Ernest Hemingway
By Illa Vij

YOU don’t ever have a thing until you give it away" were the words of Ernest Hemingway when he gave away the Nobel Prize he had received in 1954, to the Shrine of the Virgin in eastern Cuba. This writer started as a newspaper reporter and reached soaring heights with his wit, intelligence and determination.

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1898, (some sources say 1899) in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. His parents belonged to respectable families. His mother had been a professional singer before her marriage and his father, Dr Clarence, had studied medicine in Edinburgh. Ernest loved outdoor life and had special love for birds. But strangely, he loved shooting rabbits and rooks.

Much to his parents disapproval, Ernest refused to go to college to study medicine and instead went to Kansas City, as a reporter for Kansas City Star. One of his first reports were about a fire that broke out in Kansas City — the biggest fire since years. Risking his life, he walked right into the burning building — looking for details. His clothes got burnt, but he returned to his office with the best and most vivid story ever told. Of course he did not get a new suit from the authorities, as he had expected!

Years later, while referring to the incident, he said: "It taught me never to risk anything, until I was prepared to lose it completely." A couple of months later, the USA entered World War I. Ernest was keen on joining the army but was rejected because of his poor eyesight. He joined the American Red Cross and in 1918, he was sent to the Italian sector as an ambulance driver and a stretcher-bearer. A few months later, he was severely wounded by machine gun fire. While he was in hospital, he fell in love with a girl. His feeling however, were unrequited. Later, Ernest made her (with her name changed) the central character of his world-famous novel, A Farewell to Arms.

After the war was over, Ernest joined Toronto Star. He gave up his job in 1920 and went to Michigan, where he married Hadley. In 1921, Ernest returned and worked for the Toronto paper as its Paris correspondent. Then he

wrote and got published Three stories and Ten Poems. Soon another collection of short stories, In Our Times, was published. Little later, a violent quarrel with the editor of the paper ended his career with Toronto Star.

By the end of 1925, his first book, "The Sun Also Rises", was published. It became a great success. By 1927, Ernest had published more stories. He titled them Men Without Women. At the end of the same year, he divorced Hadley and left their son with her. He married again. His second son by Pauline was born in Kansas City. Hemingway then settled in Florida. He decided to work on A Farewell To arms. Around this time, he lost his father who shot himself. His father had gone into depression as he was ill and also in debt. After Hemingway’s third son was born in 1931, he moved to Cuba and then left for Africa. His restlessness wouldn’t let him settle in any one place. In 1936, the Spanish civil war broke out. Ernest worked as a correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance. His study of the war was the basis of his novel For Whom The Bell Tolls.

In Spain, Ernest met Martha Gellhorn who became his third wife. During World War II, in 1941, he took up a secret assignment for the government. His task involved tracking down enemy submarines. His grit and courage earned him citation from the President. The work that he carried out in the intensely blinding sunlight caused skin cancer and he couldn’t shave thereafter. In 1944, Ernest became chief of the Colliers European Bureau. He divorced his third wife and married Mary. His book Across The River and into The Trees received mixed reactions. By 1952, Ernest had published The Old Man and the Sea, which won him the Pulitzer Prize. In 1954, he received the Nobel Prize for literature. His health began to give way and he suffered from physical and mental illness. After one of his visits to the hospital, he fell into a state of depression. The next morning, on July 2, 1961, Ernest shot himself.

His autobiography, a Moveable Feast, was published in 1964. His novels Island In The Streamand The Garden Of Eden were also published after his death.