Ernest Hemingway
On the second of July, on a hot summer day, fifty-five years ago, a native of the intelligent and quiet town of Oak Park near Chicago, the world-famous writer Ernest Hemingway, committed suicide with his favorite gun. He was sixty-one, and the man did not live twenty days before his sixty-second birthday. In the same way, his father, brother and granddaughter left the world ...
An amazing irony of fate: Ernest Hemingway desperately ran away from the image of his father, trying with all his being to prove that he was not like that - not soft, not malleable and quiet, but a real man capable of action. And how did this life-long flight end? Father and son, so different and so amazingly close, ended their days in the same way. The descendants of the family are sure that fate, evil fate, rules over them. But, perhaps, the matter is different - in the natural similarity and influence on each other of the fates of relatives, which is strong, despite all the excuses and the desperate unwillingness to recognize it?
The future symbol of the so-called lost generation, those who saw two world wars and got acquainted early with death and pain, was born into a respectable family. Nothing foreshadowed that young Ernest, one of the four children of Clarence and Grace Hemingway, would become what he eventually became. His father was engaged in medicine, and his mother was absorbed in raising offspring. Subsequently, the writer described in detail his childhood, which infuriated pious relatives. Obviously, most of the parents were outraged that their son dared to realize his dreams and plans - alas, neither Grace nor Clarence succeeded.
Broken dreams
The history of the Hemingway family may seem painfully familiar to many. An unpretentious, modest lover of nature, a quiet collector, Dr. Clarence, in an unusually persistent manner, won the hand (but not the heart, as it turned out later) of an ambitious, wayward girl with a future opera diva, Grace Hall. The young woman thought for a long time what to prefer - traditional family values or the promise of glory, and in the end, fear won over ambition. Until the end of her life, Grace will dislike her husband for the fact that she once refused the light of spotlights and applause for him. However, Dr. Hemingway himself could not realize himself to the fullest. And so these two unfortunate people lived, but they fulfilled their duty to the conservative American society. Grace did little housework, but happily embarked on grandiose construction and repairs, trying to somehow achieve a beautiful life. The doctor tried to spend all his free time in nature, fishing or hunting. Actually, he instilled in young Ernest a passion for the natural sciences: the boy became his companion and assistant in the days of long-awaited forays into the forests. "Do not Cry! When it hurts so much that it’s impossible to hold back tears, whistle,” Clarence gave such advice to his son, and after Ernie noticed that dad was constantly whistling some tunes. It was not only in the summer - when the men went to Lake Wallun. There, in an atmosphere of freedom from the all-seeing eye of Mrs. Hemingway, Ernie and his father felt happy.
The mother, who created a secular salon in her house, failed to instill in her son a love of music: Ernie hated cello classes and in the church choir. “She didn’t let me go to school for a whole year so that I could study music. I thought that I had the ability, but I had no talent, ”the elderly writer will say years later. The image of the mother can be traced in the work of Hemingway quite clearly - as well as his attitude towards this imperious and capricious woman. It seemed to Ernest himself that it was she who brought his father to suicide - a man whom he idolized no matter what.
Ultimately, Grace took full control of her husband's will. Parents acted as a united front against the wayward son, who did not want to follow either in the footsteps of his mother or in the footsteps of his father. By the age of twenty-one, Ernest was expelled from home - for his unwillingness to study at the university and lead a decent lifestyle. Until the end of their days, Grace and Clarence scolded their son, who used “dirty”, “indecent” words in his works.
First shot
The love of writing manifested itself in Ernie from a young age. Once when asked if he remembers when he decided to become a writer, Hemingway replied: “No, I don’t remember. I always wanted to be." His path to worldwide fame and "Nobel" began with a job in a small newspaper "Kansas City" as a police reporter. Juicy, full of life notes about the life of bandits and prostitutes, street beggars and other outcasts - that's what became the basis of his unique literary style. However, he did not stay long in Kansas - by that time Europe had plunged into the abyss of the First World War, and our hero (who, by the way, was not accepted into the army due to poor eyesight) went to the front as a Red Cross ambulance driver. The writer described his impressions of this dangerous journey a few years later in the legendary novel Farewell to Arms! Performing a heroic deed - rescuing an Italian sniper from enemy fire - Hemingway was badly wounded, taken to the hospital and soon sent home. About the young man, on whose body there were more than two hundred wounds, all the big newspapers and magazines wrote. But despite the awards and honors, Ernie himself realized that "he was a big fool, going to that war."
