On July 2, 1961, the writer Ernest Hemingway put an end to his life, as did his father and several of his closest relatives. Thus, with his death, he reveals what his whole life remains hidden for all others - his easily wounded soul.
Hemingway has the image of a man - he is a hunter and veteran of the war, a self-confident reporter, a record-holder of absorbed alcohol and downcast women. In reality, however, he suffers from depressions and constant doubts about his own personality. The world-famous writer, one of the titans of the 20th century literature, was a typical case of a psychologist and psychotherapist textbook.
Sex, alcohol and depression
The childhood of the born in 1899, Ernest Hemingway, passes smoothly into the family of a doctor in one of the suburbs of Chicago. But he disappointed his parents. Instead of embarking on something serious, he becomes a reporter and even goes to the front during the First World War. Heavily injured in Italy and deeply disappointed with his unfortunate first love, Hemingway returns to the United States and continues to write stories and later novels.
The novel "The Sun Also Rises " is his great breakthrough on the literary scene. In it, Hemingway describes the life of a reporter who is seriously injured in Italy and becomes impotent. The parallels of the writer's life are obvious, but nobody can imagine that Hemingway is impotent.
"It certainly was not, at least not for a long time," his biographers say, recalling his two first marriages, of which the writer has five children. Still, his closest friends knew that despite his male image, Hemingway carries a rather raspy soul.
The battles of the front, the severe consequences of World War I and the Civil War in Spain, the escape of alcohol and sex, bullfighting, hunting, fishing - these are the themes that abound in his world-famous books such as "The Sun Also Rises" "A Farewell to Arms" Death in the afternoon, " Green hills of Africa, "For Whom the Bell Tolls ".
Alcohol is the fraudulent life belt to which Hemingway reaches ever more often. The 40s of the last century are the heaviest in his life. The writer begins to hear voices, high blood pressure, and liver cirrhosis further aggravate his condition. Depressions become more frequent, and at that time they are "treated" in the most cruel way - with electric shocks.
The world refrains everyone ...
After a decade of creative frustration, Hemingway returns once more to fame with his novel, "The Old Man and the Sea," which was released in 1952. The New York Times called him "the most significant writer after Shakespeare." In 1954, Hemingway received the Nobel Prize: too late, as his friends say, and he himself.
Hemingway's great love is Cuba, where he spends most of his time before the 1959 revolution. The writer remains after her in Cuba, supporting Fidel Castro and staying blind for his atrocities. In the last years of his life, Hemingway also suffers from paranoia: because of his friendship with Castro, he feels constantly chased by the FBI.
Hemingway is 61 years old when he ends his life with his favorite hunting rifle. One of his literary heroes says, "The world breaks everyone ... and kills those who do not want to be broken."
War, catastrophes, accidents, adventures, marriages, women, alcohol, cats, FBI, safari, Cuba ... everything is in the rich but confused life of the great writer Ernest Hemingway. And of course, the invaluable literary riches and the famous telegraph style of writing that left us.
His talent to write brief, strong and fascinating remains unsurpassed and unique. The trademark of Hemingway style - accessible, objective, in a mild and ironic form and with not very emotional dialogues, makes you fall in love with his books.
"As an artist, he wrote as natural as the hawk flies, and as clearly as the lake reflects," one of his biographers says. "But Hemingway's life and creativity teaches generation of men to profess Stoicism.
His books "The Sunrise", "A Farewell to Arms ", "Death in the Afternoon", "Green Hills of Africa", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", are world famous, whereas in 1952, after almost 10 years of creative silence , Hemingway returns again with "The Old Man and the Sea," for which he received the Nobel Prize for Literature two years later. "Too late ...", his friends say, and he himself.
His harsh soul and subtle sensitivity, the writer often covered with eccentric acts, sharp sarcastic tongue and masculine behavior. But we know the truth. Because we know his books and because we love him.
So we searched for interesting and little-known facts of Ernest Hemingway's colorful life to touch the unique world of the great writer and man and try to understand why he who loved life chose to leave him.
