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“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. All you have to do is to write one true sentence.” ― Ernest Hemingway
Hemingway is one of my favorite authors of all times and I am surprised I have not written about him earlier. I loved most of his books and his style of writing. I will share a bit about this great legendary author and journalist and some of his works that I have read. There is a plethora to write and say about Hemingway but I will keep this biography nice and short this time to just give an overall idea about him. Enjoy!
Ernest Hemingway was born in Chicago Illinois in 1899. His mother was a musician and his father a doctor. He became interested in writing at a young age. In school he already edited and wrote for the local newspaper and high school yearbook. After graduating, he worked for several newspapers occasionally and in this time he learned his amazing writing style that shapes all his work. Hemingway served during World War I as an ambulance driver and was severely wounded. He spent many months in hospital. He fell madly in love with a nurse, Agnes von Kuroswky, but she was engaged to a different man who she married. Hemingway was devastated by all this and has never really gotten over her. Agnes is the basis of many female characters in his books. A Farewell To Arms (1929) is one of the books that actually made me tear-up. The way he described his love for “Agnes” was fantastic. A pattern started to form in Hemingway’s life and lasted actually for the rest of it. He left women before they had the chance to leave him.
Hemingway moved to Paris in the 1920s and began work as a journalist and kept writing stories and essays almost daily. “In Our Time” was publishes in 1925 and is considered one of Hemingway’s most important works of the 20th century. Many other novels and novellas followed. In 1954 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Hemingway spent his later years in Idaho suffering from paranoia. He believed that police and FBI was constantly monitoring him. Eventually he needed electroconvulsive therapy. His finally treatment was on June 30th, 1961. He committed suicide two days later by shooting himself in the mouth with a shotgun. Suicide seemed to recur in the Hemingway family. Ernest Hemingway’s father, brother and sister also committed suicide. Hemingway is a legacy and his writing will always be unique, wonderful and special.
I highly recommend the following books by Ernest Hemingway that are also a great start if you have never read anything by him: “A Farewell to Arms”, “The Old Man and the Sea”, “The Sun also Rises” and “In Our Time”.
Hemingway stated that this list below is a must-read for anybody who wants to become a writer. I like this list.
There is a nice documentary about Hemingway wrestling life. I am also a huge fan of Woody Allen and his movies. Watch his movie “Midnight in Paris” to get a pretty good picture on how life was like in 1920 in Paris. And you will get to meet Hemingway. 🙂
Have you read anything by Hemingway? Which book is your favorite and why?
Thank you for reading my blog.