The family, with which he parted so dramatically, accepted him into their bosom. But soon a new conflict broke out - the mother did not recognize in her son a man, a military man and a writer, an independent and mature person. As a result, there was a final break: Ernest moved to Chicago, married pianist Hadley Richardson, went to Europe. From there, the writer sent his manuscripts to his parents - but both Grace and Clarence were hostile to what came out from the pen of their offspring. “It seemed to me that with my upbringing I made it clear to you that decent people do not discuss their sexually transmitted diseases anywhere (the hero of Hemingway's novel was sick with gonorrhea. - Approx. Aut.). It turns out that I was cruelly mistaken, ”the father was indignant. "What are you writing? Did I then give birth to you so that you would write such disgusting things? Mrs. Hemingway echoed her husband. After that, European letters from his son, who was rapidly gaining popularity and fame in literary circles, stopped flying to quiet Oak Park.
With all his behavior - numerous novels, weddings, works, travels and scandals - the rebel Hemingway tried to demonstrate to his father how a real man should behave. The fact that Dad had spent his whole life in Oak Park, dreaming of a better life, pissed Ernie off. However, while the son turned all his fantasies and plans into reality, the father gradually slipped into a deep depression. Nevertheless, his suicide (Clarence shot himself) came as a surprise to everyone, including 29-year-old Ernest. The sad news caught him on the road: with his five-year-old son John, he was heading to Florida. The shock was so great that the man handed over the child to the conductor and boarded the train to Chicago.
“It always seemed to me that my father was in a hurry. But perhaps he couldn't take it anymore. I loved him very much and I don’t want to make any judgments,” wrote twenty years later in the preface to Farewell to Arms! already a veteran writer.
death road
The fuse and enthusiasm of Hemingway, his keen desire to live and create, strongly influenced love relationships. He belonged to that rare type of men who are ready to marry endlessly - one, two, three ... As a result, Ernie managed to play four weddings, and he idolized each of his wives, gave affectionate and funny nicknames, tried to maintain friendly relations with each after the break. The first wife, Headley, was named Nimble Cat, and their first-born, the one whom Caring Dad (as the writer and children, and wives, and mistresses) left on the train, became Bambi. The second wife, Paulina Pfeiffer, a bright beauty, model, rich woman and fashionista, lived for some time with Hadley and Ernie. Ham did not seek to resolve the conflict and get out of this love triangle, believing that the women themselves would figure it out and decide which of them was superfluous. The first wife capitulated, and Pfeiffer became the official wife of the writer, having given birth to two sons. By the way, the further - the more desperate women chose Ernest. After Paulina, military journalist Martha Gelhorn appeared in his life, with whom they went through the fires of World War II together. Ham himself admitted that he described just such a woman in his novels - strong, fearless. However, Martha soon began to frighten Ernie with her independence: she mercilessly ridiculed his weaknesses and quirks, thus bringing him to furious indignation. Like a big child, Papa could not be left alone, without female participation - and Gelhorn was replaced by the last companion, also journalist Mary Walsh. His love fate developed in the best possible way - the writer was really loved by women, they were faithful and devoted to him. But life in that frantic rhythm that young Ernest once chose for himself could not pass without a trace - the struggle with the fear of death turned against him. Traveling around Africa, racing through the night streets of Europe, bullfighting and war are in the past - panic before the end settled in Ernest's life. Once Mary found a frighteningly calm husband who was loading his favorite gun. “This is unworthy,” the woman said. The doctors called by her took away the weapon from Ham and placed him in a clinic for nervous disorders. There, Ernie's obsessions about being pursued by FBI agents blossomed wildly. Twenty years after his death, which will come very soon after the clinic, it turned out that the writer was still being shadowed.
Life, like the plot of one of his books, was cut short by a shot from his favorite double-barreled shotgun, the model of which would later be called Hemingway. She was sent to a man by his mother many years ago, even before his father's death. What for? Biographers have not been able to answer this question. Electroshock therapy, the inability not only to write, to speak clearly and clearly - these are the reasons that are called as the main ones when it comes to Hemingway's suicide. But according to a biography published by his younger brother in 1962, such an outcome was the only possible outcome for the legend of the lost generation. Powerlessness before the end, the desire to control your life in everything - including its last moments - that's what drove Hemingway. Twenty years later, Brother Lester himself shot himself, imitating his great relative in everything. Fourteen years later, Ernie's granddaughter, Margot, would also be gone. It is said that she looked like her grandfather like two peas in a pod.
