Ernest Hemingway is Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature

“Although Hemingway was, deep down, very proud to have won the Nobel Prize, it was the attention and pressure it brought with it that was not so good, especially after the African air crashes: which created a period of depression…”

In October 1954 Ernest Hemingway received notification that he’d been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature and immediately telephoned Colonel ‘Buck’ Lanham, as Carlos Baker reports:

“ Lanham had recently returned from Europe to the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. Bored by inaction, he resolved to enter the hospital for repair of a long-standing hernia. One day in late October, a nurse appeared. ‘General,’ said she, ‘you have a long-distance call.’ The voice was unmistakably Ernest’s.

“ ‘ Buck, I just called to tell you I got that thing.’

“ ‘ That thing? What thing?’

“ ‘ That Swedish thing. You know.’

“ ‘ You mean the Nobel Prize?’

“ ‘ Yeah,’ said Ernest, ‘You’re the first one I called.’

“ ‘ God-damned wonderful,’ Lanham said. ‘Congratulations.’

“ ‘ I should have had the damn thing long ago,’ said Ernest. ‘I’m thinking of telling them to shove it.’