So my recent mini Cuban phase was actually brought on by the books of Ernest Hemingway, particularly The Old Man and the Sea. Although he was an American he spent most his life living in France, Spain, and Cuba. He actually lived a very unique and adventurous life which I want to get into in this biographical study. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in history and made my top ten list of Greatest Novelists in 2019. Some of his most famous works include The Sun Also Rises (1926), Farewell to Arms (1929), For Whom the Bells Toll (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952).
It was actually from one of my all time favorite movies,
Midnight in Paris, that I came to better understand the famous writer Hemingway. In the film he is portrayed by Corey Stoll as a very confident and passionate person with a reckless side of womanizing and alcoholism. He actually only has a handful of scenes, but he certainly delivers some memorable lines. Such as in the bar explaining to Gil how a writer must be competitive and honest in his writing. Also there's the scene in the car where Hemingway explains how a writer must not be afraid to die in order to express true passion in his writing.
Surprisingly however I had not read any of his work until just a month ago. I zipped thru the short story of the Old Man and the Sea and then followed that up with the Sun Also Rises. I'm going to write short reviews of those books within this post. I am currently reading For Whom the Bells Toll, which is a much larger book and I will likely make a separate book review on that. I also recently purchased his non-fictional biography A Moveable Feast, which gives a real account of his early years as a struggling writer in Paris. I love this renaissance period, and have already made various posts about the 1920s Lost Generation, see Paris in the 1920s. So without further ado here is my biographical study of the great Ernest Hemingway.
Early Life
Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois to an affluential conservative family. His mother was a local musician and devout Christian and his father was a doctor and an outdoor enthusiast who both instilled qualities of discipline into their son. His family would travel to Michigan frequently, where Ernest learned how to hunt, fish, and camp. As a young teenager he began to excel at sports such as boxing, track and field, water polo, and football. He even performed the cello and wrote for the school paper during his high school years. After high school he found brief employment as a journalist for the Kansas City Star. He was only there for six months, but it was there that he established his writing style of brief, positive, and concise writing.
World War I Service
Ernest only spent six months working for the Kansas City Star due to the outbreak of World War I in 1917. He was eager to join his fellow Americans in what he considered a great adventure, however was rejected from soldier service due to his poor vision. Instead he was able to join the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. He first arrived in Paris in May of 1918 whilst the city was under siege by the German army long range artillery weapons. The famous Paris-Gun bombarded the city of Paris from March to August of 1918 and killed 250 people during Hemingway's service in Paris. By the late summer the Allied forces had pushed the Nazis back and Hemingway joined the battles at the Italian Front.
During his service in Italy, he was severely wounded at once point however still managed to rescue several soldiers, and for this he was awarded the War Merit Cross. It was during this battle that he undrestood war not as an adventure but rather a very real wake up call of life-and-death. He spent six months in a hospital where he fell in love with a nurse named Agnes von Kurowsky, who would later become the inspiration of his book, Farewell to Arms. He had hoped she would return with him to America, but unfortuntaely she stayed in Europe and married an Italian officer, thus breaking his heart.
After his service in the war ended he spent some time fishing in Michigan and later found work as a freelance writer for the Toronto Star Weekly in Canada. A year later he moved to Chicago whilst continuing to write for the Toronto Star. It was there in 1920 that he met his first wife Hadley Richardson. The couple moved to Paris in 1921 where they got married and had their first son Jack. Ernest continued his work as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.
Life in Paris 1920s
At the time Paris had begun a golden renaissance of arts and literature during the Roaring Twenties, referred to in France as "Les Annees Folles". Hemingway quickly joined a circle of prominent writers within the city such as Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Scott Fitzgerald. Gertrude Stein adhered to the school of modernism and became Hemingway's mentor and helped him mold his style of subjective writing. It was during this time that Hemingway's writings became based on his own personal life experiences, while he still continued to work for the Toronto Star.
