Abstract A 1954 Nobel Laureate, Ernest Hemingway, 1899-1961, has been an icon of the literary world for over seventy years and has been called the greatest American author of the 20th century. Many of his novels and short stories are among the best American classics ever written. This paper shows that most critics agree that many of Hemingway's novels reflect the author's life more than ?Islands in the Stream,? posthumously published in 1970. The paper examines passages from the book and compares events as experienced by Hemingway himself during his life in the Florida Keys.
From the Paper "The driftwood seems symbolic of the women who had come in and out of Hudson's life. Women had come to stay for a while with him on the island, he needed them and welcomed them. Hemingway writes that Hudson, "liked having them there, sometimes for quite a long time. But in the end he was always glad when they were gone, even when he was very fond of them" (Hemingway 14). It can be no coincidence that Hemingway used the word "fond" to describe both the driftwood and the women in Hudson's life."
