Much of this was political, as the environment at the time (remember, this was during WWII) was politically charged, to say the least. In fact, violent controversy erupted around the book right after its publication. When released, For Whom the Bell Tolls shot immediately to the top, or near the top, of various "Best of" lists, whether it be best of the decade, best American books, or best novels, period.īut not everyone was so wild about it. For Whom the Bell Tolls was affirmed as "the great novel of the Spanish Civil War." It was the biggest seller in American fiction since Gone With the Wind as of 1943, and to date it still appears to be Hemingway's best-selling book. There was a widespread sense that Hemingway was "back," after taking rather too long of a vacation from noteworthy writing since his first two breakout successes, A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises.
The critics seemed to agree with his good assessment back then in 1940, or at least most of them. He himself called the book "the most important thing I've ever done," though, admittedly, that was in 1939, before he won the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Old Man and the Sea.
It's actually grounded in, and informed by, Hemingway's own visits to war-torn Spain as a journalist and film production assistant in 19. To help him with his mission, he has to work with a colorful group of local guerillas, one of whom he falls in love with.Ī lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this book, and we mean literally.
Set in the mountains of Spain in 1937, it tells the story of Robert Jordan, an American fighting for the Republicans (that's one side of the Spanish Civil War, not the American political party) who is ordered to blow up a bridge as part of a larger offensive.
Ernest Hemingway's 1940 novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, is a classic war romance (that's a war drama and a romance, in one).
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