Concealments in Hemingway's Works Gerry Brenner Like any writer who continues to engage our interest, compel our attention, and challenge our understanding, Ernest Hemingway was simultaneously blessed and cursed throughout his life by an obsession. It is Professor Bren­ ner's opinion that that obsession—Heming­ way's relationship with the chief emotional object of his life, his father—empowered all of his writing, and that exploring it uncovers previously unseen complexities in both the man and his work. Using the methods of New Criticism, ge­ neric criticism, classical Freudian theory, and psychobiography, Dr. Brenner extracts from Hemingway's deceptively "artless" works their dynamic but hidden aims. When viewed from these combined critical perspectives, the justly acclaimed novels, the troublesome non­ fiction, and even stories dismissed as mediocre take on dimensions of meaning and signifi­ cance that have previously gone undetected. Professor Brenner's revisionary reading di­ vides Hemingway's mature writings into five phases in order to trace Hemingway's obses­ sion and two related ideas: that until his last phase, Hemingway's novels and books of non­ fiction were experimental—an intention he tried rigorously to conceal—and that his aes­ thetic aim, during all phases of his career, was to conceal his art and his cunning as an artist. To the first phase, which he terms the The­ sis Phase, Brenner assigns A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises; to the second, the Aesthetic Phase, the nonfictional Death in the Afternoon and Green Hills of Africa. The third or Aristotelean Phase contains To Have and Have Not and For Whom the Bell Tolls, conscious attempts to write, first, a classical tragedy and, second, a classical epic. Across the River and into the Trees belongs to the Imitative Phase, Dante's Divine Comedy being Hemingway's deliberate, concealed model. The fifth and final phase—the Anti­ (Continued on back flap) Concealments in Hemingway's Works Concealments in Hemingway's Works GERRY BRENNER Ohio State University Press : Columbus Copyright «> 1983 by the Ohio State University Press All rights reserved Quotations from the following books by Ernest Hemingway are used by permis­ sion of Charles Scribner's Sons, 597 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10017; Jonathan Cape Ltd., 30 Bedford Square, London WCl, England; and the Execu­ tors of the Ernest Hemingway Estate: The Sun Also Rises. Copyright 1926, Charles Scribner's Son; copyright renewed 1954 Ernest Hemingway. (Published in England as Fiesta.) A Farewell to Arms. Copyright 1929 Charles Scribner's Sons; copyright renewed 1957 Ernest Hemingway. Death in the Afternoon. Copyright 1932 Charles Scribner's Sons; copyright renewed 1960 Ernest Hemingway. Green Hills of Africa. Copyright 1935, Charles Scribner's Sons; copyright renewed 1963 Mary Hemingway. To Have and Have Not. Copyright 1937 Ernest Hemingway; copyright renewed 1965 Mary Hemingway. The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Copyright 1938 Ernest Hemingway; copyright renewed 1966 Mary Hemingway. (The stories quoted were published in England in The First Forty-nine Stories.) For Whom the Bell Tolls. Copyright 1940 Ernest Hemingway; copyright renewed 1968 Mary Hemingway. Across the River and into the Trees. Copyright 1950 Ernest Hemingway; copyright renewed 1978 Mary Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea. Copyright 1952 Ernest Hemingway; copyright renewed 1980 Mary Hemingway. A Moveable Feast. Copyrightld 1964 Ernest Hemingway Ltd. Quotations from the following books by Ernest Hemingway are used by permis­ sion of Charles Scribner's Sons, 597 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10017, and William Collins Sons and Company Ltd., 14 St. James's Place, London SW1A IPS, England: By-Line: Ernest Hemingway. Copyright(c 1967 Mary Hemingway. Islands in the Stream. Copyright <bl 1970 Mary Hemingway. Quotations from Ernest Hemingway, Selected Letters: 1917-1961 are used by per­ mission of Charles Scribner's Sons, 597 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10017, and Granada Publishing Ltd., Frogmore, St. Albans, Hertfordshire AL2 2NF, England. CopyrightCl 1981 The Ernest Hemingway Foundation, Inc., Copyright(£l 1981 Carlos Baker. Quotations from Parts 1, 2, and 3 of "The Dangerous Summer," by Ernest Hem­ ingway, published in the September 5,12, and 19,1960, issues of Life, are used by special permission of Mary Hemingway. (Continued on page vi) for Terry and our three sons Pat, Kyle, and John (Continued from page iv) The chapter entitled "A 'Vulgar' Ethic: The Sun Also Rises" in Part 1, "The Thesis Phase," has been revised from "Hemingway's 'Vulgar' Ethic: Revaluating The Sun Also Rises," originally published in the Arizona Quarterly, 33 (Summer, 1977). Used by permission of the publisher. The chapter entitled "A Classical Epic: For Whom the Bell Tolls" in Part 3, "The Aristotelean Phase," has been revised from "Epic Machinery in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls," originally published in Modern Fiction Studies, 16 (Winter, 1970 -71), ® 1971 by Purdue Research Foundation, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, U.S.A. Used by permission of the publisher. The chapter entitled "A Dantesque 'Imitation': Across the River and into the Trees" in Part 4, "The Imitative Phase," has been revised from "An 'Imitation' of Dante's Divine Comedy: Hemingway's Across the River and into the Trees," orig­ inally published in the 1976 volume of the Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual. Used by permission of the publisher. The chapter entitled "A Classical Tragedy: To Have and Have Not" in Part 3, "The Aristotelean Phase," has been revised from "To Have and Have Not as Classical Tragedy: Reconsidering Hemingway's Neglected Novel," originally published in Hemingway: In Our Time, edited by Richard Astro and Jackson J. Benson (Cor­ vallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press, 1974). Used by permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data: Brenner, Gerry, 1937— Concealments in Hemingway's works. Bibliography: p. Includes index 1. Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PS3515.E37Z5826 1983 813'.52 83-6283 ISBN 0-8142-0338-8 Contents Acknowledgments ix Author's Note xi Introduction: Three Theses 3 THE THESIS PHASE 1. A Hospitalized World: A Farewell to Arms 27 2. A "Vulgar" Ethic: The Sun Also Rises 42 3. Afterword 53 THE ESTHETIC PHASE 1. A Compleat Critique: Death in the Afternoon 65 2. A Trophy Hunt: Green Hills of Africa 81 3. Afterword 93 THE ARISTOTELEAN PHASE 1. A Classical Tragedy: To Have and Have Not 109 2. A Classical Epic: For Whom the Bell Tolls 124 3. Afterword 137 THE IMITATIVE PHASE 1. A Dantesque "Imitation": Across the River and into the Trees 151 2. Afterword 165 THE ANTITHETICAL PHASE 1. Foreword 175 2. A Not-So-Strange Old Man: The Old Man and the Sea 176 3. A Guilt-Ridden Father: Islands in the Stream 188 4. An Obsessed Onlooker: The Dangerous Summer 207 5. A Self-Justifying Son: A Moveable Feast 218 Epilogue 233 Notes 237 Index 267 Acknowledgments Grateful acknowledgment for permission to quote from his works is made to Ernest Hemingway's publishers. I am also grateful for permission to reprint, in revised form, stud­ ies of mine that have appeared in earlier forms: "Hemingway's 'Vulgar' Ethic: Revaluating The Sun Also Rises," Arizona Quar­ terly, Summer 1977; "To Have and Have Not as Classical Tragedy: Reconsidering Hemingway's Neglected Novel," Richard Astro and Jackson J. Benson, eds., Hemingway: In Our Time (Oregon State University Press, 1974); "An 'Imitation' of Dante's Divine Comedy: Hemingway's Across the River and into the Trees," Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 1976; "Epic Machinery in Hem­ ingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls," Modern Fiction Studies, Winter 1970-71. For several Summer Research grants that freed me from teach­ ing and enabled me to write portions of this work, I gratefully thank the University of Montana Foundation and those col­ leagues who saw fit to award me those grants. For many classes with many good Hemingway students here at the University of Montana, I am also thankful. The vitality and inquisitiveness and skepticism and intelligence they brought to the classroom and to my version of Hemingway made for some memorable sessions and stimulated my thinking again and again. For challenging me with, and encouraging my study of, Freud, and for carefully reading a large portion of an earlier draft, I owe a special debt to my colleague Doug Purl. For her scrupulous copy-editing and his cheerful assistance in the various stages of publishing this book, I am grateful to the Ohio State University Press's Carol S. Sykes, book editor, and Weldon A. Kefauver, director. For their help typing various versions of the manuscript, I thank Lucille Smith, Jan Schultz, Pat Meeker, and Ilona Hruska. For her patience, support, and excellent editing, no acknowl­ edgment can adequately express my gratitude to my wife, Terry. Author's Note I cite page references to quotations from Hemingway's works in the body of my text. Where the source of a quotation is clear, I cite only page references; where the source is unclear, I adopt the short titles below. In both cases all citations are from the following edi­ tions published by Charles Scribner's Sons, of New York: Sun Rises The Sun Also Rises, 1926 and 1954, Student's Edition Farewell A Farewell to Arms, 1929 and 1957, Scribner Library Afternoon Death in the Afternoon, 1932 and 1960, Scribner Library Green Hills Green Hills of Africa, 1935, Scribner Library Have Not To Have and Have Not, 1937 and 1965, Scribner Library Bell Tolls For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1940, Scribner Library Across the Across the River and into the Trees, River 1950 Old Man The Old Man and the Sea, 1952, Scrib­ ner Library Stories The Short Stories of Ernest Heming­ way, 1953, Modern Standard Authors Feast A Moveable Feast, 1964, Scribner Library By-Line By-Line: Ernest Hemingway: Selected Articles and Dispatches of Four Decades, ed.