| Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, Ernest Miller Hemingway has been one of the finest writers America has produced. Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois to Clarence Edmonds and Grace Hall Hemingway. Hemingway attended Oak Park and River Forest High School. He particularly showed an interest in English and was entrusted with the task of editing Trapeze and Tabula — the school’s newspaper and literary magazine respectively. Hemingway did not pursue higher education; instead he embarked upon a career in writing. He joined The Kansas City Star as a cub writer.
Hemingway’s career as a writer was not acceptable to his father. Hence, after failing to make it into the US Army, he joined the Red Cross Ambulance Corps. His carrier there ended when he was wounded while supplying to soldiers. This was during the World War I. Post war, Hemingway got back to Oak Park, and started writing for the Toronto Star as a freelancer. Hemingway later, made his debut as a story writer with ‘In Our Time’ in 1925. ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ was his first novel. This was later followed by ‘Across the River Into the Trees’, ‘Islands of Stream’, ‘A Moveable Feast’ etc. The most well known amongst his masterpieces is ‘The Old Man and the Sea’; not only did it fetch him many accolades, but also the Pulitzer and the Nobel honors.
Hemingway was one the most successful writers of his time. However, he never enjoyed a successful personal life. It is believed that he was a homosexual; and to prevent people from finding out, he even attacked gay individuals. He had three unsuccessful marriages. By the time he married the fourth time, his health had started to deteriorate and finally committed suicide by shooting himself. |
