Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls
The main reason why it took me so long to write is the author itself. Hemingway will be among the most hypnotically personalities that literature ever had. I am no literary critic, nor an expert. Just a person who likes reading. But there's something deep in my mind that puts together some authors. For me, Hemingway shares a large room, smoky and poorly furnished, with Roberto Arlt, Edgar Poe, Lord Byron, Ambrose Bierce and José Martí. I'm not going to explain the reasons, but they are definitely not just literary ones.
Hemingway spent most of the 1920's in Paris with his first wife and the lost generation gang, who used to gather at Shakespeare and Cía.: Ezra Pound, Getrude Stein, Faulkner, he got drunk several times with Joyce; and other artists. Just a side note: this is reminds me a lot of the Argentinian group of the martinfierristas in Buenos Aires during the same chronological time (Leopoldo Marechal, Castelnuovo, Xul Solar, Bernardez, Borges, etc.).
Regardless of the company, Hemingway will be an enemy of intellectualism his entire life. One of the easiest reasons to empathize.
He started writing For Whom the Bell Tolls upon his return from Spain and the end of the Civil War. He covered the war as a journalist for the North American Newspaper Alliance. A rookie mistake of mine was to assume that his prose, direct and simplified, was a product of his experience as a journalist. An influence might be, but underneath there's a rich and complex untold and still present background. Some time after, I read when he explained that as the principle of the iceberg.
The story line is intense, but almost irrelevant for my analysis. A group of Spanish partisan is joined by Robert Jordan, an American internationalist volunteer who has the mission to blow a bridge as part of the historic offensive of Segovia. Three days and nights in the life of this group, where Hemingway portraits the war, not in the great combats, but in a small -human- particle.
Undoubtedly supporter of the Republic, Hemingway doesn't fall into a classic propagandist novel template like Ostrovsky's How the Steel was Tempered. His writing is profoundly ethical, but there are no perfect ideals, nor perfect idealist. This portrait is full of leaks and questioning lapsus. The description of the killing of the nationalists sympathizers by the republicans in a small town proves the integrity and the critical perspective of the author.
But the biggest highlight, in my opinion, is how Hemingway brought back the ideal of the hero. On the prologue to the Spanish translation, Juan Villoro points out the circularity of the novel: it will start and end will a Robert Jordan lying flat on the pine-needled floor of the forest. On the three days in between those two identical scenes, we will get the a perspective of the hero. I found three aspects very interesting. In first place there's this strong character who proves his bravery on the battlefield and inspire other to follow his lead. A classic american ideal, but blended a real confusion and doubt about the ideals he is fighting for, and the people representing them. But probably the most remarkable aspect has some similarity with portrayal of the classic hero present in Greek tragedies. He isn't a person who chooses his destiny, instead he is marked by the gods to follow his fate (most of the times tragic) and the real hero is the one who carries on with real dignity. Robert Jordan, who is mentioned at all times by his full name, constantly recalls in his mind his mission and the great chance of not surviving it. And that's is why he will decide to enjoy as much as possible his time with María. Their relationship, overfilled with some corny moments might be one of the objectionable aspects of the novel. But Jordan knows that he won't make it to Madrid, and the acceptance of that statement is what turns him into a hero. Death with dignity is nothing but the product of an authentic life.
 |
| Hemingway dedicated the novel to his third wife, Martha Gellhorn. Photo: hemingway and Gellhorn in China. |
Regardless of the company, Hemingway will be an enemy of intellectualism his entire life. One of the easiest reasons to empathize.
---
He started writing For Whom the Bell Tolls upon his return from Spain and the end of the Civil War. He covered the war as a journalist for the North American Newspaper Alliance. A rookie mistake of mine was to assume that his prose, direct and simplified, was a product of his experience as a journalist. An influence might be, but underneath there's a rich and complex untold and still present background. Some time after, I read when he explained that as the principle of the iceberg.
The story line is intense, but almost irrelevant for my analysis. A group of Spanish partisan is joined by Robert Jordan, an American internationalist volunteer who has the mission to blow a bridge as part of the historic offensive of Segovia. Three days and nights in the life of this group, where Hemingway portraits the war, not in the great combats, but in a small -human- particle.Undoubtedly supporter of the Republic, Hemingway doesn't fall into a classic propagandist novel template like Ostrovsky's How the Steel was Tempered. His writing is profoundly ethical, but there are no perfect ideals, nor perfect idealist. This portrait is full of leaks and questioning lapsus. The description of the killing of the nationalists sympathizers by the republicans in a small town proves the integrity and the critical perspective of the author.
---
But the biggest highlight, in my opinion, is how Hemingway brought back the ideal of the hero. On the prologue to the Spanish translation, Juan Villoro points out the circularity of the novel: it will start and end will a Robert Jordan lying flat on the pine-needled floor of the forest. On the three days in between those two identical scenes, we will get the a perspective of the hero. I found three aspects very interesting. In first place there's this strong character who proves his bravery on the battlefield and inspire other to follow his lead. A classic american ideal, but blended a real confusion and doubt about the ideals he is fighting for, and the people representing them. But probably the most remarkable aspect has some similarity with portrayal of the classic hero present in Greek tragedies. He isn't a person who chooses his destiny, instead he is marked by the gods to follow his fate (most of the times tragic) and the real hero is the one who carries on with real dignity. Robert Jordan, who is mentioned at all times by his full name, constantly recalls in his mind his mission and the great chance of not surviving it. And that's is why he will decide to enjoy as much as possible his time with María. Their relationship, overfilled with some corny moments might be one of the objectionable aspects of the novel. But Jordan knows that he won't make it to Madrid, and the acceptance of that statement is what turns him into a hero. Death with dignity is nothing but the product of an authentic life.
---
Fresh and dramatic from the first chapter, I have to admit that it took me some time to finish it, and I can only blame my laziness. His way of writing is less accessible and way more profound that what the voices proclaim. But that could only be found out once you open one of his books.
 |
| Hemingway as a Journalist during the Spanish Civil War. |
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario