Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms: War and love

Hemingway's 1929 semi-autobiographical classic tackles two big timeless themes: love and war.

Two out of three of us can relate to the first one, but war feels pretty alien to us. How would the boys do if they were conscripted? What made WWI so uniquely dispiriting? What is it about this novel that so faithfully captures the experience of war?

We also talk quite a bit about Hemingway's laconic characters and terse writing style. How representative is this of his broader work? What do we think of the 'iceberg method'? Why did he go with the most depressing possible ending?

and MORE

CHAPTERS

• (00:00:00) first reactions and synopsis
• (00:06:02) Hemingway’s understated style and the ’Iceberg method’
• (00:19:10) What made WWI a uniquely dispiriting war?
• (00:28:35) Catherine and Henry are the same person
• (00:38:44) downer ending
• (00:46:45) A catalogue of arbitrary and meaningless death
• (00:57:34) Final thoughts and next book

 

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS:

We wanna start reading listener feedback out on the pod, so send us a note at douevenlit@gmail.com to correct our bad takes or share your own. 

 

NEXT ON THE READING LIST:

My Struggle, volume 1 - Karl Ove Knausgaard