Ernest Hemingway: The Nobel Prize In Literature

Ernest Hemingway was one of the most influential writers in the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style” (Nobel Prize website, The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954). On July twenty-first, 1899, Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois. The second of six children of Clarence Hemingway and Grace Hall Hemingway. In Hemingway’s early years, he left the school newspaper business and attempted to join the Army during WWI. But because of his poor eyesight, Hemingway was

Hemingway’s first child, John “Jack” Hemingway, was born on the tenth of October, but their is no sign of the bulls having an effect on him. In 1925, Ernest meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a bar in Paris, just two weeks after The Great Gatsby was published. On April 4th, 1927, Hemingway divorces Elizabeth and remarries Pauline Pfeiffer a month later. In 1928, Ernest and Pauline move to Key West, Florida, where he goes on and off about through the 50’s, and where he completes the majority of his life’s writing at the house. On June eighth, the couple’s son, Patrick Hemingway, was born. Sadly on December sixth, Hemingway loses his father, Clarence, by committed suicide. “In 1929, Hemingway goes to Spain to research bullfighting for Death in the Afternoon, his critically lauded nonfiction book on the subject” (Ernest Hemingway Timeline, Ernest Hemingway Timeline of Important Dates). “In 1933, Pauline and Ernest took a ten-week trip to Africa, and fell in love with the continent” (Ernest Hemingway Timeline, Ernest Hemingway Timeline of Important Dates). The African continent inspired him to write many of his great works, such as Green Hills of Africa, The snows in Kilimanjaro,

Less than three weeks later, he marries the journalist Martha Gellhorn. The couple settles in Finca Vigia, the Cuban estate where Hemingway will live, off and on, for twenty years. The Spanish Civil War novel For Whom the Bell Tolls is Published in the same year. The United States enters WWII. Hemingway volunteers for the Navy, outfitting his fishing boat Pilar with guns to hunt for German submarines off the coast of Cuba. Though he never fires at one, the military will still award him a Bronze Star for his service in 1947. In 1944, Hemingway goes to Europe as a war correspondent for Collier’s Magazine. Professional rivalry with Martha, who is also an accomplished war correspondent, soon leads to the breakup of their marriage.”(Ernest Hemingway Timeline, Ernest Hemingway Timeline of Important Dates). In 1951, Grace Hemingway, Ernest’s mother, passes away. After Hemingway’s successful work, The Old and the Sea, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize “The Old Man and the Sea is the story of an epic struggle between an old, seasoned fisherman and the greatest catch of his life” (SparkNotes website, The Old Man and The Sea Overview). The man has spent a long period of time trying to catch a bite, and eventually catches a marlin.