Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist and short story writer whose works, drawn from his wide range of experiences in World War I, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II, are characterized by terse minimalism and understatement; they exerted a significant influence on the development of twentieth century fiction. Hemingway's protagonists are typically stoic male individuals, often interpreted as projections of his own character, who must master "grace under pressure". Many of his works, like The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea, are now considered classics in the canon of American literature.

Influence and legacy

The influence of Hemingway's writings on American literature was considerable and continues to exist today. Indeed, the influence of Hemingway's style was so widespread that it may be glimpsed in most contemporary fiction, as writers draw inspiration either from Hemingway himself or indirectly through writers who more consciously emulated Hemingway's style. In his own time, Hemingway affected writers within his modernist literary circle. James Joyce called "A Clean, Well Lighted Place" "one of the best stories ever written". Pulp fiction and "hard boiled" crime fiction (which flourished from the 1920s to the 1950s) often owed a strong debt to Hemingway.

Related Topics:
American literature - Modernist - James Joyce - Pulp fiction - Hard boiled

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Hemingway's terse prose style is known to have inspired Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, Douglas Coupland and many Generation X writers. Hemingway's style also influenced Jack Kerouac and other Beat Generation writers. J.D. Salinger is said to have wanted to be a great American short story writer in the same vein as Hemingway. The writer James Oliver Rigney, Jr., adopted his pen name, Robert Jordan, from the name of the main character of For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Related Topics:
Bret Easton Ellis - Chuck Palahniuk - Douglas Coupland - Generation X - Jack Kerouac - Beat Generation - J.D. Salinger - Short story - Pen name - Robert Jordan

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In Latin American literature, Hemingway's impact can perhaps best be seen in the work of Gabriel García Márquez, who, for instance, often uses the sea as a central image in his fiction.

Related Topics:
Latin America - Gabriel García Márquez

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Science fiction novelist Joe Haldeman won the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award for his novella, The Hemingway Hoax, a story which explored the effect that Hemingway's lost stories might have had upon 20th century history.

Related Topics:
Science fiction - Joe Haldeman - Hugo Award - Nebula Award - Novella - 20th century

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Awards and honors

During his lifetime Hemingway was awarded with:

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• Silver Medal of Military Valor (medaglia d'argento) in World War I
• Bronze Star (War Correspondent-Military Irregular in World War II) in 1947
• Pulitzer Prize in 1953 (for The Old Man and the Sea)
• Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 (The Old Man and the Sea cited as a reason for the award)