Ernest, Hadley, and Italy

This chapter offers an overview of Hemingway’s early Italian experiences, with a particular emphasis on how he introduced his first wife, Hadley Richardson, to his Italian haunts. Donaldson synthesizes major studies of Hemingway and his first wife to offer a cogent historical context for Hemingway’s first wife and her indoctrination into Hemingway’s Italian world.

Address to the Hemingway Society Congress

Giacomo Ivancich is the brother of Adriana Ivancich, with whom Hemingway became infatuated in 1949. Ambassador Ivancich recalls Hemingway’s personality, their conversations, and reflects on the experience of knowing the great writer in Italy. Ivancich also corrects the misperception of his sister as a parasite, as a groupie, a hanger-on, etc.

Hemingway and Italy

The introduction provides an overview on Hemingway’s association with Italy, both his biographical connection and through the resonance of his Italian work. The introduction continues to trace the narrative of the volume, providing the context of each essay and the loose narrative that emerges from our sequence. He first traveled to Italy in the crucible experience of 1918, as a volunteer with the Red Cross serving the Italian Army during World War I. Hemingway’s writing on Italy presented a constant and relentless criticism of Italian fascism. For this reason, he felt unwelcome in the country until after World War II and the election of 1948 that democratized Italy. Soon after, he returned to Italy, but as a wealthy celebrity

A “Very Complicated” Diet for a Lion

Katsui analyzes one of Hemingway’s fables as crucial for its use of food and drink as a theme to the narrative. To Katsui, food and drink is central to the feeling of “belonging,” of being an insider in the exclusive Venice society. Choice of food and drink reveals the values of a character and indicates the way in which they assimilate into a foreign culture.

Dear Children (Good and Bad), You Are Cordially Invited to a Roasting of Instructional Literature

Cobb discusses the often neglected fables that Hemingway wrote in the early 1950s, locating them within the genre of children’s literature. Cobb surveys the history and language and conventions of children’s literature and discusses unexpected ways that Hemingway’s writing might be included. Cobb finds that Hemingway is lampooning the instructional aspect of children’s literature at the same time that he is exploiting its conventions.

Across the Associate Editorship of the Harvard Lampoon and onto the Wall above the Urinal

Curnutt discusses the famous satire of Hemingway’s Across the River and into the Trees by E. B. White in the New Yorker. Curnutt illuminates what exactly White was satirizing in Hemingway and goes beyond White’s parody to think about the nature of satire and how it played a role in Hemingway’s career.

Across the River and into the Trees

Gradoli explores elements of mythology, Italian architecture, poetical allusions, and geography to argue for the subtlety and care in craft of Across the River and into the Trees. Using Walt Whitman, Marcel Proust, and a complex system of charts, Gradoli pursues the hidden and suggested aspects of the novel and how they contribute to its power.

Artifice and Reality

Although Across the River and into the Trees takes place entirely in Venice and the surrounding region, Long argues that the presence of America is often evoked, emphasizing the difference of new world and old world, Europe and America, and present and past. The protagonist, Colonel Cantwell, has a foil in his chauffeur, the American Jackson, who does not appreciate the subtle values of the Italians. Jackson, to Long, represents the unenlightened mainstream American mindset. On the other hand, Long also points to moments where Cantwell idealizes America, looking toward a wonderful future upon his return with his Italian girlfriend, Renata.

Reading and Not Reading The Black Pig in A Farewell to Arms

Mandel takes a brief reference to an anticlerical novel made by one of the characters in A Farewell to Arms and explores the historical and ideological basis for its presence in the novel. In a novel where the Priest is such an important figure, the discussion of the Catholic Church and the way that soldiers would regard religion becomes an important thematic examination. Mandel traces her exploration of this topic, the translation of this obscure novel, and her subsequent revelations, in a way that makes this chapter a study in scholarship and the excavation of an arcane reference.

The Many Faces of Defeat

Lena surveys the historical context of Italy’s devastating defeat at the Battle of Caporetto in 1917, and argues about its importance to Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms. This chapter illustrates the historical background to the fascist control of the Italian government and how Hemingway rejects their ideology through Frederic Henry, the protagonist. Lena negotiates the complex political and military realities surrounding Caporetto in order to emphasize Hemingway’s important statement about the war and its mismanagement.