Oh, Hemingway.

Goodreads tells me I read this a gazillion years ago, but I will be honest. Now that I've read it for book club, I have absolutely no memory of reading this the first time (which would have been before Goodreads anyway, so who knows if I was even right for marking it as read to begin with). But I'll be honest, Hemingway bores me to no end in almost all I have read by him. I enjoyed A Moveable Feast while others found it too name-droppy, and I am one of those rare birds who greatly appreciated The Old Man and the Sea, probably because I didn't have to read it in school but hit it up on my own.

Spanish Civil War. Robert Jordan. A bridge. That's pretty much what you need to know. These are things that are happening. More specifically, American Robert Jordan is tasked with blowing up a bridge during the Spanish Civil War. What Hemingway manages to do with that information is spread it out over 400-some pages, ad nauseum. There's a lot of talk about blowing up the bridge. There's a lot of shifting of his pistol. He falls in love with a young woman named Maria who has had her head shaved during a brutal attack on her body and he calls her "rabbit" throughout. There's a cave.

Basically this entire book is a walking symbol. I read symbols into everything. I looked up the symbolism of rabbits because I was certain that it was not a term of endearment - or, rather, it's one of those terms of endearment that is actually really degrading because it's indicating a lack of confidence in the strength of person the endearment is imposed. Rabbit symbolism actually covers quite a lot of territory - fertility, humility, abundance, resurrection, fragility. Cave symbolism - well, we all know a little bit of Jung, right? And Plato? I mean, you can sort of work that one out yourself. Let me just say there's a lot of characters who go in and out of a cave throughout this book. Snow! Snow can often mean death, and I mean, what war story doesn't involve death? Pretty standard. Bridges can mean transition or progress, but a bridge getting blown up? That probably means something else. The pistol that Robert Jordan is constantly shifting and touching and readjusting? That screams PENIS to me.

It just all felt a little too obvious. Hemingway tends to lack nuance.

But I was impressed by a couple of things:

-Maria. Not so much the character herself because Hemingway did not write from a woman's perspective very well at all, so I feel this character was a lost opportunity - or could have been better in a more capable writerly hand. But her story is something pretty incredible for a novel published in 1940. It's told with as much honesty and lack of subtlety as the rest of the symbolism in this book, and it's a harsh, harsh story. Mostly I was surprised that it was included in so much honesty. You know how in a lot of older movies (because of Hollywood's rules and shit) if anything untoward happens, the camera slyly sort of just pans off to the side, or focuses on a flower or something, and we know something just happened but we just have to make it up in our own mind as the viewer? There's no panning away here in this novel. Hemingway just tells that story like it should be told - in all of its awful truth, not shying away from a difficult subject matter.

-Chapter 26. In this chapter, Robert Jordan (who is normally a pretty wooden 19-year-old character, a real snooze, actually) has this entire internal monologue about what it means to be a soldier, what his role is in the war, what it means to fight and kill, how many people has he killed and what does that mean. He basically argues with himself that it's not worth thinking about because if one thinks about it, then one may just shut down entirely. He recognizes there's a whole lot of bullshit politics involved that have led him to this position he is in now, but he also recognizes he has a job to do.

Very rarely, I think, in war literature do we get to see that sort of self-awareness in the characters. Or if we do, it's after the fact, in retrospect. But this was right in the middle of the story, and because of the woodenness I've already mentioned in regards to Robert Jordan's character, it was unexpected. He touches his penis pistol and calls Maria "rabbit" to coax her into bed his robe, for crying out loud! That's all very much like a typical 19-year-old. But navel-gazing in a 19-year-old (unless you're part of the Dawson's Creek-crew) is not as typical in war literature.

-War story. Okay, so Hemingway fought in a few wars. Like a ridiculous amount of wars. And I know that wasn't uncommon during the years of his life, a lot of men fought in all the same wars. But it's really sad when you actually look at the list. As far as the Spanish War, Hemingway was there as a war journalist, but his experiences through that and in war itself lends itself well to this novel because he knew what he was talking about. The stories that the characters told throughout the pages were likely stories that Hemingway was told when he was really there. Again, I feel for the literature that came out of the 1940s there was usually a lot more subtlety than what Hemingway produced here, so yeah, that's impressive.

