In the midst of the Spanish Civil War, Robert Jordan, an American dynamiter, is tasked with blowing up a bridge to aid the Republican cause. As he grapples with his mission, he encounters a cast of vibrant characters, including the fiery Maria, who awakens his desire for love and life amid chaos. The harsh realities of war force him to confront his beliefs about duty, sacrifice, and the interconnectedness of humanity. With poetic prose, Hemingway explores themes of honor, mortality, and the impact of individual actions in the grand theater of conflict. A gripping tale that questions the price of loyalty and the sound of tolling bells, which echo the fate of mankind.
By Ernest Hemingway
Published: 1995
"The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it."
Ernest Hemingway's masterpiece on war, love, loyalty, and honor tells the story of Robert Jordan, an antifascist American fighting in the Spanish Civil War. In 1937 Ernest Hemingway traveled to Spain to cover the civil war there for the North American Newspaper Alliance. Three years later he completed the greatest novel to emerge from “the good fight” and one of the foremost classics of war literature. For Whom the Bell Tolls tells of loyalty and courage, love and defeat, and the tragic death of an ideal. Robert Jordan, a young American in the International Brigades, is attached to an antifascist guerilla unit in the mountains of Spain. In his portrayal of Jordan’s love for the beautiful Maria and his superb account of a guerilla leader’s last stand, Hemingway creates a work at once rare and beautiful, strong and brutal, compassionate, moving, and wise. Greater in power, broader in scope, and more intensely emotional than any of the author’s previous works, For Whom the Bell Tolls stands as one of the best war novels ever written.
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“The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for and I hate very much to leave it.”
For Whom the Bell Tolls
By Ernest Hemingway
Discover a world of knowledge through our extensive collection of book summaries.
Ernest Hemingway was an American novelist and short story writer, renowned for his concise prose and profound themes. Born on July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois, his experiences as an ambulance driver during World War I influenced many of his later works. Hemingway is best known for his novels such as 'The Old Man and the Sea', 'A Farewell to Arms', and 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', which explore themes of love, loss, and the human condition. His distinctive writing style, characterized by sparse and economical language, revolutionized modern literature and earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Hemingway's legacy endures as one of the most significant authors of the 20th century.
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