During this time however Hemingway began to drink and party more with famous writers such as Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and Scott Fitzgerald. By the mid 1920s, after he saw the great success of his friend's novel The Great Gatsby, Hemingway decided to end his work as a journalist so he could focus full time as a writer. His first major novel, The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926 and was a fictional depiction of his social experiences throughout France and Spain. The book became an instant success for it's portrayal of the Lost Generation and established Hemingway as a respected writer. However during this time Hemingway began to have an affair with one of his publishers Pauline Pfeiffer and later divorced his wife and married her in 1927.
Key West Florida 1930s
In March of 1928, Hemingway moved with his 2nd wife Pauline to Key West Florida where they had two children. During this time Hemingway began to write his 3rd novel A Farwell to Arms based on his experiences at the Italian Front during WWI. During this time Hemingway's father committed suicide which greatly impacted him. This dark period no doubt added to the complexity of the book, which was later regarded as a masterpiece and established Hemingway as one of the top American writers. With substantial wealth now he spent his free time fishing in the Key West and hunting in the mountains of Wyoming.
Hemingway published several short stories during this time and finished his first non-fictional writing, Death in the Afternoon in 1932, which once again pertained to his passion of Spanish bullfighting. He continued to travel to far off places in Cuba, Europe, and even Africa. In 1933 he and his wife went on a 10-week safari in Kenya which inspired his 2nd non-fiction writing, The Green Hills of Africa. However by 1936 he once again grew hungry for real adventure and found himself fascinated by the developments in Spain. With the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War he took on a job as a war journalist for the North American Newspaper Alliance and arrived to Spain in March of 1937.
Spanish Civil War Correspondence
He sailed with the Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens, and an associate journalist named Martha Gelhorn, who would later become a new love interest of his. Hemingway supported the leftist Republican Cause who were at civil war against the Nationalist Cause who favored conservatism, the monarchy, falangism, and fascism. He considered the rise of fascism a terrible thing and urged President Roosevelt to intervene in support of the Republic. During this time Mussolini and Hitler had also established powerful fascist dictatorships and Hemingway feared a greater military conflict was approaching.
While writing reports during the Spanish Civil War, Hemingway also helped produce Joris Ivens' film, The Spanish Earth. Hemingway was present during the Siege of Madrid in 1938 and during this time wrote his first play, The Fifth Column. The Nationalist Army would eventually defeat the Republican Army by April of 1939, and thus established a new dictatorship under Francisco Franco. As he predicted the Spanish Civil War would ultimately become a prelude to the much greater World War II throughout Europe. Hemingway returned to America with Martha Gelhorn, which led to his 2nd divorce and Martha became his 3rd wife in 1940. His experiences from the Spanish Civil War would inspire his fifth novel For Whom the Bells Toll.
World War II Correspondence
By the 1940s Hemingway began to spend most his time in Cuba, onboard his fishing boat, the Pilar. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, Hemmingway once again volunteered to do service for the American military. He turned his fishing boat into a Q-boat (decoy vessel) armed with weapons to lure Nazi submarines. However this time he did not want to partake in wartime journalism, which caused a rift with his wife Martha who was eager to report on the events. During this time Hemingway once again reverted to heavy drinking and he and Martha began to fight more.
In May of 1944 Hemingway finally took on a role as a front line war correspondent for Collier's, a famous magazine of investigative journalism. He found station in London where he met and began to fall in love with a correspondent from Time magazine, Mary Welsh who would later become his 4th wife. In 1945 he sustained another severe injury to his head from a car accident but still insisted on covering the American invasion of Normandy. Although he was not allowed to land, his boat came under heavy fire, whilst he witnessed many waves of American soldiers storm and die on the beaches.
After the D-Day invasion Hemingway joined an American regiment as they marched on Paris, and even lead a small group of French partisans. Hemingway was present during the liberation of Paris in August of 1944, as well as the Battle of Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-1945. He provided great reporting during this time yet got very sick with pneumonia and returned to America in March of 1945. At this point his divorce with Gellhorn was finalized and he returned to Cuba with his new wife Mary Welsh.
