Editing Ernest Hemingway (section)

== Cuba and the Nobel Prize ==
[[File:Ernest Hemingway 1950.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Hemingway in the cabin of his boat ''Pilar'', off the coast of [[Cuba]], {{Circa|1950}}|alt=photograph of a man]]
Hemingway said he "was out of business as a writer" from 1942 to 1945.<ref name="Mellow p552">qtd. in Mellow (1992), 552</ref> In 1946 he married Mary, who had an [[ectopic pregnancy]] five months later. The Hemingway family suffered a series of accidents and health problems in the years following the war: in a 1945 car accident, he injured his knee and sustained another head wound. A few years later Mary broke first her right ankle and then her left in successive skiing accidents. A 1947 car accident left Patrick with a head wound, severely ill and delirious. The doctor in Cuba diagnosed [[schizophrenia]], and sent him for 18 sessions of [[electroconvulsive therapy]].<ref name="Meyers pp420–421">Meyers (1985), 420–421</ref>

Hemingway sank into depression as his literary friends began to die: in 1939 [[William Butler Yeats]] and [[Ford Madox Ford]]; in 1940 [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]; in 1941 [[Sherwood Anderson]] and [[James Joyce]]; in 1946 [[Gertrude Stein]]; and the following year in 1947, Max Perkins, Hemingway's long-time Scribner's editor, and friend.<ref name="Mellow pp548–550">Mellow (1992) 548–550</ref> During this period, he suffered from severe headaches, high blood pressure, weight problems, and eventually diabetes—much of which was the result of previous accidents and many years of heavy drinking.<ref name="Desnoyers p12">Desnoyers, 12</ref>

In January 1946, he began work on ''[[The Garden of Eden (novel)|The Garden of Eden]]'', finishing 800 pages by June.<ref group=note>''The Garden of Eden'' was published posthumously in 1986. See Meyers (1985), 436</ref><ref>Meyers (1985), 436</ref> During the post-war years, he also began work on a trilogy tentatively titled "The Land", "The Sea" and "The Air", which he wanted to combine in one novel titled ''The Sea Book''. Both projects stalled. Mellow writes that Hemingway's inability to write was "a symptom of his troubles" during these years.<ref group=note>The manuscript for ''The Sea Book'' was published posthumously as ''[[Islands in the Stream (novel)|Islands in the Stream]]'' in 1970. See Mellow (1992), 552</ref><ref>Mellow (1992), 552</ref>

In 1948, Hemingway and Mary traveled to Europe, staying in [[Venice]] for several months. While there, Hemingway fell in love with the then 19-year-old [[Adriana Ivancich]]. The platonic love affair inspired the novel ''[[Across the River and into the Trees]]'', written in Cuba during a time of strife with Mary, and published in 1950 to negative reviews.<ref>Meyers (1985), 440–452</ref> The following year, furious at the critical reception of ''Across the River and Into the Trees'', Hemingway wrote the draft of ''[[The Old Man and the Sea]]'' in eight weeks, saying that it was "the best I can write ever for all of my life".<ref name="Desnoyers p12" /> Published in September 1952,<ref name="Reynolds p656">Reynolds (2012), 656</ref> ''The Old Man and the Sea'' became a book-of-the-month selection, made Hemingway an international celebrity, and won the [[Pulitzer Prize]] in May 1953. In June, he departed Cuba for his second trip to Africa.<ref name="Desnoyers p13">Desnoyers, 13</ref><ref name="Meyers p489">Meyers (1985), 489</ref>

[[File:Ernest and Mary Hemingway on safari, 1953-54.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|Hemingway and Mary in Africa before the two plane accidents|alt=photograph of a man and woman on safari in Africa]]
In January 1954 while in Africa, Hemingway was almost fatally injured in successive plane crashes. He had chartered a sightseeing flight over the [[Belgian Congo]] as a Christmas present to Mary. On their way to photograph [[Murchison Falls]] from the air, the plane struck an abandoned utility pole and was forced into a crash landing. Hemingway sustained injuries to his back and shoulder. Mary sustained broken ribs and went into shock. After a night in the brush, they chartered a boat on the river and arrived in [[Butiaba]], where they were met by a pilot who had been searching for them. He assured them he could fly out, but the landing strip was too rough and the plane exploded in flames. Mary and the pilot escaped through a broken window. Hemingway had to smash his way out by battering the door open with his head.<ref name= "Reynolds2012 550ff">Reynolds (2012), 550</ref>

Hemingway suffered burns and another serious head injury, that caused [[cerebrospinal fluid|cerebral fluid]] to leak from the injury.<ref>Mellow (1992), 586</ref> They eventually arrived in [[Entebbe]] to find reporters covering the story of Hemingway's death. He briefed the reporters and spent the next few weeks recuperating in [[Nairobi]].<ref>Mellow (1992), 587</ref> Despite his injuries, Hemingway accompanied Patrick and his wife on a planned fishing expedition in February, but pain caused him to be irascible and difficult to get along with.<ref name="Mellow 1992 588">Mellow (1992), 588</ref> When a [[wildfire|bushfire]] broke out, he was again injured, sustaining second-degree burns on his legs, front torso, lips, left hand and right forearm.<ref name="Meyers pp505-507">Meyers (1985), 505–507</ref>

