In the summer of 1923, Hemingway visited Spain and saw his first bullfight. He was enamored with the sport and returned to Spain many times for that reason. It became the topic of several stories and books. A number of short passages describing bullfights appeared in Hemingway’s first collection of short stories. That year in Spain, he published his first work: Three Stories and Ten Poems. Three years later, The Sun Also Rises was published. It was Hemingway’s first true novel. It “brought light on a whole generation after the First World War and drew a vivid portrait of 'the Lost Generation .(Warren, 1973: 2251) Hemingway became the spokesman for that generation and began to be well-known.
But life would not always go smoothly. In Lyon, France, his manuscripts, including A Farewell to Arms, were stolen. It was a great stroke to him. However, Hemingway accepted the fact and turned the loss into a gain. He improved the novel a lot by spending more time thinking and re-writing it. A Farewell to Arms, which was finally published in 1929, "marked not only the change of Hemingway’s role from that of the promising young writer to that of the “success” , but it also marked the change of the world in which he lived(Warren,1973: 2253). The book itself was not a war novel, but as Anthony Burgess said, “a complex statement about the nature of human commitment presented against a background of war widely caught(Warren,1973: 55). In the novel, Hemingway dealt with the unity of life and death, which became one of the main themes. After this novel was published, the years of struggle were coming to an end. Hemingway became a world famous author.
Just before A Farewell to Arms was published, Hemingway’s first marriage was wrecked. His wife’s best friend, Pauline Pfeiffer, arrived in 1926 and decided that Hemingway was the man for her. After thinking, Hemingway chose a Catholic marriage with Pfeiffer. Because of his Catholic faith, some conscientious conflicts arose, but were finally overcome. But the next hurt went much deeper. His father committed suicide because he could not bear the burden of his incurable illness any longer. At the same time, the Depression was on, and “concern with the individual fate was being replaced by concern for the social fate(Warren, 1973: 2253). Moreover, his luck in business and art was overshadowed by some serious attacks on his health. He had toothaches, a glass-gash in his forehead and kidney trouble from fishing. His fingers were gashed to the bone in an accident, and his arms, legs and face were lacerated from a ride on a runaway horse. Later, in a car accident, his arm was broken. His friends and reviewers gave him great pressure. Some complained that his books were immoral, lacking respect for human values; others asked for new books.
For several years, Hemingway lived under the pressure, but faced it with courage. He continued writing and traveling. In 1937, he finished the novel To Have and Have Not, which announced his discovery of a social conscience.
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