Life in Cuba 1940s-1950s
After returning from WWII, Hemingway entered a new era of depression, obesity, and alcoholism. His family suffered various accidents while his old writing friends began to pass away such as Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein. During this time he began to struggle from writer's block, and went almost ten years without publishing anything until Across the River and into the Trees in 1950. The book is once again from his personal experiences during WWII as well as his brief affair with a young poet from Venice. The book received poor reviews and just as it seemed his career was on the downturn, he responded with his greatest novel yet.
Hemingway considered the
Old Man and the Sea a very personal project set in his new adopted home of Cuba and pertaining to his passion for fishing. Furthermore he could relate to the protagonist as a man going thru a major rut, seeking one final score before passing away. This book was no doubt Hemingway's final score and receive great praise and even won him the Pullitzer Prize and later the Noble Prize. After this he went on several more travel expeditions, first to Congo, Africa in 1954 with his wife Mary. There he suffered multiple near fatal accidents and word had even begun to spread that he had died in a plane crash. He however survived the accidents and spent several weeks recovering in Nairobi, Kenya.
He also revisted some of his favorite European destinations of Spain and France. While visiting Paris in 1956 he discovered some old notes he left during his time there in the 1920s. He returned to Cuba rejuvenated and inspired to write the non-fictional account A Moveable Feast and also to complete his final novels of Islands in the Stream and Gardens of Eden. By this point Hemingway had achieved global fame and was even recognized by the local Cubans. During the Cuban Revolution of 1959 he found favor with Castro's rebellion but later decided to leave once Castro began to nationalize much of the American property. Hemingway did however return one final time to Cuba in 1960 to fish with both Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara.
Final Years
In 1959 he purchased a cabin deep in the forests and mountains of Idaho, along the Big Wood River. From this point on Hemingway sunk into even further depression and alcoholism, paranoid that the FBI was following his every move. He was also upset that he left many of his notes and manuscripts back in his farm in Cuba. He made several failed attempts at suicide and was admitted into various mental clinics. On July 2, 1961 he locked himself in the basement with his favorite shotgun, and shot himself thru the mouth, blowing out his brains. This was no doubt his fate all along, after his father committed suicide and later his sister and brother also did as well.
Following his death and funeral Mary carried on his legacy by sharing all his unpublished writings with the JFK Library. Many of his unfinished works were posthumously published such as A Moveable Feast (1962), Islands in the Stream (1970), The Dangerous Summer (1985), The Garden of Eden (1986) and many of his short stories. No author gave such realistic and insightful narratives as Hemingway, mostly because he was deriving from previous experiences. He wrote of love, war, travel, the outdoors, and sheer adventure with such great passion. I personally have already found his writings quite easy to comprehend and filled with great realistic detail. I would argue that he might have lived one of the most interesting lives in human history.
Book Review: The Old Man and the Sea
I actually bought this book several years ago from the Half Priced Book Store and it's been sitting unread on my shelves for some time now. About a month ago I had just finished my Mexican phase and was looking for something Latin American, and there that book just jumped at me. I knew it was set in Cuba, but I also knew it finally gave me the chance to dive deep into the great work of Hemingway. The book is actually fairly brief and just as the title suggests it pertains to a stubborn old man hunting a massive fish.
The protagonist Santiago is an old lifelong fisher, who has spent most his life fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and Straits of Florida. He is respected by his coastal town, especially the young boy Manolin whom they frequently discuss fishing and baseball. However Santiago has recently become the subject of much parody due to his 85-day rut without catching a fish. Many of the townspeople joke that his time has past and he just quit wasting his time on the sea. Only Manolin has faith in the old man, and this gives Santiago strength to continue his hunt. He thus sets sail once again on his own deep into the Gulf Stream.