Childhood with an intolerable mother
Hemingway's mother is a free-lived, independent, and ambitious woman who, for all, has held her own opinion. He is in a complicated relationship with her, who are gradually growing into hatred. "I hate this bitch in my gut!" - says the writer.
While Ernest was four years old, his mother dressed him as a girl, and his hair was as long as his sister Marcelin. His mother wanted them to look like twin sisters, making them sleep in a room and play with dolls. Hemingway claims that for years he has not been able to overcome the consequences of this madness.
The writer also blames his mother for the suicide of his father, as well as the fact that he himself has not graduated from college.
His mother wanted him to become a musician and forced him to play a violoncello. She was so stubborn and ambitious that she even stopped him from school for a year - to be able to play.
The first big breakthrough of the writer (the novel "The Sun Also Rises "), his mother commented: "He prostitutes with his talent" and "encourages sensations."
"She sowed in my heart only hatred. He wanted freedom, but only for himself. A selfish American bitch was completed. If you are near her, or you become her slave, or you are thundering. My father chose the second one. And I fled away. "
Young journalist
Before becoming one of the most prominent writers of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway was a journalist. He first wrote about his school paper, then, instead of going to college, he became a reporter at Kansas City Star. Later, he says, "Working in a newspaper does not hurt the young writer and can help him if he gets out of it in time."
As a young journalist, Hemingway has had difficulty with the current verbs of the verbs. Often, his editors complained about his grammatical mistakes, which he always said: "That's why you're paid to fix!"
Ernest Hemingway once published an apple pie recipe in his column. In fact, he had many culinary recipes, some of which are even museum exhibits such as this hamburger recipe.
Hemingway - the narrator
"I've always wanted to be a writer," he says in an interview. Hemingway has continuously fueled its creative charge with additional incentives - alcohol, beautiful women, and above all - risk. War, hunt, war again ... "But the best writing certainly comes when you're in love."
Despite his addiction to alcohol, Hemingway never wrote after drinking.
In order to self-discipline and, as he says, "in order not to bother with myself", the writer set a norm for written words. His daily "production" of words, which he recorded on a special board, ranged between 450 and 1250. There were days in which he worked extraordinary to not feel guilty when he spent the next day fishing.
He wrote in the morning early, usually until noon. "When I work on a book or a narrative, I write every morning - soon after dawn as early as possible. At this time, nobody is bothered by you, it is cool or even cold, and you warm up while you work. "
Hemingway wrote only a straight-working habit that he had acquired since the beginning of his career.
When he started a project, he always wrote a pencil on a writing pad on a thin typewriter paper.
After writing something, he spent much more time cutting it to a minimum. Sometimes for hours he considered the choice of a single word, of the construction or the sound of a single phrase. "I write one page in a masterful way and another ninety-one that are garbage. And I'm trying to throw the garbage into the trash. "
The last page of "A Farewell to Arms" Hemingway has processed 39 times. "I had to find the right words."
Hemingway had the habit of going everywhere with pockets full of books. Every free minute used for reading. "There is no more faithful friend than the book."
A passionate book lover, the writer had over 7400 volumes. His library contained all literature and numerous specialized scientific publications.
In an interview to the question of which writers he has learned the most, Hemingway lists the names of many writers, but also of artists and even composers. "For writing, I learn from the artists as much as the writers. You ask me how does this work? It will take another day to explain to you. "
Among the names he mentions are Mark Twain, Flober, Stendal, Bach, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Andrew Marvel, John Dan, Mopassan, Good Kipling, Shakespeare, Mozart, Kevedo, Dante, Virgil, Tintoreto, , Brugge, Goya, Giotto, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin.
In 1922, Hemingway's wife lost a suitcase in a station that contained almost all the manuscripts of the writer. It was practically supposed to start from scratch.
Hemingway - the adventurer
Hemingway loved hunting, fishing, and weapons. And the war. For a while, he has been trapped in boxing and his love has accompanied him throughout his life. From this sport he learned to "move forward, regardless of the obstacles".
He got his first rifle from his father when he was 7 years old. His boat Pilar he called "the only love in my life".
