The Big Read at Kansas City Public Library

As one of the first members of the “Literati,” those writers whose personal lives were just as intriguing as their most recently published scribblings, Ernest Hemingway’s divorces and marriages made for scintillating conversation.

His second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, was the reason his first marriage dissolved. Pauline came from a wealthy family in St. Louis, MO. She attended the University of Missouri School of Journalism and after working at a number of newspapers in Cleveland and New York, she decided to focus on feature writing for magazines.

Pauline and Ernest met in Paris where Pauline was working for Vogue. She became fast friends with the Hemingways and the other members of the “Lost Generation.” 

Pauline and Ernest had two sons, Patrick and Gregory. Pauline and Ernest were in Kansas City waiting for the birth of their first son together while Ernest struggled with the ending to A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway’s observation of Pauline’s troublesome labor provided the inspiration for the tragic ending that befalls Catherine in AFTA.

In 1931, Pauline and Ernest moved to Key West. Their stormy marriage ended in divorce in 1940. Three weeks later, Ernest Hemingway married Martha Gellhorn.