'A man can be destroyed but not defeated': Ernest Hemingway's near-death experience and declining health.
Frontiers of neurology and neuroscience 2010 DOI: 10.1159/000311201 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Ernest Hemingway |
| Topics | Near-death experience |
| Key points | Argues that Hemingway's suicide at 61 resulted from accumulated physical deterioration, emotional distress, and cognitive decline, and that the near-death experience from his 1918 war wound influenced his literary themes and the 'code hero' archetype. |
Abstract
Ernest Hemingway is one of the most popular and widely acclaimed American writers of the 20th century. His works and life epitomize the image of the hyper-masculine hero, facing the cruelties of life with 'grace under pressure'. Most of his writings have a quasi-autobiographical quality, which allowed many commentators to draw comparisons between his personality and his art. Here, we examine the psychological and physical burdens that hindered Hemingway's life and contributed to his suicide. We first take a look at his early years, and review his psychopathology as an adult. A number of authors have postulated specific diagnoses to explain Hemingway's behavior: borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, multiple head trauma, and alcoholism. The presence of hemochromatosis, an inherited metabolic disorder, has also been suggested. We describe the circumstances of his suicide at 61 as the outcome of accumulated physical deterioration, emotional distress and cognitive decline. Special attention is paid to the war wound he suffered in 1918, which seemed to involve a peculiar altered state of consciousness sometimes called 'near-death experience'. The out-of-body experience, paradoxical analgesia and conviction that dying is 'the easiest thing' seemed to infl uence his future work. The constant presence of danger, death, and violence in his works, as well as the emphasis on the typical Hemingway 'code hero', can all be traced to particular psychological and neurological disorders, as well as his early brush with death.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on near-death experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times | 1987 | Historical analysis | |
| Neuroscience and the Near-Death Experience: Roles for the NMSA-PCP receptor, the sigma receptor and the endopsychosins | 1990 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology. | 2010 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-Death Experience as a Probe to Explore (Disconnected) Consciousness | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Near-death experiences between science and prejudice | 2012 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 2
Cites 6
- Out‐of‐body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin Brain January 15, 2004
- Attitude Change Following Near-Death Experiences Psychiatry August 1, 1980
- The body unbound: Vestibular–motor hallucinations and out-of-body experiences Cortex June 6, 2008
- Defining near-death experiences Mortality 1999
- Some Rudimentary Problems Pertaining to the Construction of an Ontology and Epistemology of Shamanic Journeying Imagery International Journal of Transpersonal Studies 2008
and 1 more in the library