| ||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
GREAT NOVEL ........HOWEVER, NOT HIS BEST WORK AT ALL.,
By
This review is from: A FAREWELL TO ARMS (Hardcover)
I have always collected writings by Hemingway, feeling a case could be made he is one of our very best writers. But to truly understand this book I also feel one must be familiar with Hemingway and his life. I also do not believe this to be his best work. I have heard that statement from both professional and non-professional reviewers and I do not buy into it at all. I place both THE SUN ALSO RISES and A MOVEABLE FEAST ahead of A FAREWELL TO ARMS. Ernest Hemingway was living in Paris in the spring (March, 1928) when he began to conceive the idea of A FAREWELL TO ARMS, however, it must be clearly understood he saw it as only a short story, never a novel. But after his 1st divorce, moving with Pauline to Key West, Florida, in 1928, the story pretty much wrote itself. I have also read that he rewrote the story ending 3 dozen times or more, I do not believe that either. Anyone familiar with 'Hemingstein', as he oft termed himself, will know he could be a blatant liar at times, especially when drinking. At times, he seemed to enjoy saying what he thought people and critics would like to hear or expect. Hemingway knew the ending had to be as it was, no other ending was ever feasible. Again one needs to understand "Basic 101" Hemingway. This is just a book he had to write and a book he had to get out of his system. It kinda squared things for him as the von Kurowsky affair not only surprised him, it stung he deeply, almost a betrayal. The prime model for Catherine Barkley was of course Agnes von Kurowsky (1892-1984) a American nurse who was very close to Hemingway while he was in the hospital recovering from wounds suffered. Though she was much closer to him than she later would admit, the love story in A FAREWELL TO ARMS is much stronger than the actual love affair between Ernest and Agnes. A FAREWELL TO ARMS is a very autobiographical story of Hemingway's Italian years when he drove ambulances during WWI, but the book takes the actual events up to a much higher, literary plateau. That's why it is 'fiction' rather than 'non-fiction'. Hemingway was wounded pretty much as the story tells, he did receive the Croce Al Merito Di Fuerra, i.e. the Italian Silver Cross of Merit. Much of the book is actually drawn from his own experiences with the war and locale much as he lived it and remembered it. Part of the reason behind his receiving the award was that while wounded himself, Hemingway went back to assist others also injured by the mortar prior to seeking his own medical help. Back in the states he told people he served with an elite Italian unit, which he did not, and ran around in his plain uniform with cape, showing off his medal. He gave speeches and lived a very prominent life for awhile. It all came crashing down when Agnes married someone else 'over there' and wrote Ernie a 'dear John'. So the ending of the book naturally had to see the woman of his love interest meeting death, there could never be a future for Henry/Barkley or Hemingway/Kurowsky. The book is a great read, though a bit dismal, and has received much approval and merit to this very day. The book originally saw print in the old SCRIBNER's Magazine, May, 1929, issue, with the hardcover book also being on sale at the same time. From its publishing in 1929 to this day it probably remains the best American book, some say antiwar, book to come out of WWI. The success of A FAREWELL TO ARMS allowed Hemingway to be financially independent. It is no doubt still on college English reading courses as it was 40 years ago when I attended college. I have recently reread it and am surprised by its ability to capture the reader's interest, its dismal background, an how wonderfully it is written by a young man turning 30 years of age. While I feel he wrote some better books, this was the breakthrough one for him offering Ernest Hemingway the ticket to a promising future. Semper Fi.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
