For Whom the Bell Tolls

Addressing a 1937 Writers Congress in a rare public speech, Ernest Hemingway proclaimed that there is "only one form of government that cannot produce good writers, and that system is fascism. For fascism is a lie told by bullies. A writer who will not lie cannot live and work under fascism." With this rallying cry against the fascist forces in Spain's then year-old Civil War, Hemingway expressed his firm belief in an artist's need to write "what is true," his commitment to freedom, and his passion for the people and culture of Spain, his spiritual home. In 1940, these sentiments came together in Hemingway most celebrated novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls, the powerful story of a young American fighting for the Spanish Republic during four suspenseful days in 1937.^