For Whom The Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway

I just completed my second reading of this novel not long ago, the first time being over 30 years prior in college.  As often is the case, the book had a lot more meaning and depth after having a lot of life experience, travel and education under my belt.  I am a Hemingway fan, I love his prose and style and I am intrigued by his life.  I believe For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of his best novels.  The prose, dialogue and plot are excellent.  There are a lot of details I recognized this time that I did not pay attention to in the first reading.  One thing that I find interesting is the obsession he has about hair, especially women with short cropped hair and after reading biographies about his childhood and life and the discussions of his psychosexuality I tend to notice these details in his novels more, where before I do not think I really paid it a lot of attention.  Not to say that these details are particularly important to analysis, I simply find it interesting as I did not know a lot about Hemingway the man when I first started reading his works and now it is interesting to see how his life and experiences play into his characters and novels.  I believe Hemingway was what I would call an authentic and honest writer of fiction because he seemed to have a desire to live and experience everything he wrote about, thus the detail is authentic.

I may suggest that if someone wants to read this novel or give it a second reading, if they have not done so yet, it would be worth doing a study of the Spanish Civil War.  This is an incredible and important period of history to study and since the plot of this novel takes place during that conflict, it has much more meaning and context if you have a decent background about this war.  Hemingway’s novel is based on a microcosm within the broader context of the war, so in my opinion I feel one can relate more to the characters and the setting they find themselves in with an understanding of the context.  The best history I have read on this subject is Paul Preston’s book, A Concise History of the Spanish Civil War. 

The other thing that led to more enjoyment this time around is that I have traveled to Spain many times, with several trips recently to the Catalonian region.  My wife and I have made two week long horse treks up the Catalonia coast in the last couple of years and I have spent some time in the Pyrenees mountains fly fishing for trout.  By getting off the “beaten track” so to speak, riding through the little villages in the Catalonian region you can still feel the tension that exists between the regions of the county and I am beginning to understand how deeply and profoundly this time of history has affected this beautiful country and the people who live there.  I did not understand until I studied the history that the horrors that Hemingway described in the novel are probably not that far from reality.   Also, by spending so much time in the saddle on the beautiful Andalusian horses I got a feel for the terrain and the country the novel was set in, especially since there were a lot of cavalry elements that were part of the story.   

In summary, if you have not read this important piece of American Literature I do not think you will be disappointed, if you have not revisited it in a few decades it may be worthwhile to give it a second read.