A Farewell to Arms
| A Farewell to Arms |
First edition cover |
| Author(s) |
Ernest Hemingway |
| Illustrator |
Cleonike Damianake |
| Country |
United States |
| Language |
English |
| Genre(s) |
War novel |
| Publication date |
1929 |
A Farewell to Arms is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Ernest Hemingway concerning events during the Italian campaigns during the First World War. The book, which was first published in 1929, is a first-person account of American Frederic Henry, serving as a Lieutenant ("Tenente") in the ambulance corps of the Italian Army. The title is taken from a poem by 16th-century English dramatist George Peele.[1]
A Farewell to Arms works on two literary levels. First, it is a story concerning the drama and passion of a doomed romance between Henry and a British nurse, Catherine Barkley. Second, it also skillfully contrasts the meaning of personal tragedy against the impersonal destruction wrought by the First World War. Hemingway deftly captures the cynicism of soldiers, the futility of war, and the displacement of populations. Although this was Hemingway's bleakest novel, its publication cemented his stature as a modern American writer.[2]
In 1998, the Modern Library ranked A Farewell to Arms #74 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. It was first adapted to film in 1932, with further versions in the following decades.[3]
Plot summary
The novel is divided into five books. In the first book, Rinaldi introduces Henry to Catherine Barkley; Henry attempts to seduce her, and their relationship begins. While on the Italian front, Henry is wounded in the knee by a mortar shell and sent to a hospital in Milan. The second book shows the growth of Henry and Catherine's relationship as they spend time together in Milan over the summer. Henry falls in love with Catherine and, by the time he is healed, Catherine is three months pregnant. In the third book, Henry returns to his unit, but not long afterwards the Austro-Germans break through the Italian lines in the Battle of Caporetto, and the Italians retreat. Henry kills an engineering sergeant for insubordination. After falling behind and catching up again, Henry is taken to a place by the "battle police", where officers are being interrogated and executed for the "treachery" that supposedly led to the Italian defeat. However, after seeing and hearing that everyone interrogated is killed, Henry escapes by jumping into a river. In the fourth book, Catherine and Henry reunite and flee to Switzerland in a rowboat. In the final book, Henry and Catherine live a quiet life in the mountains until she goes into labor. After a long and painful birth, their son is stillborn. Catherine begins to hemorrhage and soon dies, leaving Henry to return to their hotel in the rain.
Characters
- Frederic Henry, often simply called "Tenente" ("Lieutenant"), is the narrator of the story. Henry is a volunteer ambulance driver from the United States. In Henry, we see the beginnings of what comes to be called Hemingway's "Code Hero", a term used to describe a character who follows Hemingway's conception of an internal moral code. Henry is stoic under duress or pain; he modestly deflects praise for his contributions to the war; he is unflappable under fire; he does his work. He is a "man's man," in that his thoughts revolve on women ("girls") and drink. He participates in and seems to enjoy the banal, everyday conversation between the soldiers. He is attracted to the simple goodness of the priest, who, like Henry (who is not religious), sticks to his beliefs despite the war's constant presence. Henry is most characterized throughout the novel by his passionate love and dedication to Catherine Barkley.
- Catherine Barkley is a British Voluntary Aid Detachment Nurse. She loves the men so much that she started to write a short story about her love affairs with her fiancé, who since died. She volunteered in the war at the same time her fiancé of eight years joined the army. He was killed in the Battle of the Somme. She is originally from Scotland, emotional, and dependent upon Henry's love for her. Her sexual desires and her simple urge for companionship are sometimes at odds with her needs to tend to the ill. Like the code hero, she handles conflicting needs with grace, giving to both, but shorting none. Feminist thinkers will see in Catherine, Hemingway's perfect woman: wise and cynical in many ways, her wisdom cannot contain her desire. As Henry gives his health and youth to the war effort, Catherine's chief heroism is to accept the pain and death of childbirth stoically. Barkley has been "consistently ignored" as a code hero, probably because she is a woman[4].
- Rinaldi is a physician through whom Hemingway draws his idea of an Italian male. Sketched somewhat jingoistically, Rinaldi is unfailingly exuberant, ignoring small details that would stop his large and giving gestures. He loves women and alcohol, bearing a bottle of the latter and tales of the former to his friend Henry as Henry recovers from his wounds. He enjoys performing surgery, seeing it as an enjoyable challenge; he greets his friend Frederic Henry with a formal European-style kiss. He usually refers to Henry as "baby". Rinaldi is a form of the code hero as well. He allows Hemingway to explore another, non-Anglo-American, way of being male, of facing even a difficult world, an injured Italy, with joie de vivre, ignoring all danger, giving himself. Henry reunites with a tired and syphilitic Rinaldi in the middle of the novel, illustrating the flaws of this approach to the war and to life.
