Ernest Hemingway: Selected Letters 1917-1961

The death of Ernest Hemingway in 1961 ended one of the most original & influential careers in American literature. His works have been translated into every major language.

The Nobel Prize awarded to him in 1954 recognized his impact on contemporary writing. While many people are familiar with the public image of Hemingway & the legendary accounts of his life, few knew him as an intimate.

With this collection of letters, presented for the 1st time as a Scribner Classic, a new Hemingway emerges. Ranging from 1917 to 1961, this generous selection of nearly 600 letters is, in effect, both a self-portrait & an autobiography.

In his own words, Hemingway candidly reveals himself to a wide variety of family, friends, enemies, editors, translators & almost all the prominent writers of his day. In so doing he proves to be one of the most entertaining letter writers of all time.

Carlos Baker has chosen letters that not only represent major turning points in Hemingway's career but also exhibit character, wit & the writer's typical enthusiasm for hunting, fishing, drinking & eating. A few are ingratiating, some downright truculent.

Others present his views on writing & reading, criticize books by friend or foe, & discuss women, soldiers, politicians & prizefighters. Perhaps more than anything, these letters show his irrepressible humor, given far freer rein in his correspondence than in his books.

An informal biography in letters, the product of 45 years living & writing, Ernest Selected Letters leaves an indelible impression of an extraordinary man.

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, IL, in 1899. At 17 he left home to join the Kansas City Star as a reporter, then volunteered to serve in the Red Cross during WWI. He was severely wounded at the Italian front & was awarded the Croce di Guerra.

He moved to Paris in 1921, where he devoted himself to writing fiction, & where he fell in with the expatriate circle that included Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound & Ford Madox Ford.

His novels include The Sun Also Rises (1926), A Farewell to Arms (1929), To Have & Have Not (1937), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940) & The Old Man & the Sea (1952). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. He died in Ketchum, Idaho, on 7/2/61.