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Classic Authors: Ernest Hemingway

© Susan Jensen

On the morning of July 2, 1961, a Nobel Prize-winning author slipped out of bed, leaving his wife sleeping, and killed himself with his favorite double-barreled Boss shotgun. The world asked why. Why would Ernest Hemingway, a man of talent, with a zest for life and adventure, end his own life? It is a question without an answer. But, as Hemingway himself once said, "Every man's life ends the same way, and it is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguishes one man from another." Here are the details of how Hemingway lived . . .

Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois. His father, a doctor, stood on his front porch and proudly blew a cornet to announce the arrival of his infant son. His mother, a music teacher and performer, is said to have been so wrapped up in her own hobbies, that she had little time for mothering. While Ernest adored his father, inheriting his love for hunting and fishing, he did not get along with his mother, and left home soon after he graduated from high school.

Ernest began his writing career as a reporter for the Kansas City Star, a position he landed at only 18 years of age. He longed to join the Army, a dream that seemed futile because of his poor eyesight. Ironically, he landed a job as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross a year later, and soon found himself on the Italian front. In July of 1918, however, he was hit by a trench mortar and severely wounded. Ernest spent 5 months convalescing at an army hospital, where he met Agnes von Kurowsky, his famous first love. When he had recovered, he returned to Illinois a hero. Soon, he found another reporting job, this time for the Toronto Star.

In 1920, Ernest married Hadley Richardson, the first of his four wives. The couple moved to Paris, where they joined a group of expatriates that included Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald. When Hadley became pregnant, the Hemingways moved to Canada so that their son could be born on their native continent. After his birth, they returned to France.

During the 1920s, Ernest wrote short stories and poetry. He published his first book, a collection of short works entitled Three Stories and Ten Poems, in August of 1923. The Sun Also Rises appeared in

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