Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea

'A man can be destroyed but not defeated': published in 1952, Pulitzer Prize in 1953.

💡 Did you know? The slim 1952 novella was Hemingway's last major work published in his lifetime and tipped the balance for his Nobel Prize.

the Nobel Prize in Literature

The Academy expressly singled out the 'mastery' of 'The Old Man and the Sea'.

💡 Did you know? The committee praised his “mastery of the art of modern narration”: Hemingway was too ill to deliver the acceptance speech in Stockholm himself.

iceberg theory

Seven-eighths of the story remain invisible below the surface: omission as art.

💡 Did you know? His image: like an iceberg, only one-eighth shows above water: what is left out gives the story its power.

short sentences

Learned as a reporter: his style shaped generations of writers worldwide.

💡 Did you know? Legend says Hemingway won a bet to tell a whole story in just six words: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Lost Generation

'You are all a lost generation': Hemingway placed the sentence at the front of 'The Sun Also Rises'.

💡 Did you know? Hemingway placed the phrase “You are all a lost generation” as an epigraph to his novel “The Sun Also Rises.”

The Sun Also Rises

Published in 1926: its bullfighting scenes made Pamplona's Sanfermines world-famous.

💡 Did you know? The original title is “The Sun Also Rises”; the German title “Fiesta” refers to the bull-running festival of Pamplona.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

The demolition expert Robert Jordan behind Franco's lines: the title quotes John Donne.

💡 Did you know? The title comes from a poem by John Donne: “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

as an ambulance driver

The experience flowed into 'A Farewell to Arms'.

💡 Did you know? Hemingway later drew on his wounding on the Italian front for the novel “A Farewell to Arms.”

Cuba

'The Old Man and the Sea' was written there: his boat was called Pilar, his regular bar La Floridita.

💡 Did you know? After the Cuban Revolution Hemingway handed his finca to the state; today it is a much-visited museum.

six toes

Descendants of his cats still live on the museum grounds today.

💡 Did you know? Dozens of six-toed cats still live in the Hemingway house on Key West: descendants of his tomcat Snow White.

by suicide

Depression, pain and electroshock treatments marked the final years: like his father, he died by his own hand.

💡 Did you know? Hemingway's father and several siblings also died by suicide: a family tragedy across generations.

A Moveable Feast

'If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man...': published from his papers in 1964.

💡 Did you know? The book shaped the romantic image of 1920s Paris as a meeting place for the bohemian set around Gertrude Stein and James Joyce.

Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway (1899 to 1961) was an American writer and journalist whose spare, clear style shaped modern literature. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.

💡 Did you know? Hemingway was also a war correspondent, big-game hunter and deep-sea fisherman: his adventurous life became a legend in itself.