Ernest Hemingway

1899–1961 · American (Oak Park, Illinois / Key West / Cuba) · American Modernism, Lost Generation

Known for: Master of spare prose—The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, The Old Man and the Sea. Nobel Prize 1954

Hemingway was ambulance driver, war correspondent, big-game hunter, deep-sea fisherman, bullfight aficionado, and four-times married—the most macho literary figure of the 20th century. His 'iceberg theory' (show only the surface; the depth is implied) revolutionized American prose. He survived two plane crashes in Africa and multiple war wounds.

He cultivated his tough-guy persona relentlessly, but his prose reveals deep sensitivity to pain and loss. His competitive jealousy (especially toward Fitzgerald) was legendary. He suffered from depression, alcoholism, and probable CTE from multiple head injuries, and shot himself in Ketchum, Idaho at 61.

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