tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post7879877105089960999..comments2024-01-24T11:41:28.022+00:00Comments on A Cuban In London: Of Literature and Other Abstract ThoughtsA Cuban In Londonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16423293358605007539noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-6978607976490157812016-06-18T08:12:36.828+01:002016-06-18T08:12:36.828+01:00Hi ACIL - thanks for posting this review about the...Hi ACIL - thanks for posting this review about the book ... I hope to read it sometime ... cheers Hilary<br /><br />Wish more of us would think and consider before we go to war ... or talk revenge ... Hilary Melton-Butcherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17596532480645510678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-73454069515204868362016-05-29T11:12:19.465+01:002016-05-29T11:12:19.465+01:00I haven't read this book, but I can say that t...I haven't read this book, but I can say that the whole concept of war fill me with horror...and anger. We call ourselves intelligent and civilized...and then our egos take over and transform us into total hypocrites.<br />I fully understand the lingering effects of war...my father fought in WWII, and according to my mother, he returned home to her a complete stranger. In the 26 years I knew him, until his death, he was a severe depressive who was prone to recurring nightmares and suicidal tendencies. I lived every day in fear of losing him. It was horrible.<br />Oh if only we humans could begin to realize how futile it all is...there never will be any winners in war...only losers...<br /><br />Such a powerful post, CiL...thank you for helping to highlight this emotive subject.<br />Now all we need is for some of those in power to actually LISTEN.<br /><br />Have a great week! :) Ygrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00300519608303898969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-88579538176533730242016-05-28T17:05:32.255+01:002016-05-28T17:05:32.255+01:00Although I doubt its plausibility, it's intere...Although I doubt its plausibility, it's interesting to consider the possibility that Hemingway might have harbored an inner pacifist. Could be, though. I think most people who have observed war up-close and personal come to see its futility. In a PBS special called "By Vietnam Vets for Vietnam Vets," which was telecast in 1985, the tenth anniversary of the withdrawal from Vietnam, one of the vets said, "The lesson of war is... no... more... war." The audience, made up of Vietnam vets and their families, erupted in cheers. Susan Flett Swiderskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09425315552148200073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-27063349132891836612016-05-27T17:28:38.868+01:002016-05-27T17:28:38.868+01:00I hate wars!I hate wars!NatureFootstephttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01340635075481959029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-12214892936365714802016-05-27T13:23:01.796+01:002016-05-27T13:23:01.796+01:00The idea of reading Hemingway in Cuba while the na...The idea of reading Hemingway in Cuba while the nation was involved in Angola is surreal, enlightening, and filled with possibility (maybe like "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" that was set in the Cultural Revolution of China). Although Hemingway had ties with Cuba, I would not have thought the communist government would have been that friendly to his legacy. sagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17499891950639742366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-64326425306880548852016-05-27T08:50:03.546+01:002016-05-27T08:50:03.546+01:00I would argue that WWII was necessary to prevent b...I would argue that WWII was necessary to prevent both the Japanese and Germans from realizing the completion of the Holocaust and world domination. Every other conflict I can name seems to be rooted in fear or some variation of notions of superiority, neither of which will ever achieve anything positive. Greetings to you.ehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11376645220662546020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-74638759330628763712016-05-27T05:24:39.172+01:002016-05-27T05:24:39.172+01:00Haven't read this one by Hemingway. Fascinated...Haven't read this one by Hemingway. Fascinated by your review - so perhaps I should. I love re-reading books about 20 years later - they seem like books one has never read before due to age, experience, life...Lady Fihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16181866510595193667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-7634748226699989382016-05-27T01:14:54.383+01:002016-05-27T01:14:54.383+01:00I hear you.......how does any governing body belie...I hear you.......how does any governing body believe that peace can be won by bombing people? It just breeds hatred and enmity. I love the photo on your banner.....it is really beautiful. Sherry Blue Skyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10769154286598233146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-13330504035805061452016-05-26T22:12:29.044+01:002016-05-26T22:12:29.044+01:00Thanks for your comments. As noted here, Hemingway...Thanks for your comments. As noted here, Hemingway was many things before becoming a writer. This is the reason why his "war books" read like quasi-documentaries. The first-hand account in "A Farewell to Arms" is powerful.