But the overall work is just not that exciting to me. I found it boring more often than not and therefore focused on the symbolism and wishing the bridge would just get blown up already. I can see how others would appreciate this book, I guess, but I feel Hemingway is overrated anyway.

Worth reading if you like war literature (in which case I ask you why you haven't already read this!?), have an interest in fascism and/or the Spanish Civil War, or like to be called "rabbit".

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is the story of a mission carried out over three days in the middle of the war in Spain by a team of Spanish partisans to blow up a bridge under the command of an American volunteer.
Three days from this, an increasing dramatic power emerges, which keeps the reader in maximum tension until the inevitable end. There are three days of rare density with men and women who are brave, disillusioned, broken, determined, bound by hatred of the enemy, prisoners of their collective history and accounts, discovering the power of their courage simultaneously of love.
An immense novel, through the little story within the big one, sweeps away the entire human condition, in all littleness, its ability to overcome its situation and the inevitable fatality of its mortal destiny, the values' height ​​, and the baseness of its instincts, the elegance of its solidarity and the mediocrity of its power games.
Size, immense, height: my apologies for this somewhat weak lexical field. That's what it is!

There is nothing else than now. There is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. How old must you be before you know that? There is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. This is how you live a life in two days. And if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life.”

Hemingway combines his unique style of dialogue to propel this novel forward, with fast bursts of narrative (sometimes bordering on stream of consciousness) to show us a characters innermost thoughts and feelings. He also has an omniscient narrator, which considering the novels theme and number of characters, makes sense; yet the novel is following Robert Jordan almost 80% of the time, so that shifts on the character in focus really stick out. At first this jarred me, but once I got used to it, I actually enjoyed it. It wasn't lazy writing; it was simply the best way this story could be told. The depth of detail, the control in pacing, the psychological profiles of the characters, the consistent tension, all of which Hemingway achieves through dialogue, makes this a truly remarkable book.

Si on est français et fasciné par la culture américaine il faut absolument lire quelques œuvres de cette figure de la mythologie littéraire américaine parce que les américains s'attendent à ce que chaque individu qui prétend être un amateur de la littérature possède une opinion sur Hemingway. Dans ce contexte "For Whom the Bell Tolls" devient incontournable. Il faut le lire car il est probablement le meilleur roman d'Hemingway. Ce qui ne fait pas de doute, c'est le plus nuancé des ces romans.
La légende veut que la guerre civile en Espagne ait divisé le monde entre les bons et les mauvais, à peu près comme le Seigneur fera lors de son retour chez nous. Les bons étaient du coté des communistes et les mauvais étaient du coté des fascistes (Franco, Hitler et Mussolini). Dans ce roman Hemingway suit de façon générale la légende dans laquelle son public croyait. Pour cette raison son héros combat du coté des bons communistes. Cependant Hemingway exprime quelques bémols et avoue à plusieurs endroits que les communistes se comportaient eux aussi en salauds à quelques occasions.
La réalité qui commence à se faire jour surtout chez nous les Anglophones est que les communistes étaient aussi très salauds ce que Hemingway savait fort bien.
Lire ce grand roman pour faire plaisir aux américains qui après tout lisent Proust surtout pour faire plaisir aux Français. Ensuite, je vous propose Paris est une fête (A Moveable Feast). Hemingway a aime Paris comme seulement les Américains en sont capables et ce bel hommage à la ville des lumières est certain de plaire a tous les français.
Finalement, il aussi regarder le beau film Hemingway et Gellhorn qui met beaucoup de lumière sur les expériences d'Hemingway en Espagne.

Una de mis mayores decepciones como lector. Lleno de tópicos, los diálogos, interiores o no, me parecieron sosos y superficiales.

«Κανένας άνθρωπος δεν είναι νησί, ακέριος μοναχός του. Κάθε άνθρωπος είναι ένα κομμάτι ηπείρου, ένα μέρος στεριάς. Αν η θάλασσα ξεπλύνει ένα σβόλο χώμα, η Ευρώπη γίνεται μικρότερη. Όπως κι αν ξεπλύνει ένα ακρωτήρι ή ένα σπίτι φίλων σου ή δικό σου. Κάθε ανθρώπου ο θάνατος λιγοστεύει εμένα τον ίδιο, γιατί είμαι ένα με την Ανθρωπότητα. Κι έτσι ποτέ σου μη στέλνεις να ρωτήσεις για ποιον χτυπά η καμπάνα. Χτυπάει για σένα». (Τζον Νταν – 1624)

αναλυτική κριτική οταν βρεθεί επιτέλους μισή ώρα απόλυτης ελευθερίας.

