About Josh Silverstein Expertise I will answer questions relating to Ernest Hemingway's life or literature. I can also help with quotation source requests. No homework questions please.
Experience Mr. Silverstein holds a B.A. in English Literature and has been studying the life and works of Ernest Hemingway for the past ten years. His major work on Hemingway is titled, "The Importance of Being Ernest: Hemingway's Truth in Fiction and his Fiction in Truth." He is also author of "Hemingway: Alive and Well Online," an article exploring Hemingway's presence and position in the online community. He is the founder of "Timeless Hemingway," an award winning web site devoted to Ernest Hemingway.
Question I am writing a paper for school on Ernest Hemingway...for my thesis statement is it safe to say Ernest used personal life experiences often in his works.
Thank you for your time and help!
Answer Hello,
Many parallels have been drawn between Hemingway's life and fiction. Scholars generally agree that Nick Adams is the character who most closely represents Hemingway the man. There is some dissension, however, regarding whether it is in fact Hemingway's personality or simply his experiences which are being personified by his characters. Most of Hemingway's fiction is based on his own personal experience. When creating the fiction, he invents from this experience.
Read anything by scholar Philip Young. He has done some interesting work in regards to the parallels between Hemingway's life and fiction. He pays particular attention to the injury Hemingway suffered at age eighteen when he served as an ambulance driver for the Italian army, and how and why this episode resurfaces in his literature.
Also, Carlos Baker's biography, "Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story" provides a detailed account of the many parallels existing between the events in Hemingway's life and the events transpiring in his stories.