Hemingway shot himself, already after the Nobel Prize, after the villa "on the islands in the ocean."
His dreams came true, he was canonized during his lifetime, he became a great writer, and he, one of the very few, was given to know about it.
So why?
He always dreamed of becoming a writer, despite the fact that his own father considered this a frivolous hobby. But he believed only in himself, remember his “lost suitcase of stories” (“A holiday that is always with you”) - isn't this proof of a real dream, real perseverance in achieving it?
So why?
In fact, all biographers, all writers, all critics and everyone who has anything to do with literature know the answer, but they are silent.
The answer is simple - loneliness. Loneliness and Hemingway's "honest romance". Remember how Thomas Hudson advised his disillusioned writer friend to write a "really honest novel"? ("Islands in the ocean").
All of Hemingway's novels are autobiographical. But the question is - at what cost?
When loved ones sobbed on his shoulder and demanded warmth, his hand reached for the notebook. And soon all these tears spilled into the lines of "the most honest novel." And with each novel, the writer became more and more lonely. It is unlikely that anyone will like to see their own soul, spread under printing ink on the pages of even the most brilliant book in the world. Someone left with hatred, someone with contempt, someone silently, without saying goodbye.
He shot himself because he realized that on the sacrificial altar of an “honest romance” he put everyone who truly loved him. They all left, only immortal lines remained. And the loneliness of a mortal pulled the trigger.
Reviews
Hemingway is one of my favorite writers. I have read almost all of him, including essays, letters, articles. Including unfinished works. I studied his photographs.
Since then, I have always met an interesting author, trying to understand why he wrote. What is his personal history? After all, you can trust a person when he personally participated in the events, when he shares his personal experiences.
Recently I was at an exhibition about the psyche and was shocked to find out the reason for suicide. Dad Ham was being treated for paranoia and depression. The basis for the diagnosis was persecution mania by FBI agents. I don't know what medications were used for the treatment. But 11 sessions of ECT killed him. This is when several thousand volts are passed through the brain, trying to kill the "unnecessary" brain. That's why he told his friend. The treatment is good, but the patient was lost. The fact is that he was really followed by FBI agents and bugs and wiretapping and checking bank accounts were a reality. When they destroyed the monument to him, the opportunity to create, he died and, realizing this, pulled the trigger. But loneliness was not the reason.
Actors and writers develop observation skills, and when an honest novel is written, this does not mean that somewhere the author secretly writes down his feelings and those of his loved ones in a notebook. I had a moment in a car crash. More than 10 years have passed. I still remember everything. The picture, smells and how in slow motion 15 meter flight into a ditch. He had many such moments.
Loneliness is a necessary part of life. The man is essentially alone. When he was wounded in the war, got into a car accident and got into a plane crash, he was alone. When a person steals, he is alone with his death. Loneliness makes it possible to get to know yourself, honestly one on one. What's the point in lying when you can die.
I believe that he loved life very much, and climbed into its very thick, and therefore honestly.
One of the journalists wrote an article where he suggested that Hemingway exploited the topic of death for popularity and money, and climbed to where it was. This article was probably written in a cafe over a glass of beer. Hemingway bore the Old Man and the Sea for 13 years. A journalist spent 10 minutes writing a stupid article. I'm not sure he read everything the Pope wrote.
Yes, it's all about love. He wrote a lot. And he loved a lot. The memories of his women speak of him.
It is strange that I am writing a review, or rather a comment, almost 10 years later. But then I learned something new and of course I decided to figure it out and rethink it. But also to pay tribute to my beloved Khem.
I respect your point of view, but I want to encourage you to dig better and maybe you will write an essay or an essay with a completely different opinion.
Sincerely.
Ernest Hemingway entered the history of literature as a Nobel Prize winner. But much less is known about him as a person. And in 1918 he volunteered for warring Europe, was seriously wounded in the leg, trying to carry a wounded Italian soldier from the battlefield. For military prowess, Hemingway was twice awarded Italian orders. And our review of the 10 brightest facts of their life by a famous American writer.
In the last few years of his life, Ernest Hemingway repeatedly claimed that he was being followed by the FBI. The writer, in order to recover from paranoia, underwent electroshock therapy 15 times on the recommendation of his doctor in 1960. After that, he lost his memory and the ability to write. Later it turned out that he was indeed being followed, which Edgard Hoover personally ordered.
