Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway wrote many works and almost all of them contained at least some elements of autobiography.  Aside from the memoir A Movable Feast and the semi autobiographical work, A Farewell to Arms,  many of his works contained many elements of his own life.  In the twenties he was part of the American expatriate group in Paris which is very closely alluded to in his novel The Sun Also Rises.  He was also an avid fan of Spanish bull fighting which is a major feature in the plot of the novel.   A Farewell to Arms is the story of a fictional character who is an ambulance driver in world war one which is what Hemingway did in the war which shows the connection to his own life. This novel is technically fiction but contains many events and elements that Hemingway himself experienced.  

For Whom the Bell Tolls is another work by Hemingway that contains many autobiographical elements but is a fictional work.  This novel is about the Spanish Civil War in 1937.  Hemingway was a journalist at this time and was sent by the the US to report on the war.  He experienced lots of the war first hand and incorporated much of this into the novel.  While reporting on the war he was present at many of the major battles and talked about much of this in the book even though it only covers a time frame of four days.  This book has three different types of characters in it, Purely fictional characters, characters he based of real people, and actual figures in the war.   This shows how he writes a fictional book but still makes it seem very realistic and almost biographical as if he was actually there when the actions in the book are taking place.

This use of his own experiences gives his novels a realistic feel that makes then even more riveting.  Hemingway led an extremely interesting life as he was and ambulance driver in the first world war who was injured and honored, a journalist during the Spanish civil war, and was a member of the expatriate community in Paris during the most exciting times of Paris's history.  This allows him to include these things in his novels in a way that is not possible to duplicate by just telling about something that happened.  People have tried to tell of the extravagant night life of Paris in the twenties but few can do it with the authority and insight that Hemingway brings to his novel.