The sun is hot upon him and he struggles with mental fatigue throughout the journey until he hooks a massive marlin. From this point on it becomes not only a battle of mental but also physical fortitude. The old man must reach into strength he had long forgotten as he works to hold this fish upon his cast. At this point it is a matter of pride to return back home with something to show. After nearly a day of struggle, the Marlin finally succumbs to his death and Santiago is able to harpoon it and tie it alongside the boat. The fish is nearly as long as the boat and Santiago shows him great admiration as it seems he has the ultimately trophy to return to his home. However this is not the end of the story.
At this point a band of sharks pick up on the scent of the dead marlin and begin to attack Santiago's catch. Santiago bravely decides to defend his catch, not so much for the glory of his catch but rather for the sake of this fish he has come to admire so much. He is able to kill several sharks but little by little they chew away at the flesh of the dead marlin. While Santiago is able to make a valiant effort in defending the marlin, it is eventually overrun by the pack of hungry sharks. Santiago finally returns to the shore with only the bones of the marlin. The town is amazed at the size of the marlin skeleton, and although Santiago does not have any flesh to present he still finds peace that he finally brought an end to his long rut.
The book is fairly simple to comprehend and to me it is ultimately a message of perseverance. As I mentioned above this is no doubt a personal project for Hemingway who had found great passion in fishing ever since he was a young boy visiting Michigan with his dad. The old man no doubt represents Hemingway at the end of his career, seeking one final shot at glory. The book also creates a great insight into coastal Cuban life, the food, the people, and the culture. I just love those opening chapters where the man is drinking beer at a bar, or talking baseball with the boy, eating his plate of rice and frijoles, or sleeping in a humble shack. That to me just screams a peaceful setting along some tropical beach. This book is a great homage to both Cuba as well as the practice of fishing.
Book Review: The Sun Also Rises
After finishing the Old Man and the Sea, I decided to continue my Hemingway phase and bought several more of his books from Half Priced Book Store. When I began reading The Sun Also Rises, I honestly found the beginning to be a bit disorganized and without structure. Here were just a bunch of wealthy American writers getting drunk in Paris during the 1920s. But it wasn't until the group decided to visit Pamplona, Spain during the Festival of San Fermin that I suddenly became much more interested. By this point the circle of friends had been well established, all pertaining to the protagonist and narrator, Jake Barnes.
The group of friends (Cohn, Bill, and Mike) are mostly all males except one very progressive beautiful British woman named Brett. It is apparent that all the men in the group desire her, for her sophisticated, intellectual, and liberal personality. Despite being Mike's fiancé she is still very free spirited, drinks, smokes, and sleeps around (very unconventional for the women at that time). But during the 1920s and especially in Europe it is clear that this behavior has become more common. While Jake also desires Brett, he knows there is much competition amongst his friends, but he doesn't fret too much over it and still enjoys himself.
Whilst in Pamplona the group spends their time drinking at cafes and joining the local celebration with hoards of people dancing and singing in the streets. They witness various bullfights and even attend the running of the bulls. At this point Brett falls madly in love for one of the Spanish bullfighters and asks Jake to help introduce them. Cohn however grows madly jealous for Brett and begins to fight everyone in the group including this new bullfighter who she prefers. Once the festival comes to an end the friends part ways, but not before Jake and Brett share one final moment. They reflect on their time in Pamplona but also the unspoken love they had for each other that was never able to take fruition. From there they part ways, where Brett returns to her fiance Mike and Jake returns to Paris.
This is no doubt a reflection of Hemingway's life in Paris during the 1920s and the utmost portrayal of the famous Lost Generation. The circle of friends live so carefree, partying until sunset each day. They travel from city to city living a life of indulgence. No work or family to report to yet rather endless debauchery, dancing, food, drinks, smoking, fighting, and sex. It's no wonder Gertrude Stein labeled them the Lost Generation as it is clear form this book, that this group of artists preferred a life of adventure over the cliché American dream.
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