Ernest Hemingway Timeline

(July 21, 1899 - July 2, 1961)

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist whose spare, understated prose style profoundly influenced 20th-century fiction. A veteran of World War I and witness to the Spanish Civil War and World War II, he drew on his experiences in works such as A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature. More Less

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Early Life

Born in Oak Park, Illinois

Jul 21, 1899

Ernest Miller Hemingway is born in Oak Park, Illinois, the second child of Clarence and Grace Hemingway. His upbringing in the conservative suburb, with summers spent at Walloon Lake in Michigan, deeply influenced his love of nature and outdoor pursuits.

Image source: Ernest Hemingway

Graduates from Oak Park High School

Jun 1, 1917

Hemingway graduates from Oak Park and River Forest High School, where he wrote for the school newspaper and literary magazine. Rather than attending college, he takes a job as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star.

Image source: Oak Park and River Forest High School

Wars and Journalism

Reports for the Kansas City Star

Oct 1, 1917 - Apr 1, 1918

Hemingway works as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star, where the paper's style guide — short sentences, vigorous English — shapes his lifelong prose style.

Wounded while serving as Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy

Jul 8, 1918

While driving ambulances on the Italian front during World War I, Hemingway is severely wounded by mortar fire despite carrying an Italian soldier to safety. His recovery in Milan and romance with nurse Agnes von Kurowsky later inspire A Farewell to Arms.

Image source: World War I

Moves to Paris as a foreign correspondent

Dec 1, 1921

Hemingway moves to Paris with Hadley to work as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Daily Star. He joins the expatriate circle of Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, becoming a key figure of the 'Lost Generation'.

Image source: Années folles

Covers the Spanish Civil War

Mar 1, 1937 - Jan 1, 1939

Hemingway travels to Spain four times to cover the civil war for the North American Newspaper Alliance, supporting the Republican cause. He collaborates on the documentary film The Spanish Earth and meets Martha Gellhorn.

Image source: Spanish Civil War

Covers World War II in Europe

Jun 1, 1944 - May 1, 1945

As a correspondent for Collier's, Hemingway observes the Normandy landings from a landing craft and later leads irregular fighters in the liberation of Paris, famously 'liberating' the Ritz hotel bar.

Image source: European theatre of World War II

Personal Life and Legacy

Marries Hadley Richardson

Sep 3, 1921 - 1927

Hemingway marries Hadley Richardson, eight years his senior. The couple soon moves to Paris, where Hadley supports him through his formative years as a writer before their marriage ends in divorce.

Image source: Hadley Richardson

Divorces Hadley and marries Pauline Pfeiffer

Jan 27, 1927 - 1940

After divorcing Hadley, Hemingway marries Pauline Pfeiffer, a Vogue journalist. The couple lives in Key West, Florida, where he writes much of his most celebrated work.

Image source: Pauline Pfeiffer

Safari in East Africa

Nov 1, 1933 - Feb 1, 1934

Hemingway and Pauline embark on a safari in Kenya and Tanzania, hunting big game. The trip inspires Green Hills of Africa and famous stories like 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro' and 'The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber'.

Image source: Green Hills of Africa

Marries Martha Gellhorn

Nov 21, 1940 - Dec 21, 1945

Following his divorce from Pauline, Hemingway marries war correspondent Martha Gellhorn. They settle at Finca Vigía, his home outside Havana, Cuba, though the marriage grows strained as Gellhorn pursues her own career.

Image source: Martha Gellhorn

Marries Mary Welsh

Mar 14, 1946

Hemingway marries journalist Mary Welsh, his fourth and final wife. She remains devoted to him until his death and later manages his literary estate, publishing memoirs of their life together.

Image source: Mary Welsh Hemingway

Survives two plane crashes in Africa

Jan 23, 1954 - Jan 26, 1954

On successive days in Uganda, Hemingway survives two plane crashes, suffering head injuries and burns. Reading his own obituaries afterward, he declares reports of his death greatly exaggerated.

Receives electroconvulsive therapy at the Mayo Clinic

Nov 1, 1960 - Jan 1, 1961

Struggling with depression, paranoia, and declining health worsened by alcoholism, Hemingway undergoes electroconvulsive treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The treatments impair his memory and ability to write, deepening his despair.