Months later in [[Venice]], Mary reported to friends the full extent of Hemingway's injuries: two cracked [[Intervertebral disc|discs]], a kidney and liver rupture, a [[dislocated shoulder]] and a broken skull.<ref name="Mellow 1992 588" /> The accidents may have precipitated the physical deterioration that was to follow. After the plane crashes, Hemingway, who had been "a thinly controlled alcoholic throughout much of his life, drank more heavily than usual to combat the pain of his injuries."<ref>Beegel (1996), 273</ref>

[[File:Telegram Nobel Prize for Literature 1954.jpg|thumb|upright|Hemingway's Nobel-Prize telegram in 1954|alt=telegram from with text]]

In October 1954, Hemingway received the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]]. He modestly told the press that [[Carl Sandburg]], [[Isak Dinesen]] and [[Bernard Berenson]] deserved the prize,<ref>Lynn (1987), 574</ref> but he gladly accepted the prize money.<ref name="Baker p338">Baker (1972), 38</ref> Mellow says Hemingway "had coveted the Nobel Prize", but when he won it, months after his plane accidents and their worldwide press coverage, "there must have been a lingering suspicion in Hemingway's mind that his obituary notices had played a part in the academy's decision."<ref name="Mellow pp588–589">Mellow (1992), 588–589</ref> He was still recuperating and decided against traveling to [[Stockholm]].<ref name="Meyers p509">Meyers (1985), 509</ref> Instead he sent a speech to be read in which he defined the writer's life:

{{blockquote|Writing, at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-speech.html |title = Ernest Hemingway The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954 Banquet Speech |publisher = The Nobel Foundation |access-date = December 10, 2009 |archive-date = August 2, 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180802223736/https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1954/hemingway-speech.html |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1954/hemingway/speech/|access-date=January 4, 2023|website=NobelPrize.org|language=en-US}}</ref>}}

Since his return from Africa, Hemingway had been slowly writing his "African Journal".<ref group="note">Published in 1999 as ''[[True at First Light]]''. See Oliver (1999), 333</ref><ref name="Meyers p511"/> Late in 1955 and early into 1956 he was bedridden with a variety of illnesses.<ref name="Meyers p511">Meyers (1985), 511</ref> He was ordered to stop drinking so as to mitigate liver damage, advice he initially followed but eventually disregarded.<ref>Reynolds (2000), 291–293</ref> In October 1956, he returned to Europe and visited ailing [[Basque people|Basque]] writer [[Pio Baroja]], who died a few weeks later. During the trip, Hemingway again became sick and was treated for a variety of ailments including liver disease and high blood pressure.<ref name="Meyers p512">Meyers (1985), 512</ref>

{{Listen|filename=HemingwayNobelSpeechIntro.ogg|title= 1954 Nobel Acceptance Speech | pos = right| description=Opening statement of Nobel Prize acceptance speech, 1954 (recorded privately by Hemingway after the fact).|format=[[Ogg]]}}
In November 1956, while staying in Paris, he was reminded of trunks he had stored in the Ritz Hotel in 1928 and never retrieved. Upon re-claiming and opening the trunks, Hemingway discovered they were filled with notebooks and writing from his Paris years. Excited about the discovery, when he returned to Cuba in early 1957, he began to shape the recovered work into his memoir ''[[A Moveable Feast]]''.<ref name="Meyers p533">Meyers (1985), 533</ref> In 1959, he ended a period of intense activity: he finished ''A Moveable Feast'' (scheduled to be released the following year); brought ''[[True at First Light]]'' to 200,000 words; added chapters to ''The Garden of Eden''; and worked on ''[[Islands in the Stream (novel)|Islands in the Stream]]''. The last three were stored in a safe deposit box in Havana as he focused on the finishing touches for ''A Moveable Feast''. Reynolds claims it was during this period that Hemingway slid into depression, from which he was unable to recover.<ref>Reynolds (1999), 321</ref>

''Finca Vigía'' became crowded with guests and tourists, as Hemingway considered a permanent move to Idaho. In 1959, he bought a home overlooking the [[Big Wood River]], outside Ketchum and left Cuba—although he apparently remained on easy terms with the [[Fidel Castro|Castro]] government, telling ''The New York Times'' he was "delighted" with Castro's overthrow of [[Fulgencio Batista|Batista]].<ref>Mellow (1992), 494–495</ref><ref name="Meyers pp516–519">Meyers (1985), 516–519</ref> He was in Cuba in November 1959, between returning from Pamplona and traveling west to Idaho, and in 1960, for his 61st birthday.<ref name="Reynolds 2000, 332, 344">Reynolds (2000), 332, 344</ref>

In 1960, he and Mary decided to leave, after hearing the news that Castro wanted to nationalize property owned by Americans and other foreign nationals.<ref name="Reynolds 2000, 332, 344"/> On July 25, 1960, the Hemingways left Cuba for the last time, leaving art and manuscripts in a bank vault in Havana. After the 1961 [[Bay of Pigs Invasion]], ''Finca Vigía'' was [[expropriated]] by the Cuban government, complete with Hemingway's collection of about 5,000 books.<ref name="Mellow p599">Mellow (1992), 599</ref>