Ernest Miller Hemingway Biography, Net Worth, Career, Early Life, Education, Age 2025, Controversy

Ernest Miller Hemingway Biography – Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American writer who changed the way people write and read stories. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 and the Pulitzer Prize in 1953. His books, such as The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, and The Sun Also Rises, are still read in schools and homes all over the world. Hemingway lived a big life full of war, travel, fishing, hunting, love, and sadness. His clear and short sentences became a new style that many writers copied. This biography tells his real story in a simple and honest way.

Profile

• Full Name: Ernest Miller Hemingway
• Date Of Birth: Born on July 21, 1899
• Birthplace: Oak Park
• Family: (wives) Pauline Pfeiffer, Mary Welsh, Martha Gellhorn, (Children) John (Jack) Hadley Nicanor Hemingway, born in 1923, Patrick (born 1928) and Gregory (born 1931).

Early Life

Ernest Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, a quiet and wealthy suburb of Chicago. His father, Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, was a doctor who loved nature. His mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, was a music teacher and former opera singer. Ernest was the second of six children.

Every summer the family left the city and went to northern Michigan. They stayed in a cottage called Windemere on Walloon Lake. There, young Ernest learned to fish, hunt, and camp. These early days in the woods shaped many of his future stories, especially the Nick Adams series. Even though his family was strict and religious, Ernest often felt trapped by the rules of Oak Park. He wanted adventure from a very young age.

Education

Hemingway went to Oak Park and River Forest High School and graduated in 1917. He was a good student in English and loved writing. He worked on the school newspaper (Trapeze) and yearbook (Tabula). He also played football, boxed, and ran track.

After high school, his parents wanted him to go to college, but Ernest refused. Instead, at age 18, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, and started working as a junior reporter for the Kansas City Star newspaper in October 1917. The newspaper had strict style rules: use short sentences, short paragraphs, and strong verbs. Those rules stayed with him for the rest of his writing life.

Personal Life

Hemingway married four times:

Hemingway (married September 3, 1921 – divorced January 1927). They had one son, John (Jack) Hadley Nicanor Hemingway, born in 1923.

Pauline Pfeiffer (married May 10, 1927 – divorced November 4, 1940). They had two sons: Patrick (born 1928) and Gregory (born 1931).

Martha Gellhorn (married November 21, 1940 – divorced December 21, 1945). They had no children together.

Mary Welsh (married March 14, 1946 – stayed married until his death in 1961). They had no children together.

Hemingway loved deep-sea fishing, big-game hunting in Africa, bullfighting in Spain, and strong drinks. He lived in Key West (Florida), Cuba, Paris, Spain, and finally Ketchum (Idaho). He had many close friends, including writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein, but he also had many fights and broken friendships.

His family had a history of depression. His father took his own life in 1928. Later, two of his siblings and, much later, his granddaughter Margaux also died by suicide. Ernest himself struggled with depression, alcohol problems, and head injuries from accidents for many years.

Net Worth

During his lifetime, Hemingway earned good money from books, magazine stories, and movie rights. At the time of his death in 1961, his estate was worth about $1.4 million (around $14 million in today’s money). Most of the money came from book sales and film adaptations. After his death, his books kept selling, and today his estate still earns millions every year from royalties, movies, and merchandise.

Career

1917–1918: Reporter at Kansas City Star 1918: Red Cross ambulance driver in Italy during World War I; seriously wounded on July 8, 1918 1921–1926: Moved to Paris as foreign correspondent; published first book Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923) 1926: The Sun Also Rises – made him famous overnight 1929: A Farewell to Arms – became a bestseller 1932: Death in the Afternoon (book about bullfighting) 1937: To Have and Have Not 1940: For Whom the Bell Tolls – one of his biggest successes 1952: The Old Man and the Sea – won Pulitzer Prize 1953 and helped him win Nobel Prize 1954 1964 (after death): A Moveable Feast – his beautiful memoir about 1920s Paris

He also worked as war correspondent in the Spanish Civil War (1937–1938), World War II (1944–1945), and wrote hundreds of articles for magazines such as Esquire, Collier’s, and Life.

Controversies

Hemingway was often in the news for the wrong reasons:

• He loved to show a very “macho” image – heavy drinking, boxing, hunting dangerous animals, and sometimes treating women poorly. Many modern readers criticize this behavior today.
• During the Spanish Civil War, he strongly supported the Republican side and raised money for them. Some people called him too political.
• He bragged about killing German soldiers during World War II, which broke the rules for journalists. The U.S. Army investigated him in 1944 but did not punish him.
• In later years he believed the FBI was watching him. For many years people thought this was only paranoia, but released FBI files in the 1980s showed that J. Edgar Hoover really did have a file on him and watched his phone calls.

Legacy

Hemingway changed writing forever. His simple, direct style is called the “iceberg theory” – he showed only the surface of the story and let readers feel everything underneath. Thousands of writers, including Raymond Carver, Cormac McCarthy, and many journalists, learned from him.

His books have been translated into almost every language. Movies based on his stories won many Oscars. Museums exist in Key West, Cuba, and Oak Park. The Hemingway House in Key West with its famous six-toed cats is visited by hundreds of thousands of people every year.

Today, people still study how mental health affected his life and work, and his story helps many understand depression and suicide better.

Conclusion

Ernest Hemingway lived only 61 years, but he lived them fully. He saw wars, traveled the world, wrote masterpieces, won the highest prizes, loved deeply, and suffered deeply. His words are short, but they carry huge feelings. More than sixty years after his death, new readers keep discovering his books, and his voice still feels fresh and strong.

FAQs

When and where was Ernest Hemingway born?

July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, USA.

How did Ernest Hemingway die?

He died by suicide with a shotgun on July 2, 1961, in Ketchum, Idaho.

How many wives did Hemingway have?

Four: Hadley Richardson, Pauline Pfeiffer, Martha Gellhorn, and Mary Welsh.

How many children did he have?

Three sons: Jack (John), Patrick, and Gregory.

What is Hemingway’s most famous book?

Many say The Old Man and the Sea, but The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms are also very famous.

Did Hemingway really fight in wars?

He never fought as a soldier, but he drove ambulances in World War I, reported from the front lines in the Spanish Civil War and World War II, and was wounded several times.

Why did he win the Nobel Prize?

In 1954 “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently shown in The Old Man and the Sea.”

Where did Hemingway live the longest?

He lived in Cuba (Finca Vigía) from 1939 to 1960 – more than 20 years.

Are Hemingway’s books still popular?

Yes. Millions of copies are sold every year, and his books are required reading in many schools around the world.

Can I visit Hemingway’s houses today?

Yes. The house in Key West, Florida, and the Finca Vigía near Havana, Cuba, are open to visitors (Cuba house is a museum, but you can see it from outside too).