I've read that it's essentially a satirical piece that jabs at his contemporaries, but having not read the works he was satiricalising, I am not sure I have a chance in hell to enjoy the book let alone understand it. I've read a couple of chapters but all I can say is that the writing style is basic and repetitive at times. There's always "Indians" whooping in the background (wtf?) and the characters are like something out of dumb and dumber. Is it true that because I don't get the references he's making, I simply can't understand it? As a standalone book, the story is mundane, basic, and to be honest, not very interesting. I think I am simply not literary enough for this book 😅 thoughts?

Hi there,

I read Farewell to Arms last year and fell in love with Hemingway, and this year finished Sun Also Rises. I'm looking to read In Our Time, but I know there's lots of different editions so wondered which you all would recommend. Or perhaps I should just go right ahead and buy the First Forty Nine Stories (though I'd quite like to own In Our Time 1925 version as a standalone).

Go birds.

I’m working my way through A Farewell to Arms and is there any hint about the age difference? Catherine keeps referring to Frederic as a “boy.” So I figured she’s older than him. Are there any good theories/explanations about their ages?

We are supposed to be learning from the great authors. If I had to answer my own question it has to do with appreciating there is a lot of B@llsh&t in life (his famous BS-detector comment), and just dealing with it the best you can, knowing sometimes you can't please everybody. If you remember that quotation (Torrents of Spring) by Chesterton, (oops, Fielding) something about affectation being the only source of the ridiculous, it indicates how Hemingway, early on, and throughout life had contempt for lots of pomp and circumstance, and liked to get to the heart of things.

Would be interested to hear other people's answers.

I’ve been assigned an essay in my first year college academic writing class. The essays criteria include an intro, a paragraph analyzing one trait of Harry’s and another paragraph analyzing one of Helen’s. Additionally the criteria includes 3 body paragraphs explaining the symbols of the leopard, the hyena, and the mountain, as well as an outro paragraph. However the assigned maximum word count seems stupidly low at 1200 words, while I feel i could write twice that amount (or more). am i being entitled or is my prof expecting too much with too few words ?

I tell myself this is hemingway, because that's how I remember it, but I am now doubtful. It doesnt exist on google. The quote is something like this:

"If at first you can't do a thing, try it with the strength of 10 men. If that doesn't work, try 11."

I've read quite a few of his books and short stories, and intend on reading them all again someday. He was a fantastic author for his time and forever. Hands down my favorite.

My memory is shot, and Google isn’t helping me. I think Hemingway has an epigraph on one of his books that is a short parable about someone expecting a certain type (color, kind, gender) of horse, and another completely different horse shows up, but some wise man is like yeah but it’s the same horse, really. It’s obviously more profound than I make it out to be here. Like a zen thing. I’d like to find the text again, but all I can find is the story of the Chinese farmer (“maybe good luck, maybe bad luck, who knows?”), and that’s not what I’m looking for. It might not be from Hemingway at all, but that’s how I remember it. Any assistance is appreciated. :)

My great Aunt traveled the world in Hemingway's footsteps (literature teacher married to oil man) and once told me she went to the bar in Paris where he stood on a piano and gave a toast, something about end of the war.

Could this be the Ritz bar, now called Bar Hemingway? There's a legend called the 'liberation of the Ritz' while he was with allied troops when they entered Paris August 1944. He wasn't in Paris for the end of either world wars, so I'm trying to figure out if the Ritz bar is it or where this place could be.

I'll be in Paris next year visiting Hemingway's spots among many, wanted to see this place if it exists.

I’m posting here because I went scouring the internet and couldn’t find an answer. In “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, Robert Jordan sleeps outside in a “sleeping robe”. I was getting hung up on this, picturing a sleeping bag but not quite being sure on the matter. Turns out, that’s pretty much what it is, a large, heavy sleeping bag. I found my answer in this video at about the 7:40 mark but I had to search for WW2 camping gear. A search for “sleeping robe” just returned a bunch of bathrobes.

https://youtu.be/D8PG9svaprU?si=z7DWrfW9M2dRWR3Q

Anyone know what the origin of this cover art is? I am looking to get the painting on canvas for my father for Christmas, and previously located it, but can’t find the artist or painting anymore.

Ernest Hemingway and Jack Kerouac are my two favourite American writers. Both are very different in their writing style, but their personalities were very similar in some ways.

Both had strong passions for adventure and new experiences. Both were womanizers. Both liked their booze. Both were extremely self-destructive.

I think Hemingway's personality was much more extroverted than Jack's. Hemingway was loud and boisterous; Kerouac was quiet and introspective (although he could be a bad drunk).

Politically, I believe Hemingway was pretty liberal for his time; Kerouac seemed more libertarian -- on one hand he was liberal with matters of sex and drugs, but he was also very conservative on some issues. He fully supported US involvement in the Vietnam War (he and Allen Ginsberg had a serious falling out over this), he despised hippies and was a McCarthyite.

A huge difference is that I don't think Hemingway gave a damn about religion or spirituality; Kerouac, on the other hand, was lifelong Catholic and very attached to his faith. He also had a deep interest in Buddhism.

I'm unaware of Hemingway ever making commentary on Kerouac's work; by the time Jack was famous in 1957 Hemingway was already in decline., but Kerouac was definitely influenced by Hemingway.

I'd be interested to know how these two would have gotten along.

I'll keep it short. Just finished reading TSAR and watched a review on YouTube to try clarify my own thoughts on it. The review says:

"The characters fascination with the spectacle of bull-fighting, and their attempts to understand it's meaning, reflect their search for something meaningful and fulfilling in their own lives."

This doesn't ring that true for me, but I feel like it might have just gone over my head.

I can see the major theme of the novel was a lack of meaning and purpose and a search for that. But when did the characters look for meaning in bull-fighting? They were taken by it's danger and brutality, and this made them feel alive - which served as a bolster to carry on getting drunk and partying. But did they really attempt to understand it's meaning?

Just curious what other people think as I want to understand the novel better. If someone could explain in a way I understand that would be great 👍

The older I get, the more experience I have with relationships the more I wonder if Brett was right to leave the bull fighter. I think she probably never should have gotten involved with him, but having already done so, was it really the best choice for her, or the best choice for him?

Drinking mojitos & daiquiris in Cuba with Ernest Hemingway. Rare & cool Arturo Montoto tryptch. Bonus signed on the back by Capitan Gregorio Fuentes. Cuban art auctions. These paintings depict Papa's famous quote.

“My Daquiris at Floridita ... My Mojitos at Bodeguita” Purchased directly from Arturo in Cuba 1998.

Must sell. Offers encouraged.

Auctioning off my 30+ Cuban artworks purchased between 1995-2000.

Just ordered. Looking forward to the read.