Hemingway on War

by Ernest Hemingway

Courage is grace under pressure. -- Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway witnessed many of the seminal conflicts of the twentieth century -- from his post as a Red Cross ambulance driver during World War I to his nearly twenty-five years as a war correspondent for The Toronto Star -- and he recorded them with matchless power. This landmark volume brings together Hemingway's most important, timeless writings about the nature of human combat.
Passages from his beloved World War I novel A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, about the Spanish Civil War, offer an unparalleled portrayal of the physical and psychological impact of war and its aftermath. Selections from Across the River and Into the Trees vividly evoke an emotionally scarred career soldier in the twilight of life as he reflects on the nature of war. Classic short stories, such as "In Another Country" and "The Butterfly and the Tank," stand alongside excerpts from Hemingway's first book of short stories, In Our Time, and his only full-length play, The Fifth Column.
With captivating selections from Hemingway's journalism -- from his coverage of the Greco-Turkish War of 1922 to a legendary early interview with Mussolini to his jolting eyewitness account of the Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 -- Hemingway on War represents the author's penetrating chronicles of perseverance and defeat, courage and fear, and love and loss in the midst of modern warfare.

Genres: History, Classics, Nonfiction, Ebooks, War, Military Fiction, American

384 pages, Kindle Edition

About the author

Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Best known for an economical, understated style that significantly influenced later 20th-century writers, he is often romanticized for his adventurous lifestyle, and outspoken and blunt public image. Most of Hemingway's works were published between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s, including seven novels, six short-story collections and two non-fiction works. His writings have become classics of American literature; he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature, while three of his novels, four short-story collections and three nonfiction works were published posthumously.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he spent six months as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star before enlisting in the Red Cross. He served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in World War I and was seriously wounded in 1918. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. He married Hadley Richardson in 1921, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926.
He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had worked as a journalist and which formed the basis for his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. He and Gellhorn separated after he met Mary Welsh Hemingway in London during World War II. Hemingway was present with Allied troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. He maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida, in the 1930s and in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. On a 1954 trip to Africa, he was seriously injured in two plane accidents on successive days, leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, on July 2, 1961 (a couple weeks before his 62nd birthday), he killed himself using one of his shotguns.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection is a mix of Hemingway's war themed fiction and correspondence writing, and is a enjoyable His life experiences provided vital first hand knowledge of several 20th century conflicts, which informed his fiction in indelible ways. The volume includes excerpts from his novels, which provide an interesting reading experience when taken out of context. I'll confess that I've haven't read much Hemingway since the days it was 'assigned' reading (now many years ago). This book may prompt me to return to some of those classics. Mostly, I really enjoyed the non-fiction work, which includes a number of columns from his days at the Toronto Daily Star and several magazines.
Definitely work checking out as a Hemingway refresher, or as an introduction to his non-fiction.

[Erik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely not sorry to put this one in my rearview. After giving it a lot of thought I can't really put my finger on why this was such a fight to get through. Overall the selections were really uneven, ranging from exceptional to not very good. The good ones seemed to end too soon and the weak ones carried on too long. I guess reading 350 pages without a unifying set of characters or storyline taxed me a bit. This book was like a really good rum and coke, served at 7 am. Great stuff, but served up in a way that made it pretty unappetizing. Recommended for only the most hardcore Hemingway fans, everyone else stay away.

[Ümit Çakır · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çok beğendim. Tarihi açıdan verdiği yeni bir perspektif özellikle çok hoşuma gitti. Kurtuluş Savaşı dönemi gazete yazıları çok çarpıcıydı. Hemingway'in savaşa dair görüşlerini, öykülerini, gazete yazılarını ve romanlarından konuya ilişkin bölümleri bir araya getiren muazzam bir eser. Çevirisini de çok beğendim. Biraz kalın bir kitap olsa da akıcılığı sayesinde bir haftada okunabilir.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 2003, edited by Sean Hemingway (grandson of Ernest), with a forward by Patrick Hemingway, the sole surviving son, this is a fine overview of Hemingway's fictional and journalistic work.
Excerpts from his "war novels," as well as pieces done for the Toronto Star, Esquire and other magazines, finds Hemingway covering WW1, the Spanish Civil War, the Greco-Turkish War and WW2. It's an amazing array of remembering and reporting and sifting and statement.
We've always lived and died with war and Hemingway was prescient in his views of the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about.
The scars, the moments of life and solace, the sheer daily horror of landings and bombings and holes to hide in for a time - all clicks and resounds like a shot.
A fine and estimable tribute to a great writer.

[Ellie Book Worm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hemingway's accounts on war are dark, real, harrowing, horrifying, and damn well written. I favour Hemingway's writing style along with Orwell's, because there is something clear and ordered about the way they write - it draws you in, it's not too complex, and yet it is in the ways that you always finish it with a new outlook; a moral to make your own mind up and think about.