In 2009, the Yale University publication Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America indicated that Hemingway was listed as a KGB operative in America. Allegedly a former KGB officer said that Hemingway was recruited in 1941 and given the code name "Argo". Eventually the Soviets lost interest in the writer because he didn't provide any useful information. By 1950 Argo had been struck off the list of active Soviet spies.
It's no secret that the famous writer liked to drink. Hemingway once took home a urinal from his favorite bar, Sloppy Joe's, and installed it in his house, claiming to have spent so much money in that bar into the urinal that it is now his property.
Ernest Hemingway was famous for using a machine gun to scare away sharks while fishing. In 1938 he set a world record by catching 7 marlin in one day. Hemingway also spent a significant amount of time from the summer of 1942 until the end of 1943 patrolling Cuba's coastal waters in his wooden fishing boat. The boat was equipped with direction-finding equipment, and the writer tried to detect German submarines.
Ernest Hemingway survived anthrax, malaria, pneumonia, skin cancer, hepatitis, diabetes, two plane crashes, a ruptured kidney, a ruptured spleen, a ruptured liver, a spinal cord injury, and a skull fracture. Most of the damage he received during two plane crashes while traveling in Africa.
After being released from a psychiatric hospital in 1961, Ernest Hemingway committed suicide by shooting himself with his favorite gun, which he bought at Abercrombie & Fitch.
Ernest Hemingway was accused of violating the Geneva Convention, which prohibited the participation of correspondents in hostilities. During World War II, the writer worked as a war correspondent for the American magazine Coller's. Soon in France, he led a detachment of partisans and used weapons, shooting at the Nazis. Hemingway fell under the tribunal, but lied on it, after which he again returned to the battlefields.
Once a familiar captain presented Hemingway with a six-toed cat, after which the writer became one of the most famous lovers of polydactyl cats. After Hemingway's death in 1961, Hemingway's former home in Key West, Florida became a museum and home to his cats. Currently, about fifty descendants live in this house.
Once a friend of Hemingway, the author of The Great Gatsby, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, admitted that his wife Zelda believes that because of the size of his manhood, he cannot satisfy any woman. Ernest called his friend to the toilet, examined his "dignity" and said that everything was fine with him.
Hemingway's brother Lester founded a new nation off the coast of Jamaica, which consisted of 7 citizens and lived on a bamboo raft measuring 2.44 x 9.14 m. "New Atlantis" even had its own currency and constitution.
There is an official society of doubles of Ernest Hemingway, which annually holds competitions.
Ernest Hemingway died July 2, 1961 His last years of life and tragic departure left many questions and secrets. To this day, it is still unknown what exactly this talented person was ill with. The question remains open: how the activityCould the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) influence the findings of medical professionals and the writer's treatment? What was it - an illness, severe depression, or deliberate incitement to suicide?
The name of Ernest Hemingway is known all over the world. His legendary works “The Old Man and the Sea”, “Farewell to Arms!”, “The Holiday That Is Always with You”, “No One Never Dies” have long become classics of world literature. An outstanding American writer of the 20th century, Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway lived a life to match his heroes. It had everything: drama, war, travel, world recognition, car racing, lion hunting, women, alcohol.
An avid traveler, conqueror of women's hearts, a fisherman and a brave hunter, went through an interesting and stormy life path. He fought at the front, went through many battles, but he did not cope with the last battle. Afraid of losing the role of the hero and losing his vitality, he could not cope with the approaching old age. Cause of death of Ernest Hemingway at 61 years of age was suicide. He pulled the trigger on the hunting rifle. After himself, he left many beautiful literary works and the secret of his death, the gossip about which, even after many years, does not cease to subside.
Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Idaho, USA. He was one of six children of a respectable married couple of doctor Clarence Hemingway and opera singer Grace Hall. dedicated her entire life to raising children. Ernest was brought up in a strict Victorian manner, was closer to his father, who instilled in the child from an early age a love for the forest, fishing, and hunting. Ernest Hemingway's mother was not particularly interested in housekeeping, so there were always a lot of assistants and nannies in the house.