In 1918, Hemingway wanted to participate in the First World War at all costs, but it was denied because of the impaired vision of one eye. But he manages to convince them to take him as an ambulance driver. So, the young man drops the reporter's work and goes to Italy.
That same year Hemingway was injured by a mine explosion. His two legs have been severely damaged and an emergency operation is needed that the young writer experiences with the horror of the language barrier - surgeons can not tell him what is going on in English and whether he will keep his feet.
Later, he writes: "When you go to war as a boy, you have an incredible illusion of immortality. The others are killing them, not you ... And then, when they hurt you for the first time, you lose that illusion, and you realize it can happen to you too. "
In spite of his wounds, he managed to save an Italian soldier, for which he received a medal for bravery.
During a break in Africa, Ernest Hemingway was almost fatally injured in 2 separate plane crashes within 2 days. The next day he reads in his newspaper his own obituary. A few days later he was seriously injured in a fire.
Hemingway and the others
"Like his poems Mark Twain and Kipling, he never turns entirely into a man of art. - wrote his biographer. - Keep away from cultural centers, make friends with writers, lead confused personal life ... "
During her stay in Paris, Hemingway falls into the center of a prominent intellectual circle - Ezra Pound (who takes it under her creative wings), Gertrude Stein (who strongly influences his style of writing) and FS Fitzgerald (who edits some from his writings and became his literary agent). After a while, he's all over.
When spoiling his relationship with the American writer and feminist Gertrude Stein, who is the author of the famous phrase about her art concept: "The rose is a rose," typically in his sarcastic tone, Hemingway sends her a short telegram: "The bitch is bitch is a bitch. "
With Francis Scott Fitzgerald the writer develops country relations ranging from mutual admiration to hostility.
Fitzgerald is the one who introduces Hemingway's first novel to its publisher.
Fitzgerald is among the people who have often suffered the sarcasm and writer's tongue. When he sent Hemingway a 10-page letter in which he advised him to complete the novel "A Farewell to Arms," Ernest replied with a 3-note note: "Kiss me from behind."
Irish writer James Joyce is a frequent Hemingway company for heavy bindings in Paris. Sometimes Joyce got stuck in trouble, then hid and called his friend Ernest to get him out of them.
Humble by nature, Hemingway hated to give autographs. Once, however, his admirer was so insistent that he pursued him for three months. Finally, the writer failed and gave him an autograph. On the book he wrote, he wrote: "Victor Hill, a real son of a bitch who can not understand the answer!"
The famous story of the short story he won with the six words "Children's shoes are selling. Non-immune. "Was recently quoted on quoteinvestigator.com. They claim that this story was launched in 1991 and that the story is most likely written by William Kane.
Hemingway - the bohemian
Hemingway was a famous bohemian and drank too much alcohol. He was glad to be cheerful, but after a hard work.
He loved cocktails. His favorite cocktails were mochito and daikir. He liked to say, "Food is for the people, the cocktail is for the gods!"
He is alleged to have been a member or perhaps a chairman of an organization that was meant to exchange and promote recipes for cocktails.
Once Hemingway stole the urinal from his favorite bar, where he kept going and took him to his home in Key West. His argument was that he "poured" too much money into this urinal and that he was virtually his.
The Hemingway Complexity and Drama
He never believed the praises of his readers and admirers. In this respect, he did not even trust his close friends!
The writer had a phobia for public appearances.
Ironically, Hemingway, who as a little girl is dressed as a girl by her mother, takes years after her youngest son, Gregory, to dress in women's clothes. In fact, from early years, it is clear that Gregory (called Jigi) is a transvestite. This is one of the greatest troubles in the life of the writer.
His father suicides when Hemingway is 28 years old. That's when his alcohol addiction begins.
Many people accused him of suffering a mania of persecution, as he often and with pleasure explained how the FBI tracked him, which everyone laughed at. The truth, however, was that he was indeed followed by the FBI, and it was personally at the request of Edgar Hoover. Declared documents confirmed that it really was.
