"A Farewell to Arms" was Ernest Hemingway's first best-seller and the acclaim garnered by this book put his name on the 20th century literary map. The novel is based on Hemingway's own experiences serving as an ambulance driver during the Italian campaign in World War I and has often been cited as one of the best war novels ever written. The story follows the service of Frederic Henry, an American medic serving in the Italian army during the First World War. Frederic meets and falls in love with an English nurse named Catherine Berkley. Catherine has lost her fiancé in battle and initially rebuffs Frederic's advances, but when he is wounded at the Italian front and sent to her hospital for treatment, their romance blossoms, leading the two lovers to attempt to flee the conflict and start a life together. A blockbuster literary achievement for Hemingway, "A Farewell to Arms" has become a classic of American fiction. It is presented here in its original and unabridged format.
Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was one of the most influential writers and larger-than-life characters of the first half of the 20th Century. A renowned outdoorsman, journalist and, for a time, European expatriate, Hemingway began life as a reporter and his just-the-facts style of writing for newspapers - unadorned and direct - became the signature style he employed in his stories and novels.Born and raised in Oak Park, Illinois, Hemingway was rejected by the Army for poor eyesight and soon happened upon a Red Cross notice enticing young men to become ambulance drivers in Europe and immediately signed up.Shipped to the Italian Front in June of 1918, Hemingway would be seriously injured by mortar fire and hospitalized in Milan, where he fell in love with a Red Cross nurse. He would later use his wartime experience as the basis for his book "A Farewell to Arms."Working as a reporter in Paris, Hemingway fell in with a group artists who had taken up residence in the city, including James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald's publication of "The Great Gatsby" convinced Hemingway that he should move on from writing short stories and embark on a novel. His trip to Pamplona, Spain and subsequent fascination with bullfighting led to his creation of his first full book, "The Sun Also Rises."Hemingway is also known for his novels "To Have and Have Not," "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "The Old Man and the Sea," as well as numerous short stories. In 1954, Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Hemingway's health and mental status began to rapidly deteriorate in the late 1950s and while he continued to write, his mental decline and physical challenges proved to be too much for him to bear. On July 2, 1961, Hemingway took up his favorite shotgun, put it to his head and ended his life.Ernest Hemingway was a dominant figure in American literature during his lifetime and his influence on the writers who followed him - both positive and negative - lasts to this day.
