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"He had time to make his greatness—to create a style that came to dominate storytelling long and short and to invent characters and situations through which his thoughts and experiences could pass and an essence of truth could emerge. " (Kenneth Lynn on Ernest Hemingway)
Afraid of Nothing - The Life of Ernest Hemingway - A Lecture Part 2 : What I said in Part 1, applies to the second part as well: I very rarely lecture - perhaps two or three times a year for each of my classes. Because I am such an aficionado of Hemingway's life and his work, I wanted to share some of what I had learned with my students. The lecture is divided into two parts - the first part covers his birth until the tragic loss of all of his early writing. The second part picks up at that point and goes until the end of his life. Though lecturing is zealotly frowned upon these days in teaching - I honestly believe that some of the best classes that I've ever experienced were lectures - talks by speakers who cared deeply and energetically about their subjects, and were able to make them come alive for their listeners. Finally, having a lecture in class is a great way to get students ready for their college classrooms. Unlike normal classes - there is no stopping - no slowing down - though I do take questions at the end of the second lecture, and students have to learn how to take notes accordingly. And that is, I believe, an invaluable skill. It could vary every year where I stopped - for the purposes of the audio and video on this page I used my lecture from 2017.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
The Lecture
The Lecture
No Quiz. If you are going to do this lecture, it take every moment of class time (over two days, no less). I do put questions about Hemingway's life on the final exam - and I may pause the lecture once or twice to remind students to take notes - usually telling them that questions from the lecture will appear on the exam are enough incentive.
A Video & Power Point Presentation of Hemingway's Life
A Video & Power Point Presentation of Hemingway's Life
Below you will find the Power Point Presentation that I used. Starting after 2015, I combined the presentation from two to one single presentation. I made sense for a number of reason. The foremost of these was that I never knew how far I was going to get with each class period - and then we changed our schedule to the horrible Block Scheduling, and I was forced to do the Lecture in one single period. I only did it once, before I retired and I must admit that lecturing for 90 minutes was something that I would never want to again. The audio recording of the lecture (without the Power Point Presentation) is divided into two parts - however, I have created a single video of the lecture using the Power Point along with Part 1 & Part 2 of the audio.
HemingwaysLifePart2_HQ.mp4Hemingway's Life - A Personal Journey - Part 2 - A Video
Hemingway's Life - A Personal Journey - Part 2 - A Video
The second part of the lecture (for this year anyway) picks up with the publication of his first novel, "In Our Time", and it ends with Hemingway's death in 1961. We talk about his subsequent books, subsequent marriages and his battle with the public image of what he had become - and his place in 20th Century art. His Nobel Prize acceptance is included in its entirety as well my own personal take on his life. I combined the presentation (found below) with a recording from class and made it into a video.
HemLifePart2_startswithbirthofbumby.mp3Hemingway's Life - A Personal Journey - Part 2 - Audio Recording
Hemingway's Life - A Personal Journey - Part 2 - Audio Recording
The second part of the lecture (for this year anyway) picks up with the publication of his first novel, "In Our Time", and it ends with Hemingway's death in 1961. We talk about his subsequent books, subsequent marriages and his battle with the public image of what he had become - and his place in 20th Century art.
Hemingway's Life - Part 1 & 2 combined Power Points & PDF
Hemingway's Life - Part 1 & 2 combined Power Points & PDF
Hemingway's Life - A Personal Journey - Presentation Part 2 PPTX PDF (high res - no sounds)
Hemingway's Life - A Personal Journey - Both Parts PPTX PDF (high res - no sounds)
Hemingway's Life - A Personal Journey Both Parts - Old Version (with Lesser Quality photos BUT including musical background). PPTX
I did take my original Power Point (which combined Parts 1 & 2) and improved the quality of the photos there were included in the presentation. I've also included a new combined version in case you want to use it. A combined version is what I used in my classroom the last few years that I taught this unit. You really never know (with a lecture) the precisse moment that you are going to end - and I wanted to make sure there were enough slides to use all of the available class time.
I have also included the version that I used the last few years that I taught - it is a combined version and the slides are of lower quality - but it includes the background sounds and music that you can also hear in the video above.
These are the notes that I used - they are for both parts of the lecture, as it was possible to end and pick up at different points each year (or period for that matter). They developed over the years and many additions were made as time went on. I found it really useful to have the pictures next to what would be appearing on screen as I spoke.
The pictures will not match 100% what is on the slides you'll find on this website as I replaced in July of 2025 many of the images with higher resolution versions.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
Especially by having the Power Point found above - this lesson works great remotely, though it is harder to see if the students are engaged (always problematic in a lecture).
From the very beginning of this unit, the students, along with short stories of In Our Time also have been reading the short little vignettes (referred to as Inter-Chapters) that appear between each of the stories. Now, before we finish the book (or between reading the two parts of "Big Two-Hearted River" - and as a great way to review what they have read - the students will pull together these Inter-Chapters to see if they can find a relationship between the vignettes and the stories that come before and after them. The students are given a worksheet and a full class period to work with a partner and see what they can come up with. There are four short questions at the end of the worksheet.
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
WHAT CAME BEFORE:
The Life of Hemingway Part 1 - 'fraid of Nuthin - A Personal Journey
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
Lectures are and have been a pedagogical "no-no" since I began teaching nearly 40 years ago. However, some of my own most exciting and rewarding experiences as a student have happened during a great lecture (not to say that I'm a great lecturer, but I wasn't terrible). I think all dogma is bad - there is not one right way to teach - and by lecturing about something that I loved talking about it gives the students a great opportunity to practice at focusing, listening, and taking notes - something that they will have to do very soon in their upcoming college classes.
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