Intro to Ernest Hemingway

1. “In Our Time”, 1925

This collection of short stories was Hemingway’s American debut and contains some of his most well known stories, including the Nick Adams stories. At the time of publication, this collection was recognized as innovative and significant for its use of spare, simple language while depicting complex emotions; among its admirers were Ford Madox Ford and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The title comes from the English Book of Common Prayer: "give us peace in our time, O Lord". This origin was first suggested by Ezra Pound and then later confirmed by Hemingway.

2. “The Sun Also Rises”, 1926

This novel explores the lives of several members the “Lost Generation”, those who survived World War I. Jake Barnes battles his attraction to the beautiful Lady Brett Ashley. Weary of Paris cafes, Jake and Brett, along with Brett’s fiancé and several others travel to Pamplona for a bullfight. This is a lean, brutal, and beautiful novel.

1. “The Old Man and the Sea”, 1952

This novella was written in Cuba and is the last major work of fiction to be published in Hemingway’s lifetime. In it, Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman relentlessly, agonizingly battles a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. His epic struggle ends in failure, as his prize is eaten by a school of sharks. “The Old Man and the Sea” led directly to Hemingway’s receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954.

Commentary:

“In Our Time” is a collection of short stories that established Hemingway’s voice – his sparse use of language and his ability for shattering psychological and emotional portraits. “The Sun Also Rises”, written soon after, reflects his own experiences as part of the Lost Generation. Both of these novels relate to war, as do so many of Hemingway’s works, including “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “A Farewell to Arms”. “The Sun Also Rises” is beautiful and gut-wrenching, a doomed, gin-soaked masterpiece. “The Old Man and The Sea”, a novella, fulfills the promise of “In Our Time”. 84-year-old Santiago struggles for two days and two nights, and then for a third day, catching his fish but unable to return with his prize because it is eaten by sharks. Here is a depiction of both the bravery and the futility of the individual. Read together, these three provide a way to understand Hemingway’s literary significance and concerns: these are war, the individual, personal failure, relationships between men and women, suffering and bravery, and a desire to express all these complexities in the tersest language possible, allowing an exceptional amount of emotional resonance.