- The Priest The chaplain in Henry's unit. Baited by the other officers, he is befriended by Henry, to whom he offers spiritual advice. The last time we see this character, his faith is wavering. Can also be interpreted as a "Code Hero".
- Helen Ferguson Catherine's friend and fellow nurse, who expresses a strong distaste for Henry, because he impregnated her outside of marriage and during wartime. Hemingway based her on Kitty Cannell (1891–1974), an acquaintance of his who was a Paris-based American dance and fashion correspondent for major US papers and periodicals.
- Passini and Bonello Ambulance drivers serving under Henry.
- Manera, Gavuzzi, Gordini, Piani and Aymo Other ambulance drivers.
- Mrs. Walker An American nurse at the American hospital in Milan.
- Miss Gage Another American nurse, sympathetic to Henry and Catherine's affair.
- Miss Van Campen The unsympathetic nursing superintendent at American Hospital in Milan.
- Dr. Valentini A surgeon who is highly competent and full of joie de vivre.
- Meyers A gloomy American expatriate.
- Ettore Moretti An Italian-American Officer from San Francisco serving in the Italian army.
- Ralph Simmons An American student of opera and Henry's friend.
- Count Greffi An old but vigorous Italian whom Henry knows from Stresa and who serves as a mentor to Henry.
Censorship
In early editions, the words "shit", "fuck" and "cocksucker" were replaced with dashes ("----").[5] There are at least two copies of the first edition in which Hemingway re-inserted the censored text by hand, so as to provide a corrected text. One of these copies was presented to Maurice Coindreau; the other, to James Joyce.[5] Hemingway's corrected text has not been incorporated into modern published editions of the novel.
Autobiographical details and publication history
The novel was based on Hemingway's own experiences serving in the Italian campaigns during the First World War. The inspiration for Catherine Barkley was Agnes von Kurowsky, a real nurse who cared for Hemingway in a hospital in Milan after he had been wounded. He had planned to marry her but she spurned his love when he returned to America.[6] Kitty Cannell, a Paris-based fashion correspondent, became Helen Ferguson. The unnamed priest was based on Don Giuseppe Bianchi, the priest of the 69th and 70th regiments of the Brigata Ancona. Although the sources for Rinaldi are unknown, the character had already appeared in In Our Time.
The novel was written at the the home of Hemingway's in-laws in Piggott, Arkansas[7] and at the home of friends of Hemingway's wife Pauline Pfeiffer in Mission Hills, Kansas while she was awaiting delivery of their baby.[8] His wife Pauline underwent a caesarean section as Hemingway was writing about Catherine Barkley's childbirth.[9]
It was serialized in Scribner's Magazine from May 1929 to October 1929. The book was published in September 1929 with a first edition print-run of approximately 31,000 copies.[10] The success of A Farewell to Arms made Hemingway financially independent.
Adaptations
See also
References
- ^ "George Peele: A Farewell to Arms (To Queen Elizabeth)". The DayPoems Poetry Collection. http://www.daypoems.net/poems/104.html. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ Mellow 1992, p. 378
- ^ a b A Farewell to Arms (1957) at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Catherine Barkley and the Hemingway Code: Ritual and Survival in "A Farewell to Arms." Spanier, Sandra Whipple and Bloom, Harold. Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: A Farewell to Arms; 1987, p131-148, 18p.
- ^ a b Hemingway, Ernest. "A Farewell to Arms." (New York: Scribner, 1929). James Joyce Collection, the Poetry Collection (State University of New York at Buffalo), item J69.23.8 TC141 H45 F37 1929
- ^ Villard, Henry Serrano & Nagel, James. Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes von Kurowsky: Her letters, and Correspondence of Ernest Hemingway (ISBN 1-55553-057-5 H/B/ISBN 0-340-68898-X P/B)
- ^ "Hemingway-Pfeiffer Home Page". Arkansas State University. http://hemingway.astate.edu/. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
- ^ "A Writer's Haunts: Where He Worked and Where He Lived"
- ^ Meyers 1985, pp. 216–217
- ^ Oliver, p. 91
- ^ Oliver, p. 92
Sources
External links
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