Hemingway was a bright student and showed good results in school. He was fond of boxing, spent a lot of time hiking and forays into nature. When Ernest turned 12 in 1911, his grandfather gave him a single-shot gun. This gift strengthened the friendship between grandfather and grandson. Since then, Hemingway's main passion has been hunting. After graduating from school, to the great regret of his parents, Ernest did not go to college. And he left for Kansas City, dreaming of one day getting to the front of the First World War. However, he was never taken into the army. The cause was myopia. Having moved to Italy, he found himself on the front line in the very center of events. Saving the Italian, Hemingway came under fire from machine guns and mortars, was seriously wounded by a fragment of a mine, but thanks to the efforts of doctors, he survived. Ernest Hemingway later went through the Spanish Revolution and World War II. In between wars, he wrote his legendary works, managed to receive world recognition and the Nobel Prize.
The great writer constantly played with fate. Twice Ernest Hemingway was seriously injured while hunting and nearly burned to death in a forest fire. Participated in bullfights and bullfights. He survived such severe diseases for those times as skin cancer, anthrax, anemia, malaria, diabetes, hepatitis and pneumonia. Survived two plane crashes. His kidney and spleen were torn, the base of the skull was broken - the vertebra successfully fused, allowing him to avoid paralysis.
By the end of his life, Ernest Hemingway acquired diabetes and hypertension, but depression became his main problem. He couldn't work like that anymore. as used to. His eyes failed, and the mind ceased to obey. The love of alcohol also made itself felt. he constantly imagined that FBI agents were following him, listening to his phone and reading letters. even on the street, he preferred to stay away from passers-by, mistaking them for secret spies. which further aggravated the situation.
Close people, noticing the deterioration of his mental state, decided to place Hemingway in a clinic for treatment. There, the writer underwent electroconvulsive therapy, after which he lost his memory and the ability to create. Even from there, Ernest called and complained that he was constantly being watched and bugged. After the doctors realized that the therapy was not working, the writer was finally discharged from the clinic.
Hemingway believed that a real man has no right to die in bed. He has only two ways - to die heroically in battle or put a bullet in his forehead. This conviction became prophetic for him. A few days after being discharged, on July 2, 1961, Ernest Hemingway shot himself at home with his favorite gun.Italian brand Bernardelli without leaving a suicide note.
The great writer of all time, Ernest Hemingway, was buried in Ketchum Cemetery next to the grave of his old friend Taylor Williams. A little later, by order of his wife, the Hemingway Museum was opened in their Havana house. In 1964, the book "A holiday that is always with you" was published, in whichthe writer's memoirs about his eventful life in Paris are collected.
Many biographers put forward the version that How did Hemingway die? . The reason is "inheritance". Indeed, his father passed away in the same way. The younger brother also committed suicide. 35 years after the death of Ernest Hemingway, his granddaughter Margot Hemingway committed suicide. She became the fifth person in four generations of the family to choose just such a death. What is behind such actions - a terrible curse or weakness? It remains only to guess.
Fifty years after his death, under the Freedom of Information Act, an inquiry was made to the FBI about Ernest Hemingway. The answer turned out to be positive. There really was surveillance, even in a psychiatric hospital, agents constantly monitored him, tapped his phone and put bugs.
Ernest Miller Hemingway (born July 21, 1899) is an American writer, journalist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, author of the works Farewell to Arms!, For Whom the Bell Tolls? and the sea" and many others. the site recalls the most interesting and unexpected facts about the writer, who turned his life into an adventure novel with a tragic ending.
Ernest Hemingway was born the son of a doctor and a housewife in a privileged suburb of Chicago. He grew up as a stubborn boy and did only what he wanted. He did not become a musician, as his mother wanted, and did not go to university. Instead, immediately after school, he moved in with his uncle and got a job at a local newspaper as a journalist. On the first day, Hemingway got a story about a fire - the result was an excellent reportage and a burnt suit.
When the First World War began, Hemingway really wanted to go to the front, but because of his poor eyesight, he was not taken into the army. Then the young man signed up as a volunteer driver of the Red Cross - and so he ended up at the front in Italy. On the very first day of their stay in Milan, Hemingway and other volunteers were sent to clear the area of the blown up munitions factory. I had to take out the corpses - including women and children. Hemingway distinguished himself in the war by pulling an Italian sniper out of the fire. At the same time, he himself received more than two hundred wounds, from which fragments were pulled out for a long time in the hospital.
Paris has always been Hemingway's favorite city. The writer first came there with his first wife in 1921. The newlyweds lived more than modestly, if not poor. However, Hemingway wrote a lot and met many interesting people: writers Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, poet Ezra Pound, and so on. Happy time spent in Paris, later embodied in a book of memoirs"A holiday that is always with you" (1964).
