Slide 1

Ernest Hemingway1899-1961Early Pics

BackgroundBorn in Oak Park, IL.Began writing while working on high school newspaper.Worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star.WWI began and Hem. Joined the Red Cross as an ambulance driver and was seriously wounded.Moved to Paris after the war.

Life in ParisSherwood Anderson introduced him to all the important people.Met Gertrude Stein who coined the term lost generation to refer to anyone who was lost in the war or affected by loss in the war. An entire generation destroyed.Published first book in 1923.In Our Time1925. Known as the Nick Adams stories.

Stein and Friends

Major WorksThe Sun Also Rises1926A Farewell To Arms1929For Whom the Bell Tolls1939The Old Man and the Sea1952

Died in Ketcham, Idaho in 1961 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The Code HeroThe Hemingway Code Hero

Appealed strongly to people in the 1920s

This hero is a mans man: hard-drinking, bullfighting, fishing, boxing, big game hunting, etc

He does not believe in talking about things but in doing. A man of action rather than theory.

It was based on the disillusionment after WWI. Before you could count on God, Tradition, and Country, not any more, they did not keep us out of war. And it was a terrible war.

Old values did not prevent war, so we need to find new values.

There was a need for principles that would endure in any situation.

The key to the code hero is his concept of death.

Coping With the NadaWhen you are dead, you are dead and nothing more. Nada concept.The emphasis is on doing something in this life.Physical things are the rewards in this life, not material items

The code hero constantly chooses to confront death.

The keyGrace under pressure

Final ThoughtsA man must act in a way that is acceptable when faced with death.Never cowardly.

If a man wishes to live, he live most intensely in contact with death.

The man who never encounters death has never been tested and therefore cannot be trusted.

The most important quality is self-discipline.

Strength and courage increase with the difficulty of the task. MJ

No dignity in shared suffering, only increased pain. NO Complaining.

If your dignity falters, you are living dead.

Hemingway code-hero does not sleep well because it is too much like death.

Writing Philosophy

The Anti-Hero ConceptThis is different than a code hero but something worth knowing.An atypical hero. Someone who acts in a heroic manner but lacks traditional attributes associated with a hero: intelligence, strength, courage, wit, etcForrest Gump is an anti hero.