"And after we have won you must come to hunt.”
“To hunt what?”
“The boar, the bear, the wolf, the ibex—”
“You like to hunt?”
“Yes, man. More than anything. We all hunt in my village. You do not like to hunt?”
“No,” said Robert Jordan. “I do not like to kill animals.”
“With me it is the opposite,” the old man said. “I do not like to kill men.”

The book is set in Spain, during the Spanish Civil War and tells the story of Robert Jordan, an American volunteer and a demolition specialist who is fighting alongside the anti-fascist guerrilla unit against Franco’s fascist forces.
He has one mission: To blow up a bridge.

"I am against all killing of men.”
“Yet you have killed.”
“Yes. And will again. But if I live later, I will try to live in such a way, doing no harm to anyone, that it will be forgiven.”
“By whom?”
“Who knows? Since we do not have God here any more, neither His Son nor the Holy Ghost, who forgives? I do not know.”
“You have not God any more?”
“No. Man. Certainly not. If there were God, never would He have permitted what I have seen with my eyes."

While I was traveling in Cuba and doing research for my book, one of the many places I visited was Hemingway's home. In Hemingway's home, where everything still sits as he left it, I learned of Hemingway's surprising influence upon Fidel Castro.

In Hemingway's library, there was a framed 8" x 10" black and white picture of a man. At first, I had no idea who this person was. I later learned that this gentleman was Charles Sweeney, a close friend of Hemingway. Sweeney was a career military man and Hemingway's personal advisor on military issues such as in "For Whom The Bell Tolls." Interestingly, Fidel Castro was said to have used Hemingway's novel as a reference on guerrilla warfare even though Castro had only met Hemingway but one time at a fishing tournament in Havana in 1960.

Hemingway spent a relatively lengthy period of time at the Hotel Ambos Mundos from 1932 to 1939 in Havana. Room number 511 of the Hotel Ambos Mundos, the only room where Hemingway stayed, is said to be where Hemingway wrote some chapters of "For Whom the Bell Tolls." Seeing the places in Cuba associated with Hemingway intrigued me more about this novel and made my reading of this book more enjoyable.

Excellent and devastating at the same time, just felt like adding the words as it came across my mind today. RTC.

Arka fonda İspanya iç savaşı varken insan ruhunun derinliklerine doğru katmanlı bir yolculuğa çıktım bu kitapla. Okuma süreci ve sonrasında pek çok soruya yanıt aradım. Madem bir savaş kitabı oradan başlayalım. Aynı zamanda da spoiler vermeye başlıyorum. İnsanlar var, kendi canından vazgeçmişken başkasını öldürmeye hakkı olmadığını düşünen. Çatışmaya gitmeden önce birini öldürme ihtimalini düşünmek istemeyen –çünkü karşı taraftakiler de aynı kendileri gibi, sadece aldıkları emirler farklı- O zaman savaş gerçekte kimler arasında? Hemingway bu soruyu öyle bir şiddetle sorduruyor ki okuyucuya kolay kolay etkisinden çıkamıyorsunuz. Sonra geçiyoruz bireysel anlamda insana. Savaş var, dağın ortasındalar ama insan varsa duygu da var. Aşk yakalıyor kahramanımızı. Kitapta bana duyguyu geçiremeyen tek taraf burası. Aşka düşme şekli çok acele olsa da insanın aşkı uğruna nelerden vazgeçebileceği, neleri göze alacağını çok güzel işliyor. Ya insana dair diğer duygular. Kahramanlarımız üzerinden geçmişten bugüne taşınanlar ya da yetinilenler, korkular, boş inançlar, tanrıyla ilişki, sadakat duygusu didikleniyor. Her sorgulamada insan ister istemez geriye dönüp kendi içini eşeliyor. Bir de “şimdinin gücü” var. Son zamanlarda pek popüler olan bu cümleye Hemingway yıllar öncesinden göz kırpıyor. Şu anın kıymetini bilip dolu dolu yaşamak değil mi en önemli olan? Yarın ne olacağını hatta yarın olup olamayacağımızı bilmedikten sonra. Temas ettiği pek çok konu var kitabın. Pek çok sorusu var. Okuması kolay, etkisi uzun süren bu kitabın ıskalanmaması gerektiğini düşünüyorum.