Ernest Hemingway was popular with women, but he did not like to have affairs on the side. Another new hobby often ended in marriage. Thus, the writer was married four times. He had three sons from his first two wives.
During the writing of his works, Hemingway most often ate peanut butter and onion sandwiches. In general, he loved to eat delicious food and knew how to cook. Hemingway once published a recipe for apple pie in his newspaper column. Today, in the museum of the writer in Florida, you can see other of his recipes, for example, a hamburger.
There is a popular story about how Hemingway once bet that he could write the most touching story in just a few words. And he won the argument by writing:"Children's shoes for sale. New». Quoteinvestigator.com did an investigation to see if this was true or not. It turned out that this phrase first appeared in 1917 in an article by William R. Kane, and the modern version of the phrase appeared in 1991.
Hemingway once stole a urinal from his favorite bar. The writer stated that he “blew” enough money in this bar that he has the right to own it. The urinal was installed in Hemingway's house.
Hemingway took an active part in the Civil War (1936-1939) in Spain on the side of the Republicans who fought against General Franco. He traveled to Madrid as a journalist with a film crew for the filming of the documentary Land of Spain, for which he wrote the screenplay. In the most difficult days of the war, Hemingway did not leave the city, besieged by the Nazis. Impressions from the war formed the basis of one of the author's most famous novels -"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1940).
In 1941, Hemingway purchased a boat, which he overtook to Cuba. He became interested in sea fishing, and in order to protect his catch from sharks, he installed a machine gun on the boat. Hemingway broke the world record by catching seven marlin in one day. The boat was also used for other purposes - from the summer of 1942 until the end of 1943, Hemingway hunted German submarines on it (here, in addition to a machine gun, he needed hand grenades).
Hemingway loved to hunt and somehow arranged for himself a long safari in East Africa, the impression of which formed the basis of the book."Green Hills of Africa" . Among the major trophies of the writer are three lions, twenty-seven antelopes and a buffalo.
Throughout his life, Hemingway felt as though he were surrounded by a cloud of unhappiness. His father, sister and younger brother committed suicide. Jane Mason's mistress and a Parisian friend, writer Scott Fitzgerald, tried to commit suicide. One of the first biographers of the writer jumped out of the window.
During his life, Hemingway suffered from anthrax, malaria, skin cancer, and pneumonia. He survived diabetes, two plane crashes, a ruptured kidney and spleen, hepatitis, a skull fracture and spinal fracture, and hypertension. But he died by his own hands.
Hemingway was a KGB agent - this became known thanks to a KGB officer who in the 90s gained access to the archives of the Stalin era. The writer was recruited in 1941 and received the undercover name "Argo". During the 40s, Hemingway met with Soviet agents in Havana and London and "expressed an active desire to help." However, in the end, his use for the KGB turned out to be small, since the writer could not provide any politically important information. He never "participated in practical work." By the 1950s, the Argo agent was no longer in contact with Soviet agents.
In the last years of his life, Hemingway was obsessed with growing paranoia - the writer was convinced that the FBI was watching him. This fear grew especially in the Mayo Psychiatric Clinic in Rodchester, where the writer was "treated" with electric shock. He even called his friend from the phone in the clinic and reported the bugs placed in it. No one believed Hemingway then. It wasn't until fifty years after the writer's death, thanks to the new Freedom of Information Act, that an inquiry could be made to the FBI. Then it turned out that, by order of Hoover, Hemingway had indeed been placed under surveillance and listening. Including in that psychiatric clinic.
On July 2, 1961, a few days after being discharged from the Mayo Clinic, Hemingway shot himself with his favorite gun without leaving a suicide note. This Vincenzo Bernardelli shotgun is now called "Hemingway".
Ernest Hemingway had a beloved six-toed cat, Snowball, who was given to him by a familiar ship captain. Today, at least fifty descendants of Snowball live in the Hemingway Museum in Florida (six-fingered descended from half of them). To this day, polydactyl cats are called "Hemingway's cats."
There is a society of men who look like Ernest Hemingway. Each year, the society holds a competition to select the most similar member from among its number.
In 2000, a domestic cartoon based on Hemingway's story"The Old Man and the Sea" received an Oscar. Its creator, Russian animator Alexander Petrov, used a special technique of "animated painting" (drawing with oil paints on glass). This is a very beautiful cartoon and really worth it to see it.
