Ernest Hemingway – 4

            World War I cost the lives of 10 million people. Many of those who survived lost their belief in themselves, in bright ideals and in a happy life. That’s why they were called the "lost generation”. The scheme of the "lost generation” was characteristic of Hemingway’s early books.

            When the war was over, Hemingway returned to America and began working on a Canadian newspaper. In 1921 he was sent to Europe as a travelling correspondent. Until 1928 he lived mainly in Paris, but at the same time he visited other cities and countries in order to be at the centre of European political life. Later Hemingway went to Africa where he hunted big animals (such hunts are called "safaris”). The book "Green Hills of Africa” was the result of his travels. It is written in a form of a diary and contains skilful descriptions of African nature, thrilling safari episodes and also Hemingway’s views on literature and writers. A writer, in Hemingway’s opinion, must have a great deal of talent, knowledge and experience, discipline, and he must always tell the truth in his works. Hemingway spoke bitterly about the fate of many American writers who had betrayed themselves trying to make money. Money, in his opinion, destroys people’s abilities, changes them into idle people who think only of pleasure. This idea is developed in one of Hemingway’s best stories "The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, the hero of which, an American writer, destroys his talent by leading the idle life of a rich man. He realizes this when he lies dying of gangrene in his camp in the hut of Africa, looking at the snow-covered mountain top of Kilimanjaro, which seems to him to be a symbol of creative and moral strength.