Ernest Hemingway: A Biography

Biographer Mary V. Dearborn is the first women to write a biography about Ernest Hemingway, having already taken on other macho men like Henry Miller and Norman Mailer. She has already written about some famous women, but this full-length biography is bound to add to her and her subject’s notoriety. Hemingway for many was probably the most famous and successful writer of the twentieth century, encapsulating bravery, humor, artistry, responsibility, suffering, and purpose. He was part of the war efforts overseas as well as part of the Paris jet-set. He did not really write about America but instead about Americans abroad and the country’s outskirts. He was also an outdoorsmen and adventurer with a fascination for manly sports.

Dearborn does a fascinating job of telling of his whole life in a slow-reading text that tells of his many personal stories. Hemingway was more of world writer who wrote about places he was not from and was never really a regionalist. The book tells of his gained and lost friendships, wives, family, and lovers. There are also some crotch jokes, something that Hemingway also made. As depicted here, Hemingway was moving and profound, even if he was contentious, self-centered, and prejudiced. Dearborn reminds us that we will remember the man, part of the American literary river, every time the spring thaws.