10 May 2023
On This Day
10 May 2023 Cheryl

10 May 1927: Ernest Hemingway weds Pauline Pfeiffer

Ernest and Pauline Hemingway, Paris, ca. 1927

Each time he got divorced, Ernest Hemingway married again within a year — but he always left something behind in print. The dedication for The Sun Also Rises went to his first wife, Elizabeth Hadley Richardson; Death in the Afternoon was dedicated to second wife Pauline Pfeiffer; For Whom the Bell Tolls was for third wife Martha Gellhorn; and Across the River and Into the Trees went “To Mary with Love.” [1]

Ernest Hemingway, renowned for his adventurous lifestyle as much as his literary prowess, embarked upon his second marriage to Pauline Pfeiffer on 10 May 1927.

Pfeiffer, a journalist for Vogue magazine, met Hemingway in Paris during the mid-1920s. Their relationship blossomed amidst the bohemian atmosphere of the city, and they eventually tied the knot shortly after 27-year-old Hemingway’s divorce from his first wife, Hadley.

Pauline’s family was wealthy and Catholic, and Hemingway converted to Catholicism before the marriage. By the end of the year Pauline, who was pregnant, wanted to move back to America and they left Paris in March 1928.

The marriage was characterized by a blend of passion, ambition, and tumult. The couple shared a love for travel and Pauline’s adventurous spirit complemented Hemingway’s own. Their shared experiences often found their way into his works, infusing it with a sense of vitality and authenticity.

They had two children, Patrick and Gloria (born Gregory). Hemingway drew upon his wife’s difficult labour with one child as the basis for his character Catherine’s death in A Farewell to Arms.

In 1937, on a trip to Spain, Hemingway began an affair with Martha Gellhorn and the marriage ended in divorce in November 1940. Hemingway married Gellhorn three weeks later. Pfeiffer lived in Florida until her death on 1 October 1951, at age 56.