Plan : Introduction Ernest Hemingway's biography What is Lost Generation Ernest Hemingway's career Hemingway's works Conclusion List of used literature Introduction

What is Lost Generation
The term “lost generation”, coined by Gertrude Stein, is applied to a group of writers, poets, and musicians in Paris during the 1920s, often characterized by the similar themes discussed in their work, such as disillusionment in the post-World War I society.The most famous members were Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and T. S. Eliot. They were "lost" because after the war many of them were disillusioned with the world in general and unwilling to move into a settled life.
Hemingway is among the most prominent and influential of the "Lost Generation" of expatriate writers who lived in Paris in the 1920s. Known affectionately as "Papa Hemingway," he was awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in literature, and several of his books were made into movies. In a more general sense, the Lost Generation is considered to be made up of individuals born between 1883 and 1900.
In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, Western members of the Lost Generation grew up in societies which were more literate, consumerist and media saturated than ever before, but which also tended to maintain strictly conservative social values.
Young men of the cohort were mobilised on a mass scale for the First World War, a conflict which was often seen as the defining moment of their age group's lifespan. Young women also contributed to and were affected by the War, and in its aftermath gained greater freedoms politically and in other areas of life. The Lost Generation was also heavily vulnerable to the Spanish flu pandemic and became the driving force behind many cultural changes, particularly in major cities during what became known as the Roaring Twenties.
Later, they experienced the economic effects of the Great Depression and often saw their own sons leave for the battlefields of the Second World War. In the developed world, they tended to reach retirement and average life expectancy during the decades after the conflict, but some significantly outlived the norm. The last surviving person who was known to have been born during the 19th century died in 2018.
In literature, the "Lost Generation" refers to a group of writers and poets who were men and women of this period. All were American, but several members emigrated to Europe.
Europe, gave him letters of introduction to Gertrude Stein (1846–1946) and Ezra Pound (1885–1972)—two American writers living in Europe.
In 1921, he married Hadley Richardson, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s'
"Lost Generation" expatriate community.
Hemingway and his bride, Hadley Richardson, journeyed to Paris, where he learned much from these two well-known authors. Despite his lack of money and poor living conditions, these were the happiest years of Hemingway's life, as well as the most artistically productive.
According to Ernest Hemingway, it was Gertrude Stein who first coined the phrase “lost generation.” In his memoir A Moveable Feast he tells the story of Stein taking her Model T to a mechanic who did not fix her car to her liking. She remarks “That’s what you all are…All of you young people who served in the war. You are all a lost generation” (Hemingway, A Moveable Feast 34). Described as a “very big but not tall” woman with “beautiful eyes” (21), Stein was quite fond of the lost generation and frequently invited the members to her literary salon. Located in her apartment at the famous 21 rue de Fleurus, the salon featured Cézanne oils and watercolors, early pictures by Matisse, paintings by Braque, Renoir, Manet, Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec, and original Picasso sketches (Mellow). It is in this salon that writers such as Ernest Hemingway sought out Stein’s thoughts on literature and their own work; Stein is often referred to as the mother of the lost generation writers. Another famous location associated with the lost generation is Sylvia Beach’s bookstore Shakespeare and Company. Beach opened the bookstore on November 17, 1919 (Fitch).
Hemingway described the store as a “warm, cheerful place with a big stove in the winter, tables and shelves of books, new books in the window, and photographs on the wall of famous writers both dead and living” (Hemingway, A Moveable Feast 39). Shakespeare and Company made an impression on the French, particularly the writers and artists, because never before had there been an English-language bookstore and lending library in Paris. Beach attracted names such as Gertrude Stein, Alice B. Toklas, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, Robert McAlmon, and John Dos Passos, among others (Beach 109-112). Sylvia Beach helped shape the lost generation, as her bookstore provided access to current American literature for reading and criticism along with support for young authors, whether it was lending them money, finding them resources, or simply encouraging them to write. The lost generation writers flocked to places such as Shakespeare and Company and literary salons to surround themselves with like-minded individuals. These writers were shaped by the shared experience of World War I, often choosing to express their feelings about the war and the post-war society through writing. Young men craving adventure and travel enlisted in World War I, but found that instead of a rewarding experience, war was filled with violence and death. The lost generation then felt the need to travel, not for adventure, but as a way to deal with the post-war society. Hemingway himself made this choice, signing up for active duty after witnessing the war as a reporter, and drove an ambulance along with fighting on the front lines. After less than a month in the war zone, Hemingway was struck by a mortar shell and severely wounded (Wagner-Martin 23). In Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, the main character, Jake, is dealing with his physical and emotional wounds after World War I. Jake travels to Spain frequently to fish and witness the bull-fights. At first, Spain is everything Jake needs, as he is free to watch the bull-fights and fish, but the charm quickly wears off. “I hated to leave France. Life was so simple in France. I felt I was a fool to be going back into Spain. In Spain you could not tell about anything” (Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises 233). Expatriates believed that by moving to Paris, their troubles would be cured, but that was not true.

Along with travelling to physically escape, the lost generation was known for drinking as a mental escape. The theme of alcohol is apparent in The Sun Also Rises along with Hemingway’s memoir A Moveable Feast, mentioning alcohol at almost every social gathering. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby also refers to alcohol and decadence as a coping tool. Jay Gatsby, one of the main characters of the novel, throws luxurious parties full of dancing and drinking that last all night in an attempt to gain the attention of his lost lover, Daisy, who refused to marry Gatsby because he lacked wealth and stature. Gatsby finally meets up with Daisy and attempts to win her back by showing off his large mansion along with his expensive belongings, and Daisy agrees to leave her husband and run away with Gatsby. It is alcohol that plays a part in the book’s tragic ending, though, as the drunk Daisy driving Gatsby’s car with Gatsby in the passenger seat, hits and kills another character, Myrtle. Wilson, Myrtle’s husband, kills Gatsby in his grief, blaming him for his wife’s death, relaying Fitzgerald’s message that excessive materialism and drinking will cause destruction. In another Fitzgerald novel, Tender is the Night, the character Abe represents loss of youth due to alcohol. Abe is a raging alcoholic, but fondly thinks back on when he did not face his addiction. Ultimately, Abe’s drinking leads to his demise, as he is beaten to death in a speakeasy (Fitzgerald, Tender Is the Night), another Fitzgerald character killed due to alcohol.