The truth in the matter is that Hemingway did serve in the war, and you feel this in the writing. One of the 'lost generation' writers, and in my opinion, the best.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to get a sense of Hemingway's writing as a war correspondent. To see what Hemingway writing non-fiction reads like. And it didn't disappoint.

There are two highlights in the book. The piece about D-Day when Hemingway was in a landing craft and the piece about the taking of Paris.

[Melissa]

Own

[Oogii O · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this collection of works by Ernest Hemingway who is regarded as one of the greatest fiction writers of the 20th century; and known as someone who had led such a peculiar and adventurous life working as a war correspondent, journalist, ambulance driver, screenwriter, novelist, and short story writer. Although, I should mention I found some short stories more interesting than others. My favorite stories were the following; 'Soldier's Home', 'The Butterfly and the Tank', 'Night Before Battle', 'Espionage and Counter-Espionage'.

Below are some lines and quotes from the book

"There is no man alive today who has not cried at war if he was at it long enough. Sometimes it is after a battle, sometimes it is when someone that you love is killed, sometimes it is from a great injustice to another, sometimes it is at the disbanding of a corps or a unit that has endured and accomplished together and now will never be together again. But all men at war cry sometimes, from Napoleon, the greatest butcher, down."

- This quote is so powerful. "From Napoleon, the greatest butcher, down..."

"If people bring so much

“If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.”

- I remember the very first time I read the line "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places" and I could not help but think and see brokenness all around us as if we humans are walking and breathing pieces of glass ('glass' being the world we live in). We have a tendency to think of brokenness in such a negative way that it often makes us feel even more miserable than we already are. But as it is written beautifully by Ernest Hemingway in "A Farewell to Arms" every single one of us is broken in a way that is not always easy to put into words. At the end of the day, it does not matter who you are, where you are from, what your background is the world will break you one time or another if you have not been broken yet. In other words, just like Kurt Cobain said it best "Nobody dies a virgin... Life fucks us all."

"Nothing was changed in the town except that the young girls had grown up."

- I found this both ironic and disturbing at the same time simply because when I get back home eventually I know as a matter of fact I will think of the exact same way lol.

"You and me we've made a separate peace."

- I honestly don't know how to explain this but I strongly feel this. #DemFeels

"I had a bad time until I figured out that nothing could happen to me that had not happened to all men before me. Whatever I had to do men had always done. If they had done it then I could do it too and the best thing was not to worry about it."

- This quote somehow makes feel relieved and peaceful.

[Sinan Öner]

Bilgi Yayınevi'nin yıllar önce yayınladığı "İşgal İstanbul'u ve İki Dünya Savaşı" Ernest Hemingway'in savaş muhabirliği yıllarında yayınladığı gazete yazılarından oluşuyor. Ernest Hemingway, 1. Dünya Savaşı sonrası İngiliz İşgali sırasında İstanbul'a gelmiş, savaş sonrası İstanbul'u, Anadolu'daki durumu araştırmış, haberler, röportajlar yazmıştı. Ernest Hemingway'in 1. Dünya Savaşı ile ilgili romanı "Silahlara Veda" da Türkçe'de yayınlandı. "İşgal İstanbul'u ve İki Dünya Savaşı" kitabı ile, Ernest Hemingway'in gözünden Osmanlı'nın yıkılış yıllarını okumak mümkün, İstanbul'un savaş sırasında, savaş sonrası, işgal yıllarında neler yaşadığını bir de Ernest Hemingway'in gazeteciliği ile okumak yararlıdır. İstanbul'un yaklaşık bin yıl Bizans İmparatorluğu'nun, dört yüz elli yıl da Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun başkenti olduğunu hatırlayınca, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nin bir kenti olması yönünde bir işgal tarihinin de olması okurları düşündürmeli, bu "istisnaî" işgal yıllarında Ernest Hemingway'in İstanbul'a gelmesini de iyi anlamalı!

[Danny Whatmough · Rating 4 out of 5]

And there's my final book of the year,

Similar to the other Hemingway the stories are a bit hit and miss.
There are some really engaging ones which drew me in and left me wanting more (though not in a good way),
And others which felt like a bit of a slog and dragged on a bit for me.

My main issue is that some of the stories felt incomplete rather than short. While it makes sense in some places due to them being parts from a full book at others it was a short story that just seemed to lack a beginning and end...

Still enjoyable overall though, worth the reading to get a view on a wide range of early century warfare.