In fact, the reason for the interest of the services to Hemingway is that in 1940, he worked closely with the Soviet KGB and was run under the pseudonym Argo. Although he failed as a foreign agent, the writer has been spied for most of his life. According to some, this is one of the reasons for his manic depression, which leads to his suicide.
Hemingway and the women
Hemingway's relationship with women is just as complicated and confused as his whole life.
A hot-looking genius, philosophically contemplating life, Hemingway was particularly attractive to women, even to married ladies.
He constantly fell in love and often accompanied by scandals, divisions and love dramas ... "I can not otherwise! He said. - they nourish my creativity and inspire me. But I still go back to you. "
As a young Hemingway, he liked the more mature women. His first love Agnes and his first two wives, Hadley Richardson and Pauline Pfeiffer, are bigger than him.
His great love, Agnes von Kurowski, he met during the First World War at the Milan hospital where he recovered. She is nine years older than him, and despite their plans to get married, he goes to America, and she marries another. His biographer Geoffrey Meyers argues that because of his enormous bitterness of the outgrowth of this story, the writer develops the reflex of abandoning women in their lives before they abandon it.
His love with Agnes, as well as his experiences in Italy during the war, are the basis of the novel "A Farewell to Arms."
Three of Hemingway's four wives are journalist writers.
With each of the following, he begins a relationship during his marriage, then divorces.
When she meets Pauline Pfeiffer (Fife), she is the best friend of his late wife, Hadley. With Pauline they become lovers, and later she becomes the second Mrs. Hemingway.
Years later, Pauline's marriage is threatened by Martha Gelhorn, the third Mrs. Hemingway.
Although he had four marriages and three divorces, and with his continued love adventures, Hemingway is considered a good husband and father.
His third wife, Martha Gelhorn, is the only one who initiates the divorce with him.
Three of Hemingway's women agree with his glory as a great lover. The fourth, however, is of another opinion - in her opinion, he is quite complex and shy, even blushing in contact with more open-minded women, and she also had a rather Puritan view of love ...
Hemingway cats
A passionate fan of cats, the writer is raising a strange breed of six-eyed cats. When they gave him the first animal, it was immediately taken care of and fed. It was named Snowball.
A gradual amount of cats in the writer's home reached 57! After his death, the fluffy descendants of a Snow Ball, all six-legged, remained known as Hemingway's cats. And to this day in the Key West writer's house-museum, living generations continue to live several generations of the strange breed.
Depression and suicide
Suicide is a major issue in some of Hemingway's best books. At the height of his glory, Hemingway wrote: "I like life very much. It will be very difficult for me to commit suicide. "
His father and his younger brother were also shot. Years later his granddaughter Margo Hemingway chose the same end of her life.
For several years, Hemingway struggled with severe depression and poor health. He has been treated with electroshock therapy for his manic depression.
After his last stay at the Mayo Clinic, healing almost erases his memory, making him practically unable to write a word. According to some, this was the last drop that overflows the cup of his depression and makes him pull the trigger.
Although suicide was found, newspapers reported that he had died in an accident. Five years later, his last wife, Mary, publicly announces the truth.
The writer shot his shotgun Vincenzo Bernardelli with his hunting rifle. Today, this model has a name called Hemingway.
Hemingway the survivor
More than 70 injuries and illnesses that Hemingway is experiencing during its stormy life - two airplanes and two car crashes, a horse fall, a lion injury and shark bite, brain disruptions, malaria, skin cancer, dysentery, pneumonia, cirrhosis, hypertension and diabetes, torn kidney and spleen, skull fracture, crushed vertebrae ...
But he always survives. He always does.
He fails to fight only with himself. On July 2, 1961, Hemingway took his favorite rifle and shot two bullets in his head.
"The world is a wonderful place and it is worth fighting for it and I very much hate the fact that I have to leave it."
The Hemingway tombstone says, "Most of all he loved the autumn. The yellow leaves of the Canadian poplar. Leaves floating in streams filled with trout. Over the hills. And the tall blue skies in windlessness. He will be part of them forever "