Many consider Ernest Hemingway to be the greatest 20th century American novelist.  Born in Oak Park, Illinois, just outside of Chicago, Hemingway turned his life experiences into stark, sensitive fiction that captivated a worldwide audience.  Through his parents' efforts he became a fisherman, hunter, and connoisseur of the arts. This tough yet cultured background was to be the essence of his life's experiences and his work.

In high school Ernest Hemingway was interested in English studies, and wrote articles for the school newspaper. He left home at the age of 17 to become a journalist. His first job was a reporter for the Kansas City Star, where it is said he adopted a main tenet of his literary style from the publication's style guide: "Use short sentences. Use short first paragraphs. Use vigorous English. Be positive, not negative." Shortly thereafter, Ernest was swept away in the tumult of World War I. Though he was deferred due to bad eyesight, he volunteered as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross and went to Italy. Because of his eagerness to serve on the front lines, Hemingway transferred to the Italian infantry, fell wounded and deeply into an unrequited love.

Hemingway's experiences abroad served as fruitful material for the first phase of his literary career. Following the First World War, Ernest married his girlfriend, moved to Paris, had a son and published his first book Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923). His American literary debut followed with the publication of a number of short stories under the title In Our Time (1925). During the same year, Hemingway met Gertrude Stein and was introduced to the "Lost Generation," an expatriate community of American artists living in Paris. His association with luminaries like Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald was critical to the development of his professional writing. In Paris he wrote his first novel, The Sun Also Rises (1926), based on his wartime adventures.

Hemingway soon endured a difficult period, marked by the birth of two children, an affair, a divorce and the publication of Men Without Women, (1927) a series of stories conceived during his separation from his first wife. Subsequently, he published his second novel, A Farewell to Arms, (1929) where he revisited his love affair with a nurse in World War I. It was the financial success of his second novel that allowed Ernest to live on royalties he received from writing.

In succeeding years, Ernest Hemingway continued to fight in wars, married and divorced several women, traveled, and penned wonderful literature. Though his abrasive personal style turned F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein into enemies, it enabled his success with Death in the Afternoon (1932) (on Pamplona bullfighting), The Green Hills of Africa (1936) about a safari in Mambosa, Nairobi, and the critically acclaimed For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), on his experience in the Spanish Civil War.

After For Whom the Bell Tolls, it took Hemingway another decade to complete a novel, during which time he fought in the Second World War. His novel, Across the River and Through the Trees (1950), set in wartime Venice, received poor reviews. He then published Old Man and the Sea, (1952), a novel that earned him the Pulitzer Prize (1953) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1954).

Ernest Hemingway's later years were marked by severe injuries and an unhappy move from his estate outside of Havana, Cuba to Idaho. He spent his final years in a disturbed mental state. On July 2, 1961, the author shot himself in his home in Ketchum, Idaho. His last notable literary efforts were published posthumously, including A Moveable Feast (1964), based on his 1920s Parisian days, Islands in the Stream (1970), The Dangerous Summer (1985), Garden of Eden (1986), and True at First Light (1999).

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Articles About Hemingway, Ernest

A Visit To Hemingway's Cuba And The Search For The Old Man And The Sea	November 27, 2007
As the sun rises over the defunct fishing processing plant on the hill overlooking the bay, the backyard roosters settle into a late morning silence. Everyone in Cojimar, Cuba seems headed for the water. Old men pedal slowly along on Chinese-made Flying Pigeon bicycles, fishing poles balanced on the handlebars. Barefoot kids in tattered shorts jog toward the docks where their friends are already honing their splashless back flips.
The Sun Also Sets: A Visit to Hemingway's Grave and Memorial	November 27, 2007
It's quiet here at Hemingway's Grave. Sun Valley is filled with late afternoon light and there is a chill in the air. A new red truck drives into the cemetery, parks, and three large men climb out. They come over and ask where Hemingway's grave is. I point to the long stone slab I'm standing next to. It is inscribed: Ernest Miller Hemingway, July 21, 1899- July 2, 1961. Mary lies next to him.
The Lessons of Youth: Ernest Hemingway as a Young Man	November 27, 2007
The year 1999 was the Centennial of the birth of Ernest Miller Hemingway, a writer who was a legend during his own lifetime. He stands as a monument to the power of literature and could easily be argued as the most influential American writer of this century. He was an icon, part myth and myth maker, a genius and hero to many and to others he was a writer obsessed with masculinity, violence and death.
Hemingway at Shakespeare & Company	September 16, 2007
For Ernest Hemingway, the walk from his Latin Quarter flat to Gertrude Stein's pavillon at 27, rue des Fleurs, would have been a pleasant one: down rue Moufftard until a left on rue Clovis took him past St. Etienne du Montno Notre Dame, but the sort of neighborhood church where you might stop and cross yourself if you were drunk and it was late and you were on your way home to your wife.
Places Where Hemingway Fished in Michigan	February 5, 2007
One of the first streams Hemingway fished was School Creek, not far from Walloon Lake. As his skill with a fly rod improved and he became older, he would venture to other streams on weekends. These weekend excursions were also camping trips. He would pack his tent, a change of clothes, some food and be on his way. His transportation was  his thumb since he hitchhiked and walked where he wanted to go.
Ernest Hemingway and Key West Writers	February 4, 2007
In the mid-19th century in Key West, the cigar industry transformed the island into the thirteenth largest port in the country. To get an education and to relax while they worked, the cigarmakers hired lectores, or readers, to keep them up on the news and the classics. These lectores read in both English and Spanish.
Hemingway in Pamplona	February 4, 2007
I've fashioned a makeshift costume out of light khakis, a white t-shirt, and a wild west red bandanna. With me in the line at the bus station are young Spaniards, their uniforms exact: white trousers, white tunics, and the official San Fermin scarf, neatly tied in front and draped across the back. Inexplicably, I'm at the front of the line, a solitary American in questionable attire, and as such am duly ignored.