
Overview
As famous for his colorful and adventurous life as for his acclaimed novels, Ernest Hemingway fit a prodigious amount of living into his 62 years. Ambulance driver, big-game hunter, war reporter, record-breaking fisherman—it was sometimes hard to separate the man from his characters. In Simply Hemingway, Mark Ott provides an illuminating introduction to the author of The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea and demonstrates how Hemingway’s complex life provided the fuel for his immortal works.
Description
Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) traveled the globe, transforming his experiences in Paris, Spain, Italy, Africa, Key West, and Cuba into enduring fiction. As an 18-year-old ambulance driver during World War I, he was the first American injured in that conflict, and throughout his life, he was continually involved in extreme exploits, ranging from war correspondent to big-game hunter to four-time-married celebrity. With the publication of The Sun Also Rises in 1926 and A Farewell to Arms three years later, Hemingway established himself as one the most important writers of his generation, a position he largely maintained until his death by suicide in 1961.
In Simply Hemingway, Mark Ott presents an engaging chronicle of Hemingway’s life and work, offering key insights into the inspirations for his enduring books and stories. Beginning with his short stories and proceeding chronologically through his major novels and posthumous works, Ott provides a thorough, clear, concise, and easily understandable introduction to this seminal American writer.
Still controversial after more than half a century, Hemingway’s work continues to be taught in nearly every high school, college, and university. With scholarship and verve, Simply Hemingway reveals why this is so.
About the author
Mark P. Ott is the author of A Sea of Change: Ernest Hemingway and the Gulf Stream—A Contextual Biography (2007) and co-editor of Ernest Hemingway and the Geography of Memory (2012). He is the editor of the “Teaching Ernest Hemingway” series for Kent State University Press and was co-director of the XVI Biennial Ernest Hemingway Society Conference in Venice in 2014. Ott has contributed to Imagining Spain: Hemingway and the Spanish World, Ernest Hemingway in Context, Hemingway and the Black Renaissance, and Ernest Hemingway in Key West. He is on the faculty of the Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.
About the series
Simply Charly's Great Lives Series offers brief, but authoritative introductions to the world's most influential people—scientists, artists, writers, economists, and other historical figures whose contributions have had a meaningful and enduring impact on our society. Each book, presented in an engaging, accessible and entertaining fashion, offers an illuminating look at their works, ideas and personal lives, and the legacies they left behind.