<br /><br />Greetings from London.A Cuban In Londonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16423293358605007539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-87980287399097966642016-05-26T21:22:15.820+01:002016-05-26T21:22:15.820+01:00Interesting to read this post and your views on it...Interesting to read this post and your views on it. Romance Reader https://www.blogger.com/profile/10633164931292182035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-6400471555487425212016-05-26T10:34:23.001+01:002016-05-26T10:34:23.001+01:00I have never read Hemingway but I guess it's n...I have never read Hemingway but I guess it's not too late. However, my experience of war is that there are no real winners.Valeriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12099030819314552958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-91566546599031638262016-05-26T06:36:32.888+01:002016-05-26T06:36:32.888+01:00I am currently reading Hemingway's "A Mov...I am currently reading Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast" for a literary and food salon that I hold at my house each month, and I was saying to a friend that I absolutely love reading Hemingway this time around. I've never been much of a Hemingway lover, with the exception of "A Farewell to Arms" -- such a beautiful, hopeless, romantic story, no? Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03313726816776097840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-20599238857789985912016-05-26T01:00:08.137+01:002016-05-26T01:00:08.137+01:00The thing which must be remembered before beginnin...The thing which must be remembered before beginning the first page of any story by Ernest Hemingway is that he was a reporter, a journalist, an observer first (as in his set of priorities) before he was anything else, including a writer of fiction. Like most journalists of his era (and, obviously, very few working today) he believed he could remain a detached spectator to life and to history, and objectively and effectively translate them both via fiction and non-fiction in a manner so readers could know them and understand them -- especially those experiences in which he, personally, had been a player.<br /><br />Again, CiL, you have chosen a broad topic which, for me, would require a day and a few thousand words to respond to adequately, so all I will add is a single thought: It has been a number of years since I last read this book, and none of it really has stayed with me except for the final dozen or so pages. They are carved as stone in my mind and, to me, the rest of the book is superfluous to all the tomorrows in the life of Frederic Henry.<br /><br />EMH: "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know."Fram Actualhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01540773153894050197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-75957351176879036422016-05-25T23:40:35.019+01:002016-05-25T23:40:35.019+01:00There is never any winners, sad that too few reali...There is never any winners, sad that too few realize it until the war is going on.Pat Hatthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07745293224202430152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-48831080672055656552016-05-25T23:37:51.435+01:002016-05-25T23:37:51.435+01:00I've always wondered how many men fighting in ...I've always wondered how many men fighting in wars actually consider the reality that they are killing a father, husband, son, brother. On both sides I am sure it is far more frequent than the image of the emotionless warrior that is more often portrayed. But if it is, it makes war seem even more surreal.<br />Except for the reasons you presented, I think war is a form of insanity, ego and greed. Sounds a little hard, but it's honest.<br /><br />I've never read any Hemingway except for A Moveable Feast. I know too much about the history of his treatment of his wives and the appalling self-aggrandising way in which he treated Martha Gellhorn in their efforts to report the ending of the second WW. (I think this attitude/behavior is part of his depiction of female characters.) This is just one guy that I can't get behind no matter how talented he was. No one is perfect and I admit the prejudice nature of this comment. And apologize if I've offended anyone - livhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00091094639074377780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-59464616052061173622016-05-25T21:00:43.194+01:002016-05-25T21:00:43.194+01:00I doubt that Papa Hemingway would be comfortable w...I doubt that Papa Hemingway would be comfortable with the pacifist label.<br />My father (a German Jew) told me that there are no winners in war. There are losers and bigger losers. And I wouldn't argue with him.Elephant's Childhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06650565833097914052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-50384274247122949362016-05-25T19:55:49.856+01:002016-05-25T19:55:49.856+01:00I love A Farewell to Arms, first read in my late ...I love A Farewell to Arms, first read in my late teens and several times since. I'd probably be a pacifist anyway, but Hemingway describes the futility of it all wonderfully - and in For Whom the Bell Tolls.JOhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03127111575563904349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1165773290907101242.post-47909632693869659372016-05-25T18:44:31.381+01:002016-05-25T18:44:31.381+01:00It was interesting to hear your reaction reading a...It was interesting to hear your reaction reading a second time. I read this in high school and prefered For Whom the Bell Tolls. I lost my taste for Hemingway as I got older, mainly due to his macho attitude although he did create some strong female characters, especially for his time. Sarah Laurencehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00423008641739156182noreply@blogger.com