Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) was an American writer and journalist. His distinctive writing style, characterized by economy and understatement, influenced 20th-century fiction, as did his apparent life of adventure and the public image he cultivated. He produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and his career peaked in 1954 when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Hemingway's fiction was successful because the characters he presented exhibited authenticity that reverberated with his audience. Many of his works are classics of American literature. After leaving high school he worked for a few months as a reporter, before leaving for the Italian front to become an ambulance driver during World War I, which became the basis for his novel A Farewell to Arms. His first novel, The Sun Also Rises, was written in 1924. After divorcing Hadley Richardson in 1927 Hemingway married Pauline Pfeiffer; they divorced following Hemingway's return from covering the Spanish Civil War, after which he wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940, but he left her for Mary Welsh Hemingway after World War II, during which he was present at D-Day and the liberation of Paris. Shortly after the publication of The Old Man and the Sea in 1952 Hemingway went on safari to Africa, where he was almost killed in a plane crash that left him in pain or ill-health for much of the rest of his life. Hemingway had permanent residences in Key West, Florida, and Cuba during the 1930s and 40s, but in 1959 he moved from Cuba to Idaho, where he committed suicide in the summer of 1961.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1757:

Seven Years' War: British forces under Robert Clive defeated troops under Siraj ud-Daulah at the Battle of Plassey, allowing the British East India Company to annex Bengal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Plassey

1887:

The Parliament of Canada passed the Rocky Mountains Park Act, creating Banff National Park as Canada's first national park. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banff_National_Park

1919:

Estonian War of Independence: Estonian troops engaged the forces of the Pro-German Government of Latvia near Cēsis, Latvia, recapturing the area four days later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wenden_%281919%29

1946:

Canada's largest onshore earthquake, measuring 7.3 Mw, struck Vancouver Island, but only caused two casualties since there were no heavily populated areas near its epicenter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1946_Vancouver_Island_earthquake

1961:

The Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, came into force. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

raccoon (n): 1. A nocturnal omnivore, originally of Northern America, typically with a mixture of grayish fur, a mask-like marking around the eyes, and a striped tail. 2. Any mammal of the genus Procyon http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/raccoon

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I've woven them a garment that's prepared

out of poor words, those that I overheard, and will hold fast to every word and glance

all of my days, even in new mischance, and if a gag should bind my tortured mouth,

through which a hundred million people shout, then let them pray for me, as I do pray

for them, this eve of my remembrance day. --Anna Akhmatova http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anna_Akhmatova