In a world riven by conflict, a fact that truly threatens to define humanity, Hemingway’s masterpiece remains as poignant and wrenching as ever. As we can also see in the appendices, Hemingway had great difficulty in coming up with a satisfactory ending, but the one he ultimately used I believe was the best one, as it leaves an indelible impression on you long after you have finished the book. The writing is simplistic as such, with some great descriptions of the landscape and the weather, with the main elements not gone into in great detail, thus leaving us as readers to experience them more intimately and obviously the more you have lived the greater the effect. This novel then encompasses so much more than just a simple war experience, and that has helped it remain so popular and worth reading. We can thus see certain semi-autobiographical elements being used as inspiration and a starting point for some of the things that happen here.Īs we follow the tale we have scenes of romance as well as war, with explosions, death, shootings and trying to stay alive, along with medical drama, bravery, cowardice and the meaning of loyalty, and even a childbirth. We do know who some of the characters here were based on, and although having a dalliance with a nurse whilst suffering injuries, Hemingway was spurned by her when he wanted to marry her, unlike in this story. Here then we meet American Lieutenant Frederic Henry, who whilst recuperating in hospital after sustaining injuries falls in love with English nurse Catherine Barkley. There was quite a bit of research then whilst creating this story, even including checking on the weather reports and communications with others who also served in the country. In this novel then the author used his own experiences from being a Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy in the First World War and embellishing that with things that he had heard or had known about. His aim was to create tales that were visceral and immediate and took you straight into the scenes and feel them, in effect virtual reality in book form. He was to come to call this the iceberg theory, where the story remains relatively simple on top, with all the meanings and other elements that you can take away from a novel buried under the surface. It has to be remembered that Hemingway started his literary career as a journalist, and as with many other such writers he took across what he learnt from writing for papers and magazines into his stories, thus cutting down on extraneous pieces and concentrating on the immediate. Hemingway’s biggest influence on writing of course has been on the short story in America, and it does have to be admitted that a few of those stories of his have surpassed this novel, and indeed his ultimate masterpiece, The Old Man and the Sea is only a novella, but when it comes to his novels, then this is his best. We can get therefore a clear idea of a famous author at work and honing his craft. This Scribner/ Simon and Schuster edition has so much more than just the actual story, what with photos of the draft and the alterations that Hemingway made, as well as the alternate endings and changes that he made to the text in text format. Recognition of his position in contemporary literature came in 1954 when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, following the publication of The Old Man and the Sea. His direct and deceptively simple style of writing spawned generations of imitators but no equals. He visited Spain during the Civil War and described his experiences in the bestseller, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
He was passionately involved with bullfighting, big-game hunting and deep-sea fishing and his writing reflected this. His international reputation was firmly secured by his next three books Fiesta, Men Without Women and A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway's first two published works were Three Stories and Ten Poems and In Our Time but it was the satirical novel, The Torrents of Spring, that established his name more widely. Their encouragement and criticism were to play a valuable part in the formation of his style.
He settled in Paris where he renewed his earlier friendships with such fellow-American expatriates as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. In 1922, he reported on the Greco-Turkish war before resigning from journalism to devote himself to fiction. He returned to America in 1919, and married in 1921. The following year, he volunteered as an ambulance driver on the Italian front, where he was badly wounded but decorated for his services. In 1917, Hemingway joined the Kansas City Star as a cub reporter. Their home was at Oak Park, a Chicago suburb. His father was a doctor and he was the second of six children.
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