A Difficult Romanticism

Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (1940) is toughly realistic in its depiction of the butchery of warfare. The book has the no-nonsense, fact-intensive style of a reporter. Yet, in its themes of love, death, heroism, and human brotherhood, Hemingway's novel is, in spite of itself, romantic in outlook, but romantic with an edge.

The novel is set in Spain in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). The Spanish Civil War was a multi-sided conflict between the democratically-elected government, the Republicans or loyalists, and its right-wing anti-communist opponents, the nationalists (fascists). The Republicans during this conflict had the assistance of the USSR. Their enemies, the nationalists, were assisted by Nazi Germany and by Italy. Hemingway was a correspondent in Spain at the time. His novel tells the story of Robert Jordan, a young American instructor in Spanish at the University of Montana who had earlier spent much time wandering through Spain. In 1936, with the outset of the conflict, Jordan volunteered his services to assist the Republicans and became an expert in explosives. Jordan idealizes his grandfather who had been a hero in the American Civil War. Jordan's father had committed suicide. When the novel opens, Jordan is assigned to destroy a bridge in furtherance of a Republican offensive. He works with a group of guerrillas in the mountains.

The story unfolds over a time of three days. Hemingway's book offers portrayals of a group of Jordan's Spanish compatriots, in addition to Jordan himself. Chief among them is a 48-year old woman, Pilar, physically unattractive, earthy, and strong-willed. She is the de facto leader of her group and is as central to the story as is Jordan. Pilar is the "woman" of Pablo, who was once a formidable fighter but who has become disillusioned by the conflict. The novel includes several scenes of high tension and near violence between Jordan and Pablo. In his efforts to blow-up the bridge, Jordan is assisted by Anselmo, an aged man who despairs of violence and killing but is devoted to the Republican cause. And, in the three days of the novel, Jordan meets and has a passionate love affair with Maria, a lovely 19-year old who has been saved from the nationalists by Pablo.

Hemingway is known for a terse, elliptical writing style, and it is on display in this book. But the writing is highly varied, with long stream of conscious digressions by Jordan as he reflects upon his past life and upon the conflict in which he has thrust himself. Much of the writing is both figurative and digressive. Hemingway tried to transcribe much of Spanish idiom directly into English, particularly the use of "thou" for the intimate Spanish "you." He also makes considerable use of untranslated Spanish phrases. The book captures the speech patterns of soldiers under tension, with much use of colorful language. Hemingway does not reproduce this language directly but, in English, uses phrases such as "obscenity" or "unprintable" in place of the words themselves. In addition to telling the story of the bridge and its destruction, all the characters engage in long discussions of their thoughts and their prior lives. These discussions generally are directed to the brutality of the war. In an outstanding passage, Pilar tells of the destruction under the command of Pablo of a group of fascist leaders who are forced to run the gauntlet before being thrown down a cliff.

Hemingway was in love with Spain, both for its beauty and its brutality. The novel has many discussions of bullfighting, largely told by Pilar as she recounts her experiences with earlier lovers. Pilar also has a power of clairvoyance in the story, especially as it relates to impending death. The book includes several vivid battle scenes. One of these scenes tells of the gunning-down by aircraft of a group of five of the guerillas assisting Jordan at the top of a small hill.(Aircraft has a large and fearsome presence in the book.) Another effective battle scene tells of the difficult destruction of the bridge and its aftermath.

The love relationship between Robert Jordan and Maria comes to dominate the novel. The two become passionately attracted to each other and quickly consummate their relationship. The passages describing the couple's lovemaking are central to the story and effective. The inhumanity of war is juxtaposed against human commitment and the beauty of the everyday. Robert Jordan realizes that he is in love with Maria, Spain, and with life. This love, in the book, reaches its peak in heroism and self-sacrifice. Jordan comes to realize what in life he values. It is because of his realization, that he ultimately must give up the things he comes to cherish. Within its language of toughness and machismo, this novel has the theme of inevitability and of romantic tragedy.

This is a book I read in high school many years ago when it was far beyond me. It is not an easy book, and not every part of it is successful. But it is an extraordinary novel. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to revisit the book when I was able to try to appreciate it.

Robin Friedman