Hemingway's Faith
Ebook
Ernest Hemingway belongs to the triumvirate of the three greatest writers from America’s golden age of literature, including F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner, but little is known about his religious faith.
Celebrated for The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea and many other award-winning literary works, he is also remembered for his machismo and spirit of adventure: a big game hunter, deep sea fisher, boxer, avid swimmer and skier, outdoorsman, and bull fighting aficionado with a bevy of friends—many of whom were well-known celebrities that he enjoyed drinking and socializing with.
In addition, and perhaps surprisingly, Hemingway was deeply though quietly religious. In his writing, Hemingway consistently drew on his spirituality, the wellspring of which, besides his strong Christian upbringing, was his Catholic faith to which he converted during World War I at age 18. Previous biographers have either ignored this story or told it incompletely or inaccurately. This book seeks to fill the void and paint a portrait that reveals the real Hemingway, and the deep motivations and inspirations that left an indelible imprint on his life, his relationships, and his writing.
Dedication
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: Formed in the Protestant Heartland
Chapter 2: Medieval Truths and World War I Heroism
Chapter 3: Breaking Away and Starting a New Life
Chapter 4: The City of Light: “One True Sentence”
Chapter 5: F. Scott, Pauline, Hadley & Bumby: “The Sun Also Rises”
Chapter 6: Key West, Restless Heart: “A Farewell to Arms”
Chapter 7: A Faith Grown Tepid: “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
Chapter 8: World War II and “Black Ass”: “Across the River and Into the Trees”
Chapter 9: Faith, Tragedy and Triumph: “The Old Man and the Sea”
Chapter 10: The Final Years: “A Moveable Feast”
Bibliography
Notes
Index
About the Author
If we wish to get to grips with the faith of a writer as complex, confused and confusing as Ernest Hemingway, we must be willing to wrestle with the man and his beliefs. Mary Clare Kendall grapples with Hemingway's faith and does so commendably. She doesn't explain this most elusive of men, nor does she explain him away, but she does get us closer to his Catholic heart. Those wishing to know the heart of Hemingway will relish the reading of this book.
Our two Scribner biographies of Hemingway—the monumental Carlos Baker and the critical Anthony Burgess—ignore or, worse, dismiss the powerful if alternating current of Hemingway's adoptive Catholicism throughout his life and work. Finally, a half-century later, Mary Claire Kendall casts a beam of light through the chiaroscuro of that author's troublous life. It is quite simply the most revealing portrait of the inner-Hemingway since A Moveable Feast. Faith is a gift; this book is a treasure.
“If you care about anything Ernest Hemingway has written, you will inevitably face the fact of Hemingway's Faith. While Academics are largely allergic to Faith, and with such a popular writer as Ernest Hemingway, even opposed to any discussion of his Faith, it is the central crux of all of his writing. If we consider the prominence of Hemingway as the twentieth century's most popular and influential writer, Hemingway's Faith is central to the very discussion of literature, period. The Hemingway world, the literary world, needs this book, Hemingway's Faith, now more than ever.
- Title: Hemingway's Faith
- Authors: Mary Claire Kendall, Maria Cooper Janis
- Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781538187920, 9781538187913, 1538187914, 1538187922
- Resource ID: LLS:9781538187920
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-19T06:11:48Z
Mary Claire Kendall is a Washington, D.C.-based writer. She is the author of Oasis of Faith: The Souls Behind the Billboard—Barrymore, Cagney, Tracy, Stewart, Guinness, and Lemmon, the second in a series. Additionally, she writes a regular bi-monthly column for Aleteia on legends of Hollywood and hidden screen gems.