Reading Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls

Glossary and Commentary

Alex Vernon

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781606354728
• eBook ISBN: 9781631015359
• Topic: Littérature
• Subtopic: Critique littéraire nord-américaine

A line-by-line analysis of one of Hemingway's greatest novels

Published in 1940, Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls is widely considered a masterpiece of war literature. A bestseller upon its release, the novel has long been both admired and ridiculed for its depiction of Robert Jordan's military heroism and wartime romance. Yet its validation of seemingly conflicting narratives and its rendering of the intricate world its characters inhabit, as well as its dense historical, literary, and biographical allusions, have made it a work that remains a focus of interest and study.

Alex Vernon, in this contribution to the Reading Hemingway series, mines the historical record to unprecedented depths, examining Hemingway's drafts and correspondence, synthesizing the body of literary criticism about the novel, and engaging in close textual analysis. As a result, new and important insights into the complex situation of the Spanish Civil War—integral to the novel—emerge, enriching our understanding of the novel. Through Vernon's comprehensive work, contemporary readers and scholars are reminded that For Whom the Bell Tolls is still vital, significant, and relevant.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Abbreviations Used in This Book
• Series Note
• Maps
• Front Matter
• The first calendar day [28 May 1937]
• The second calendar day [29 May 1937]
• The third calendar day [30 May 1937]
• The fourth and final calendar day [31 May 1937]
• Appendix A: Composition
• Appendix B: In Memoriam Frank G. Tinker Jr.
• Appendix C: “For Whom the Gong Sounds”
• Works Cited
• Index