You will hear a recording. Select the paragraph that best relates to the recording.

(1) The writer Ernest Hemingway had a particularly eventful as well as exciting life. A lot of his real-life experiences got into his books. The speaker thinks this is irrelevant and doesn’t believe that having lived such a full life makes the books any better, but he regrets that people now would prefer to read biographies of writers rather than the books they wrote.

(2) It’s difficult to tell whether the speaker approves of Hemingway’s lifestyle or not. He was famously macho and spent a lot of time hunting the wild animals, going to wars and getting into fights. All these things got into his books, and speaker thinks that this is not necessarily a good thing as it means that too many people prefer to read about his life than read his books.

(3) The main point is to question whether biographical facts of a writer’s life are of any importance in evaluating his work. Hemingway is the example used here and does seem to be a direct connection between the events of his life and those in his books, but knowing this should not get in the way of a true critical judgement of works.

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