Pulitzer
Prize he was awarded he was awarded the Nobel Prize in
literature. In the year of 1961 Ernest Miller Hemingway
committed suicide (he shot himself on the head)
I think Ernest Hemingway was one of the best novelette
writers ever, in fact he is my second favorite author after
Christopher Pike. Two of the stories I’ve read that he wrote are
For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea which I read
in my World Literature class. While searching on the Internet I
found an audio message where Ernest Hemingway said something very
interesting:
For all true writer, each book should be a new beginning
where he tries again for something that is beyond
attainment. He Should always try for something that has
never been done or that others have tried and failed. Then
sometimes, with good luck, he will succeed.
This quote tries to tell other writers to begin their latest
literature with the same passion as the first time they ever
wrote a piece of literature. Hemingway believed that every book
he wrote was the beginning of his career as a novelist.