Image source: Electroconvulsive therapy

Dies in Ketchum, Idaho

Jul 2, 1961

Suffering from depression and failing health, Hemingway dies from a self-inflicted shotgun wound at his home in Ketchum, Idaho, at age 61. His death marks the end of an era in American letters.

Restored edition of A Moveable Feast published

Jul 1, 2009

Scribner's releases a 'restored edition' of A Moveable Feast based on Hemingway's manuscripts, rekindling debate over posthumous editing while introducing his Paris memoir to new generations of readers.

Image source: A Moveable Feast

Restored edition of A Moveable Feast published

Writing Career

Publishes Three Stories and Ten Poems

Aug 1, 1923

Hemingway publishes his first book, a slim collection of stories and poems, with Contact Publishing in Paris. It marks the beginning of his career as a serious literary author.

Image source: Three Stories and Ten Poems

Publishes In Our Time

Oct 5, 1925

The American edition of In Our Time appears through Boni & Liveright, featuring Nick Adams stories such as 'Big Two-Hearted River'. Critics praise its spare prose and innovative structure, establishing Hemingway's literary reputation.

Publishes The Sun Also Rises

Oct 22, 1926

Hemingway's first major novel, about disillusioned American and British expatriates traveling from Paris to Pamplona, is published by Scribner's. It becomes an instant success and defines the Lost Generation.

Image source: The Sun Also Rises

Publishes Men Without Women

Oct 14, 1927

This story collection includes classics such as 'Hills Like White Elephants', 'The Killers', and 'In Another Country', showcasing Hemingway's mastery of dialogue and understatement.

Image source: Men Without Women (Murakami short story collection)

Publishes A Farewell to Arms

Sep 27, 1929

Drawing on his World War I experience in Italy, Hemingway's tragic novel of love and war becomes a bestseller and cements his reputation as one of America's foremost writers.

Image source: A Farewell to Arms

Publishes Death in the Afternoon

May 1, 1932

Hemingway publishes a nonfiction work on Spanish bullfighting, exploring the art of the corrida and articulating his theory of prose as iceberg writing.

Image source: Death in the Afternoon

Publishes To Have and Have Not

Oct 15, 1937

Set in Depression-era Key West and Cuba, this novel follows charter boat captain Harry Morgan. Written partly aboard his boat Pilar, it reflects Hemingway's growing social consciousness.

Image source: To Have and Have Not (film)

Publishes For Whom the Bell Tolls

Oct 21, 1940

Based on his Spanish Civil War experiences, this novel about American volunteer Robert Jordan becomes a huge commercial and critical success, selling half a million copies within months and being nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Image source: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Publishes The Old Man and the Sea

Sep 1, 1952

Published as a single volume after first appearing in Life magazine, this novella about Cuban fisherman Santiago's epic battle with a giant marlin sells millions of copies and wins the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Image source: The Old Man and the Sea

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

May 4, 1953

Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Old Man and the Sea, receiving long-delayed recognition after earlier works had been passed over.

Image source: Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature

Oct 28, 1954

The Swedish Academy awards Hemingway the Nobel Prize in Literature 'for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style.' Too ill to attend, he sends a brief acceptance speech read aloud at the ceremony.

Image source: Nobel Prize in Literature

Publishes A Moveable Feast posthumously

Dec 15, 1964

Mary Welsh edits and publishes Hemingway's memoir of his Paris years with Hadley and the expatriate writers of the 1920s. It becomes one of his most beloved books, offering an affectionate portrait of his early career.

Publishes Islands in the Stream posthumously

Oct 1, 1970

Mary Welsh edits and publishes this sprawling posthumous novel about painter Thomas Hudson, spanning the Caribbean, Cuba, and World War II, which becomes a bestseller despite mixed reviews.

Image source: Islands in the Stream (song)

Publishes Islands in the Stream posthumously

Publishes True at First Light posthumously

Jul 6, 1999

Patrick Hemingway edits this heavily edited fictionalized memoir based on his father's 1953–54 African safari journals, released on what would have been Hemingway's 100th birthday.

Image source: True at First Light

Key Facts

Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, and began his career as a journalist for the Kansas City Star.
He was wounded while serving as a Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy during World War I, an experience that inspired his novel A Farewell to Arms (1929).
Hemingway was part of the expatriate 'Lost Generation' in 1920s Paris, where he was mentored by writers such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound.
He won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 for The Old Man and the Sea and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
Hemingway died by suicide on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho, after a long struggle with physical and mental health issues.

Source

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