A Postmodern Prophet: Hemingway's Insights Applied to the Gaza Conflict

I was re-introduced to Hemingway in the late '70s through his first collection of short stories titled In Our Time. I was stunned by the power of Hemingway's prose. Though I'd never worn glasses, the stories there were like being a grandma who gets hit in the face with a fist, glasses flying across the room from the impact. I read the book continuously two-and-a-half times through. The description of the doctor in one scene of The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife is so loaded with tension, yet achieved with sleight of hand, never once saying the guy was mad or outraged, or any such thing... it is nothing short of miraculous how he accomplishes so much with such simple prose.

I'd read Old Man and the Sea in high school, but it wasn't till years later that I came to appreciate Hemingway as a writer. The first Hemingway novel that followed my return to classic literature during this period in my life was For Whom the Bell Tolls with its setting being the Spanish Civil War. The hero's quest turns out to be a futile mission. The characters are vividly drawn, and tragic. Can one man make a difference? Robert Jordan believes he can.

The Spanish Civil War was a major turning point in the rise of fascism in Europe. It was notable for its pillaging of a section of European real estate in order to try out new war technologies. Franco fascists were not armed with Mussolini's planes for nothing. Hitler and friends watched with avid interest as the peoples were subjugated. Technology, not ideology, proved the winning variable in this situation.

In the novel, idealism and realism collide. Pablo, the local leader of a small guerilla band of anti-fascists, represents one shade of realism. Pilar, his wife, epitomizes another. Robert Jordan, the American teacher who has joined the war effort, is the idealist.

What really happened in Spain has still not fully been understood. The events of that time were significant, though soon lost in the shadows and mists of the world war that followed. Orwell lost his faith in communist socialism as a result of things he saw. Others were appalled by fascism's jackboot horrors. Picasso was inspired by the destruction of a town called Guernica to paint his famous statement decrying the brutality of this kind of "total war," which the U.S. continued to carry out in Viet Nam, and which we see daily now in the current tragedy called Gaza.

What follows here is an excerpt from one of Michael Mazza's reviews at amazon.com. I find reading reviews to be a mentally stimulating exercise. Movie reviews at imdb.com and the Amazon reviews are frequently cogent, insightful offerings from people who are thinking at least a little beneath the surface of things. For intellectually stimulating debate read the comments at the end of articles at a site called Unherd. 

"Hemingway offers a grim and graphic look at the brutality of 20th century warfare. War is not glamorized or sanitized, and atrocities are described in unflinching detail. The characters explore the ethics of killing in war. As the story progresses, Hemingway skillfully peels back the layers of Jordan and other characters to reveal their psychological wounds. But the book is not all about pain and violence. In the midst of war Hemingway finds the joy and beauty that keep his characters going. He also incorporates storytelling as a powerful motif in the book; his characters share stories with each other, recall missing untold stories, or resist a story too hard to bear."

In short, Hemingway laces the personal stories into the larger story, thereby making the whole more intimate and memorable. 

Storytelling has connections with so many facets of society today. Genealogists are no longer satisfied with identifying the roots of their family tree. They dig for stories about their ancestors. In marketing, ad agencies push companies to not simply promote the brand, but to showcase your "brand story." In selling, you're missiong the boat if you don't use storytelling to make the sale. In politics, "feel good" sound bytes are used to make candidates appear more human and caring. 

In Gaza, efforts are being made to get the stories out that will energize the world to take action. Israel uses stories from the horror of October 7--and resurrected Holocaust narratives--to justify the brutality of its response.

When the tragedy of this current war in the Middle East is over, I'm certain there will be new stories told for years to come.