Spotlight: Simply Hemingway
Posted January 12th, 2008 by adminOne of the greatest novelists in history, Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. His father was a doctor and his mother was a singing instructor who dressed him, as a toddler, in girl’s clothing to match his older sister—she badly wanted twins and he had failed to be a pair.
Although his mother would have liked for him to pursue a career in music, Hemingway developed an interest in the outdoors. In high school, Hemingway excelled both academically and athletically; he boxed, played football, and took naturally to his English classes. After high school, Hemingway did not attend college; instead he became a journalist, beginning his writing career as a cub reporter at the Kansas City Star. Hemingway was only at the KC Star for six months before joining the Red Cross Ambulance Corps on the Italian front during World War I.
Hemingway became one of the “The Lost Generation,” the expatriate community in Paris in the 1920’s. He chronicled his stay there in his memoir, “A Moveable Feast.” His memoir wasn’t published until after his death in 1961. After an initial failed attempt, he committed suicide a few weeks before his birthday. Hemingway suffered from depression, and had received electroshock treatments for his condition.
There is so much more to the life of Hemingway than can be put here…bounce over to the Simply Hemingway site to learn more about this fascinating Nobel Prize winning novelist.
Happy learning!
Hmm, I actually grew up in Oak Park. Hemingway never really interested me, but maybe I should finally take a visit to his museum there. Sounds like quite a character, even if I don’t care for his work.
Comment by maculate — April 10, 2009 @ 6:06 pm