"New Essays on A Farewell to Arms"

Author: Donald
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: "A Farewell to Arms" (1929) is another long novel by Hemingway after "The Sun Also Rises" (1926), largely reflecting his thoughts, feelings, and artistic style. This book collects four representative and currently most interesting essays for research. Paul Smith discusses the origin of the novel—the question of how Hemingway began writing "A Farewell to Arms" and why he spent so much time—as well as how he expressed his war experiences through various methods during the decade from 1918 to 1928. James Phelan studied Hemingway's achievements in using a complex yet highly appropriate narrative technique. After reviewing some critical attitudes toward Catherine Barry, Sandra Whipple Spanier argues that Catherine is often misunderstood because of the lack of awareness of the tension caused by war. Finally, Ben Stoltzfus interprets the novel from the perspective of linguistics and psychoanalysis in a Lacanian way. Each of these views—the historical text, narratology, feminist, and psychological—provides a fresh way to read an enduring novel.