Ernest Hemingway: The Biography
Ernest Hemingway once said, “In order to write about life, you must have lived it.”
Hemingway was an adventurer, a lover, a thinker, and yes, a writer. He was, in fact, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He combined the crisp, controlled language he learned in the press with intense passion, understated complexity and a broad store of descriptions of the life he had seen and led. He had a style all his own, a style that has now been imitated by many celebrated writers who came after him.
Ernest Hemingway was the kind of man both women and men respected deeply and found fascinating. Yet, not everyone has been a fan of his work. Many, in fact most, authors admire his sparse writing style and are amazed at how much meaning he could pack into a very few words. Others criticized his writing, saying it was full of masculine posturing. Nearly everyone who has known Hemingway or read his works either loved or hated him.
So, what was it that made people respond so passionately to his writings? What, in the end, did he really do that was so unique and so unprecedented? And, why has he become a role model to some and a cautionary tale to others?
Hemingway was also a restless writer, moving around from place to place during the writing of his major works. He didn’t just take his writing as a job or a duty, but instead, he felt compelled to write.
What inner demons and desires pushed him to create works of fiction that won the highest awards in the world? Did those same forces contribute to the madness that ruled his later life? And, what of his suicide? Was it the natural conclusion to the intensity with which he lived?
Ernest Hemingway wrote because he had important things to say. He wrote to share his wealth of knowledge and fine-tune his craft. If he expected much of others, he demanded just as much from himself. Hemingway lived to the limits of his existence, and from those experiences, he wrote fiction that stands the test of time.
Ernest Hemingway: The Biography
Ernest Hemingway once said, “In order to write about life, you must have lived it.”
Hemingway was an adventurer, a lover, a thinker, and yes, a writer. He was, in fact, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. He combined the crisp, controlled language he learned in the press with intense passion, understated complexity and a broad store of descriptions of the life he had seen and led. He had a style all his own, a style that has now been imitated by many celebrated writers who came after him.
Ernest Hemingway was the kind of man both women and men respected deeply and found fascinating. Yet, not everyone has been a fan of his work. Many, in fact most, authors admire his sparse writing style and are amazed at how much meaning he could pack into a very few words. Others criticized his writing, saying it was full of masculine posturing. Nearly everyone who has known Hemingway or read his works either loved or hated him.
So, what was it that made people respond so passionately to his writings? What, in the end, did he really do that was so unique and so unprecedented? And, why has he become a role model to some and a cautionary tale to others?
Hemingway was also a restless writer, moving around from place to place during the writing of his major works. He didn’t just take his writing as a job or a duty, but instead, he felt compelled to write.
What inner demons and desires pushed him to create works of fiction that won the highest awards in the world? Did those same forces contribute to the madness that ruled his later life? And, what of his suicide? Was it the natural conclusion to the intensity with which he lived?
Ernest Hemingway wrote because he had important things to say. He wrote to share his wealth of knowledge and fine-tune his craft. If he expected much of others, he demanded just as much from himself. Hemingway lived to the limits of his existence, and from those experiences, he wrote fiction that stands the test of time.
Ernest Hemingway: The Biography
