Ernest Hemingway Research Paper

1491 Words3 Pages

Ben Watson
English Research Paper
Mr. Walrath
January 3, 2015 “You are all a lost generation.” When Gertrude Stein uttered those words in conversation, she was speaking of an entire generation of American expatriates living abroad after WWI. Out of this war came many great writers of the twentieth century, among them the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T.S. Elliot. But the man who perhaps embodied this group the best was Ernest Hemingway. While dealing with the traumas of his generation, chief among them WWI, his unique writing in his lean, to-the-point style vaulted him to fame. This is part of the reason why Hemingway was the greatest writer of the 20th Century. On July 21, 1899, Ernest was born to Clarence and Grace Hemingway of Oak …show more content…

Due to vision problems, namely a bad left eye, he wasn’t able to enlist (thelostgeneration.com). He then, however, found out about the Red Cross requiring volunteers to be ambulance drivers, he made no hesitation in signing up (thelostgeneration.com). He was stationed in Milan in early June of 1918, and acted as an ambulance driver until July 8, 1918, the day upon which he was gravely wounded (thelostgeneration.com). Though the details are still debated upon, it is fairly widely believed that after taking over 200 pieces of shrapnel, and several bullets to the legs, Hemingway still managed to carry an Italian soldier to a first aid station (thelostgeneration.com). He was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery for these actions, actions that led to him being hospitalized in Milan for some time, in which he met a nurse by the name of Agnes von Kurowsky (Bio.com). She originally accepted his proposal of marriage, before leaving Hemingway for another man (Bio.com). Both the devastation of Kurowsky leaving him, and the horrors of his short time in the war would greatly affect his later writing, namely, the novel, A Farewell to Arms …show more content…

Early on, he met some of the people that would help him become the great writer that he was, including Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein (thelostgeneration.com). He spent his first two years in Paris (1921-1923) making a name for himself as a reporter, and novice fiction writer before his wife got pregnant (thelostgeneration.com). In October of 1923, he and his wife moved back to the U.S. in order to have their baby, due to hospitals being better in America then (thelostgeneration.com). Wasting little time getting back to Paris in January of 1924 (thelostgeneration.com). This time around was when Hemingway really established himself. He wrote several books including In Our Time, and The Sun Also Rises, which some believe to be his most important work (nobelprize.org). All this success in his professional life, however, led to problems with his personal life. In 1927 he divorced Hadley, likely due to his affair with one Pauline Pfeiffer, who would soon become his second wife (Bio.com). By 1928, having married Pfeiffer, Hemingway moved to Key West, Florida with his new wife, leaving Paris behind

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