I ended up shifting my plans for this week’s Banned Books – sometimes Libby and the library have a way of deciding the order of things 😉 – after I realized that I needed to wrap up my Papa Hemingway reading and turn in my second book of his remaining novels, lest I anger the good library fairies.

It is noteworthy that Ernest Hemingway has so peeved the book banning types that three of his novels appear on my Penguin Banned Books list – bear in mind this is a short list of only 44 book titles.

I wish I had grouped them all together; however, the first one, A Farewell to Arms, appeared here in week six.

Today we have the remaining two, both rereads from my school days that I am happy to have revisited.

First, there is For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway’s novel about an American professor, Robert Jordan, fighting abroad during the Spanish Civil War in a Republican guerilla unit. The book is set over only a few days, with Robert on mission to lead his unit to blow up an essential bridge to prevent enemy advancement. Throughout, he encounters defectors, meets some fascinating characters, falls in love with a precious young woman, and realizes that the men on the ground for the “other side” really aren’t that different from himself and the members of his unit.

Hemingway wrote this novel based on his own experiences as a journalist covering the Spanish Civil War, and much of it is accurate as it relates to the military operation, with places and political figures named correctly.

It is a powerful work about the horrors of war.

Upon its release in 1941, the US Postal Service refused to mail it, as it was considered pro-Communist. It was also banned in Turkey and – unsurprisingly – in Spain.

Also, in 1941, For Whom the Bell Tolls was chosen by the Pulitzer committee for the Pulitzer Prize – but, somehow, Nicholas Murray Butler, the President of Columbia University, was able to get involved and stop it – so no Pulitzer was awarded for a novel that year. It is truly bizarre and I’m linking the article here:

hemingway denied pulitzer article.

Papa Hemingway had a way of causing a stir for sure.

The second of his banned books I read this week is The Sun Also Rises.

This semi-autobiographical novel, based around Hemingway’s life in Paris, his friend group there, and several trips to Pamplona in the 1920’s, tells the story of an American ex-pat, Jake Barnes, and the woman he loves, Lady Brett Ashley, as well as their group of friends. Though he is enamored with Brett – and she more than happy to call on him for anything she needs – she does not want to be committed to him, is, in fact, engaged to someone else, and also feels free to see other people besides even them.

This group really is the embodiment of “The Lost Generation” after World War I.

It reads very much like a soap opera, so here we go: As ‘The Sun Also Rises’ Turns – micro synopsis 😉

Everyone is drinking – so much, everywhere – and all of the men want Lady Brett.

Then the group finally goes to Spain for the bullfights, where one of the men Brett has been having an affair with (but no longer wants) comes unhinged with jealousy. Meanwhile she has decided to pick up the 19 year old matador. Through this, her fiancé stands by watching and getting profoundly drunk – and somehow the crazed jealous man, who is called Cohn, then ends up punching out Jake while looking for Brett – who has gone off with the matador, named Romero.

Cohn then goes and assaults the matador – and finally leaves town.

Despite having been assaulted, Romero still does well in his next bullfight – and Brett leaves with him for Madrid. (WTH?)

The other men are going their separate ways – when, of course, Jake gets a telegram from Brett that she is in trouble and he goes flying to her rescue. It turns out 19 year old matadors aren’t so great – so he helps her go back to Mike the Fiancé. 

As she is exiting the cab to return to her “partner,” they both say they wish things could have been different for them. . .

The End.

Overall, it was a really good Banned Books week with Hemingway – and I’m glad to have revisited these two books. ❤

For this upcoming week I think Libby is saying I have to get stepping with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest next (no more waiting around).

Wishing you all a great weekend and happy reading.

Be well, everybody. Take care of yourselves and each other.

Grace and Blessings.

Banned Books Read So Far:

The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Awakening – Kate Chopin

Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D.H. Lawrence

Animal Farm – George Orwell

1984 – George Orwell

Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut

Brave New World – Aldous Huxley

Their Eyes Were Watching God – Zora Neale Hurston

A Separate Peace – John Knowles

Lolita – Vladmir Nabokov

A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

As I Lay Dying – William Faulkner

LOTR – The Fellowship of The Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien

LOTR – The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien

LOTR – The Return of the King – J.R.R. Tolkien

Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut

In Cold Blood – Truman Capote

Song of Soloman – Toni Morrison

To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee

Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck

Lord of the Flies – William Golding

A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess

For Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway