Description:

Ernest Hemingway
Hotel Ambos Mundos, Havana, Cuba, December 2, 1941
Hemingway on Spanish Civil War and "writing straight", References "For Whom the Bell Tolls" & "To Have and Have Not"!
TLS

A highly intriguing letter from Ernest Hemingway to one Ben Weissman of New York, dating from his early days living in Cuba. 1p, measuring 8.5" x 13", Havana, Cuba, December 2, 1941. Signed in pencil at conclusion: "Ernest Hemingway/ Hotel Ambos Mundos/ Havana- Cuba/ Dec 2 41". Within, the writer makes several references to André Marty and his subsequent appearance in "For Whom the Bell Tolls", in addition to discussing Commissar Gustav Regler and the integrity of "writing straight". Together with its original transmittal envelope, showing heavy tearing and creasing to right side. Letter exhibits light to moderate surface creasing, with flattened folds throughout. Uneven age toning and edge wear. Otherwise, very good with fantastic literary and political contents.

Reading in full:

"Marty was that way all right as many who knew him will tell you. He was also many other ways but that is a good picture of the bad way he was. It is not a typical picture of a commissar. I wrote an introduction to Gustav Regler's book The Great Crusade. Regler was a wonderful Commisar [sic]. So was Steve Nelson. So were hundreds of others. Marty was the way I say he was and did great harm. But he is a symbol and so cannot be criticized.
The book is a straight book and I think it might have been praised by those reviewers if there had been no Marty chapter.
My own politics are exactly the same as they were in Spain. As a writer, after the war is over (temporarily there) I have to write things as I see them if we are to profit by our mistakes.
I am glad you like the book and also To Have and Have Not. They were both as straight as I could make them. If I beloned [sic] to any party I could perhaps be more useful and better loved but I could not write as straight and in the end I think the writing straight will be the most valuable thing I can do. I will do anything in the world to further something I believe in. But in writing I will only tell the truth. Each man only tells it as he sees it."

"Marty", referenced several times in the beginning of this letter, undoubtedly refers to French Communist leader André Marty, who briefly appears in chapter 42 of Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Marty was sent to Spain following the outbreak of Civil War in 1936, where he served as Political Commissar of the International Brigades and became known as a violent and paranoid disciplinarian. In the novel, Hemingway aptly depicts Marty as a vicious intriguer whose paranoia interferes with Republican objectives in the war. His previously published work, "To Have and Have Not" (1937), was similarly influenced by his exposure to Republican ideology during this period.

Gustav Regler (1898-1963) joined the Communist Party after being seriously injured in the First World War, later serving as commissar of the XII International Brigade in Spain. It was during this time that he befriended Hemingway before again being wounded at the Battle of Guadalajara. His book, 'The Great Crusade', was first published in English in 1940 and offers a semi-autobiographical account of his time in the Civil War. Within its preface, Hemingway notably states, "There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write them truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention." This reference to writing "truly" is echoed within the offered correspondence through his commitment to writing a "straight" book.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 8.5" x 13"
  • Medium: TLS

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