This Month in History (1929): A Farewell to Arms published

First posted 11/11/2025.

A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway

First Publication: May to October 1929 in Scribner’s magazine Category: semi-autobiographical war novel Sales: ?

Accolades:

About the Book: Written when he was thirty years old, Hemingway’s semi-autobiographical novel is a “gripping…work [which] captures the harsh realities of war and the pain of lovers caught in its inexorable sweep.” AZ “The title is taken from a poem by the 16th-century English dramatist George Peele.” WK It has been “lauded as the best American novel to emerge from World War I.” AZ The story is “set during the Italian campaign of World War I.” WK “It is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant…in the ambulance corps of the Italian Army.” WK The novel also “describes a love affair between the expatriate Henry and an English nurse, Catherine Barkley.” WK The story also explores “the profound struggle between loyalty and desertion” AZ as “weary, demoralized men march…in the rain during the German attack on Caporetto.” WK “The novel has been adapted a number of times, initially for the stage in 1930; as a film in 1932 and again in 1957, and as a three-part television miniseries in 1966. The 1996 film In Love and War, directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Chris O’Donnell and Sandra Bullock, depicts Hemingway’s life in Italy as an ambulance driver in the events prior to his writing of A Farewell to Arms.” WK Resources and Related Links: AZ Amazon WK Wikipedia