One of America’s most celebrated authors is Ernest Hemingway.
What are Hemingway’s best-known works?
How is he remembered today?
In the 1910s and 1920s, several American authors left the United States and took up residence
in foreign countries.
When someone leaves their own nation and lives in another nation, they are known as an expatriate.
These expatriate authors produced some of the most outstanding works of the decade.
One of the most notable expatriate authors was Ernest Hemingway.
Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois in July of 1899.
As a youth, he was a standout student in his English classes, but also excelled in several
sports.
He participated in football, boxing, track and field, and even water polo!
He also played in the school orchestra.
In 1918, Hemingway joined the effort fighting World War I when he volunteered to be an ambulance
driver for the Red Cross.
He was sent to Italy where he was eventually wounded, but was also awarded the Italian
Silver Medal for Bravery.
After the war, he lived in Chicago for a brief period of time where he worked as an editor
for a journal known as Cooperative Commonwealth.
In November of 1921, Hemingway was hired as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star.
As a result, he and his wife moved to Paris, France.
While living in Paris, he became associated with other influential writers such as Ezra
Pound, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein.
Hemingway’s first novel, The Sun Also Rises, was published in 1926.
The book was received well by critics and established Hemingway as a notable author.
However, it was A Farewell to Arms, published in 1929, which solidified his position in
history as one of America’s most prominent authors.
A Farewell to Arms takes place during World War I and gives a first-hand account of a
fictional ambulance driver attempting to survive the war.
The novel was a best-seller and is still regarded as one of the quintessential war novels ever
written.
Hemingway continued writing throughout the next three decades, producing several more
well-known novels during his career.
For Whom the Bell Tolls, from 1940, tells the story of an American fighting in the Spanish
Civil War.
His 1951 novel titled The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
and helped to make Ernest Hemingway a household name that was known around the world.
His life’s achievement was recognized in 1954 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
Through his writings, Hemingway stressed such themes as love, loss, and the tragedy of war.
He strongly influenced generations of writers who attempted to emulate his work.
Hemingway’s impact has even gone beyond literature.
There are numerous establishments named “Harry’s” which have been named after a bar in one of
his novels.
There are also restaurants which bear the name Hemingway, a line of Hemingway furniture,
Hemingway fountain pens, and a clothing brand as well.
There is even an annual writing contest in which authors attempt to mimic Hemingway’s
writing style.