Ernest Hemingway
by Anthony Burgess 
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He was six feet tall, huge-chested, handsome, ebullient, a warrior, a hunter, a fisherman, a drinker.' Ernest Hemingway was 'a man who lived it up to write it down' and his life became the root from which his novels grew. At the age of 18 he was awarded a medal for bravery in the First World War; he honed his craft in 1920s Paris, amongst the 'Lost Generation': F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot and John Dos Passos; his macho image grew with his love of big-game hunting, deep-sea fishing and show more bull-fighting. And the philosophy of heroism that increasingly pervaded his books and his life was cemented during the Spanish Civil War, where he survived the bombardment of Madrid and was present at the Republicans' last stand at Ebro. But, by the 1940s, the darkness of his alcoholism (three bottles of Valpolicella for breakfast), violent rages and the bad luck of loving many women began to weigh heavily. Although he was awarded a Bronze Star for bravery under fire whilst covering the Second World War, he also spent much of 1944 and 1945 ensconced at the Dorchester or the Ritz, 'basking and boasting, a boor and a bore'. Hemingway had become the patriarch of American literature but he was plagued by unrelenting demons and an insidious disenchantment with life. In this unflinching portrait, Anthony Burgess explores Hemingway's fatal contradictions: his arrogance and self-doubt, his machismo and vulnerability. He reveals a man who was as much a creation as his books yet who, even at his worst, reminds us that to engage literature one has first to engage life. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A fine short survey of the life of Ernest Hemingway. Author Anthony Burgess has the language at his disposal which makes for a very enjoyable read and, as a writer of note himself, his critique of Hemingway's various writings carries more weight than other biographers. Burgess' appraisal is measured, rational and carried with some flair, making his Ernest Hemingway a classy and understated contribution to his subject, and it is one of the few books on Hemingway that I don't find myself arguing against strongly in one form or another. Adding some good anecdotal colour and some fine illustrations from the always-classy Thames & Hudson publisher, Burgess' book finds a good balance in addressing Hemingway the man, Hemingway the writer and show more Hemingway the myth. show less
Bel libro scritto dall'autore di "Arancia meccanica" (non il regista). Non è una biografia vera e propria, non è un raccontora di anedotti vari: è qualcosa di diverso. Un saggio su un donnaiolo (4 mogli e qualche altra amante, più o meno veritiera), un grandissimo bevitore ("4 bottiglia di Valpolicalle la mattina") e un grande romanziere.
Mar 28, 2021Italian
El viejo y el mar, su alegoría más clara. Una lectura agradable sobre la vida de Hemingway.
Sep 12, 2020Spanish
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120+ Works 48,185 Members
Anthony Burgess was born in 1917 in Manchester, England. He studied language at Xaverian College and Manchester University. He had originally applied for a degree in music, but was unable to pass the entrance exams. Burgess considered himself a composer first, one who later turned to literature. Burgess' first novel, A Vision of Battlements show more (1964), was based on his experiences serving in the British Army. He is perhaps best known for his novel A Clockwork Orange, which was later made into a movie by Stanley Kubrick. In addition to publishing several works of fiction, Burgess also published literary criticism and a linguistics primer. Some of his other titles include The Pianoplayers, This Man and Music, Enderby, The Kingdom of the Wicked, and Little Wilson and Big God. Burgess was living in Monaco when he died in 1993. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Anthony Burgess has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Hemingway
- Original title
- Ernest Hemingway and his world
- People/Characters
- Ernest Hemingway
- Original language
- English UK
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Literature Studies and Criticism, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 813.52 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1900-1945
- LCC
- PS3515 .E37 .Z58416 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Individual authors 1900-1960
- BISAC
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- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.18)
- Languages
- 7 — Catalan, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 15
- ASINs
- 5
