Ernest Hemingway: Life, Love, War, and Literary Legacy

Introduction: The Man Behind the Myth

There are a number of websites, books, and articles on the life, experiences, and writings of Ernest Hemingway that depict the man as a womanizer, sometimes heavy drinker, and ultimately the tragic victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Though many of these sources attempt to shine different lights on Hemingway's life, nearly all agree that he was a prolific and profound writer of the written word. Hemingway wrote in a variety of forms, including short stories, novels, poetry, and journalism articles.

Early Career and Wartime Service

He began his writing career as a journalist at the young age of eighteen. His first foray into the writing community was as a cub reporter for the Kansas City newspaper The Kansas City Star. Similar to the rest of his life, he quickly became bored with covering local events and yearned for much more. During his brief stint with the Star, he covered the 15th Street Police Station, Union Station, and the General Hospital. According to one expert, "This meant he had to write about everything that went on in the police station, the train station, and the hospital" (Hulse, 2006), when his true objective was to be in on the action during World War I.

Hemingway obtained that objective by becoming an ambulance driver in Europe, transporting the dead and wounded to area hospitals and clinics. He was nineteen years old and the year was 1918. After training for the position, he arrived in Europe and was quickly immersed in the action. His first injury took place as he drove his ambulance — filled with supplies for Italian soldiers — when a projectile exploded within a group of soldiers with whom he was conversing. Despite his own wounds, he heroically carried another soldier to safety while coming under heavy machine gun fire. His resulting injuries landed him in a Red Cross hospital in Milan.

Ernest's predilection for the machinations of war was evident throughout his entire life. He loved being in the middle of all the action, and his numerous injuries — along with the resulting hospital stays and medical treatments — were evidence that he was also prone to serious mishaps. In fact, two of his injuries were so severe that his death was erroneously reported in the media on both occasions.

Love, Loss, and Literary Inspiration

It was while he was recovering in the Milan hospital that Hemingway first displayed his propensity for falling in love with beautiful women. The first real love of his life was a nurse who cared for his wounds in a mansion used for wounded soldiers in Milan; her name was Agnes. According to Hulse, "it was his first adult love affair and he hurled himself into his emotions" (2006). It may have been his first true love, but it also set the course of his life in motion — at least regarding love affairs. Though Agnes ultimately rejected his advances, he learned at a young age what it really meant to fall in love. He also drew on his experiences with her as a rich source of material for his writing.

His heart and courage often won him accolades and rewards, and many of his experiences — in war and in love — provided background and material for his fiction. The novel The Sun Also Rises and the short story collection Men Without Women are excellent examples of his use of the written word to expound upon life's tragic stories of loves lost and wars won or lost. His works frequently focused on how men react to the loneliness of war, oftentimes with drink, women, or death.

Works Cited

"Ernest Hemingway — Biography." Nobelprize.org, electronic, 23 May 2012. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-bio.html

Hulse, C. "Ernest Hemingway." Ernest Hemingway Reporter, 1999–2006, electronic, 23 May 2012.