The.

             details that followed have been disputed, but one source states that Hemingway, with.

             shrapnel embedded in his leg, carried two wounded soldiers to safety as machine gun fire.

             ripped through his already bloodied limb. It was at the hospital in Milan, while having.

             his leg tended to, where Hemingway first fell in love. She was a Red Cross nurse more.

             than nine years his senior, but he loved her with all the passion that would become his.

             trademark. But he soon had to return to the states, and the affair was over (Nelson, 31).

             His war experiences would prove to be very useful in the years to come. When he.

             returned to Illinois, he would give speeches at the public library recounting his adventures.

             in Italy. At one of these lectures, one of the women in the audience was so taken by the.

             young man"s diction, she asked her husband, who was the editor of the Toronto Star, to.

             give him a job. Hemingway wrote for the paper, and soon asked to be a foreign.

             correspondent, so that he could move to Paris and begin his writing career (Baker, 28).

             Hemingway arrived in Paris in 1923, and became part of a circle of writers which.

             included Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. It wasn"t long.

             before In Our Time was ready to be published, and with the help of his new friends the.

             book was being sold in Europe and America in no time. In Our Time is a collection of.

             short stories that seemed to chronicle Hemingway"s life up to that point. This particular.

             book shows his unwillingness to expose any kind of weakness in his characters, because.

             his characters are almost always composites of himself, however the writing is some of.

             his finest (Nelson, 49).

             After the publication of In Our Time, Ernest had the most productive years of his.

             life. From 1925 to 1928, Hemingway would pump out novel after novel gaining him a.

             reputation world wide as one of the greatest authors of the day. It was in this period that.