[Özgür Göksu · Rating 3 out of 5]

500 TL'ye satılan oldukça pahalı bir kitap. Ancak çevirisi çok sıkıntılı ve bir çok yerinde yazım hataları var.

[Serdar Erenler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitap Hemingway’in farklı dönemlerdeki yazılarından oluşuyor. Kurtuluş Savaşı İstanbul’unu ve Lozan Antlaşmasını anlattığı kısımlarda, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’le ve İsmet İnönü ile ilgili yorumları ilgi çekici ama bu yargıları ve Türkiye ile ilgili öngürüleri oldukça taraflı.
Birinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası Almanya’yı anlattığı kısımda ise hiper enflasyonun insanlar üzerindeki etkisini ve barışın Almanya’nın aşağılanarak yapılmasının ulusun benliğini nasıl yaraladığını aktarmış.
Kitapta özellikle ilgimi çeken kısımlar yazarın İspanya İç Savaşı ve 2. Dünya Savaşı sonrası Havana’sını anlattığı kısımlar. İspanya’da bulunduğu dönemde yaşadığı deneyimlerle “Çanlar Kimin İçin Çalıyor” kitabını yazdığını, romandaki karakterlerin ve çatışmaların gerçek hayatta yaşanan olayların yansımaları olması nedeniyle bu kadar canlı betimlenebildiğini anlayabiliyorsunuz. Havana kısmında ise yazar balıkçılık deneyimlerini anlatırken ise “İhtiyar Adam ve Deniz” romanının arkasında yazarın kendi yaşadıklarının olduğunu, romanın da bu yaşananları temel aldığını görüyorsunuz.
Heminway’i sevenlere rahatlıkla önerebileceğim bir kitap. Özellikle yazarı ve hayata bakış açısını öğrenmek için ideal bir kaynak.
Ne yazık ki yeni baskısı yok. Sahaflardan bulabiliyorsunuz sadece.

[Neslihan Güvendi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is almost like a diary of the author. It is a collection of his reports to the newspaper he was working for plus some essays written in the form of letters to himself written in different countries he lived in. There are observations of Turkey, France, Spain , Cuba and Kenya in the book. It is interesting to read about those countries some 80 to 100 years ago. I read the book because he stayed in Turkey and he wrote about Turks right before declaration of Republic. I thought the book was going to be all about Turkey, instead only the beginning chapters were of his days in Turkey. His description of İsmet İnönü is not proper. I’m disappointed in the writer in that aspect. Otherwise the book is full of descriptions of the daily life in those countries and it is an interesting read.

[Ömer Faruk · Rating 2 out of 5]

40 sayfa kadar Türkiye’den 1921-1922 yıllarına ilişkin birkaç gazete yazısı var. İlgi çekici hiçbir gözlem yok. Mudanya ertesinde Trakya boşaltılırken Rum’ların da göçünden hiçbir enteresan enstantane vermeksizin alelade bir gazete yazısı olarak bahsediyor. Lozan görüşmelerinde İsmet İnönü’den silik bir tip olarak söz ediyor. Mussolini, Rus diplomatlar vs okunmaya değmez günü için dahi gazete haberi olmaktan öteye geçemez boş satırlar…

Devamında İspanya İç Savaşı ile II. Dünya Savaşı yılları sırasında yaptığı savaş muhabirliği gözlemleri var. Toplam yirmi dakika Coşkun Aral dinleyin daha iyi.

Bir hata edip yazarına kitabın ismine aldanıp başlayınca bitirmeden bırakmayayım dedim. Boşu boşuna zaman kaybettim.

[Michael Percy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed this collection of works I have read many of the collection's stories and sections of Hemingway's books before. It was worth reading again and a few of the pieces of journalism were unfamiliar but the collected works released by Hemingway's family are more like homages to the great man than when reading a Hemingway work for the first time. As I have completed almost all of Hemingway's major published works I have little choice but to work through the themed collections of Hemingway on War, Fishing, Writing, etc. While previously unread works are few and far between it is still worth the effort but not as good as a Hemingway original.

[Ebubekir Cetin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lozan'da ABD gibi, Japonya gibi devletlere karşı bile kazandığımız zaferin kapasitesini anlamak için güzel bir eser. Zira Hemingway o esnada bir Kanada gazetesine haber yapan muhabir olarak Yunanların dilinden yazdığı haberleriyle pek üzgün bir intiba bırakıyor okurda. Sağda solda Kurtuluş Savaşı'na karşı argümanlar üreten hilafet sever gafillerin de benzeri ifadeleri kullanıldığı da göz önüne alındığında, cephede sadece Yunanları değil fesli delileri de değil'gercekten' yedi duveli uzdugumuz daha net anlaşılıyor. Çoluğa çocuğa ibret olarak okutulacak bir eser.

[Antonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

his simple stories on the spanish revolutions bring a reader to think of why it has to be so. he is able to master the art of finding beauty in the light a lamp in a dim restaraunt makes when everything else seems bleak. using names like the butterfly and the tank to describe innocent human life against that of greed and rage

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic journalism

[Fedor Sumkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hemingway tells different stories about war while he was a military reporter.

[Ayushi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muy raro.

[Ceyhun]

biraz fazla atmış gibi geldi bana...