2018 Ernest Hemingway Seminar 

 "A Farewell to Arms: Hemingway and WWI" 

In the waning months of the centennial commemoration of World War I–and in a time when warfare’s scope and strategies, but not its devastation, have changed dramatically– A Farewell to Arms will serve as the centerpiece of The Community Library’s 2018 Ernest Hemingway Seminar, September 6-8, 2018. The novel drew upon Hemingway’s own experiences in the war, and it became his first bestseller, confirming the tone of his career. Over the course of the seminar, we will consider the historical context of World War I and Hemingway’s experience in it, and we also will look closely at this enduring novel.

Thursday, September 6

5:00-6:00 p.m. Opening Reception, registration and light refreshments

6:00-7:30 p.m. "Hemingway’s Greatest Love Story: A Farewell to Arms"

by Suzanne del Gizzo, Associate Professor of English, Chestnut Hill College and Editor of the Hemingway Review.

A Farewell to Arms delivered on the promise of Ernest Hemingway’s early work and secured his place as a great American writer. Pulling from biographical context (Hemingway’s experience in love and war and its aftermath) as well as the publication and reception history of A Farewell to Arms, Suzanne del Gizzo explains the significance of the novel for Hemingway personally and professionally.

Friday, September 7

10:00 a.m.-Noon Boise State University Panel Discussion on historical and literary aspects of World War I

Noon-2:00 p.m. Lunch on your own

2:00-3:30 p.m. A Farewell to Arms book discussion groups

3:45-5:15 p.m. “Teaching A Farewell to Arms in a War Literature Course”

by Alex Vernon, Julia Mobley Odyssey Professor of English, Hendrix College

7:00-9:30 p.m. A Screening of All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.

Popcorn and light refreshments will be served.

Saturday, September 8

10:00-11:00 a.m. Regional History presentation and archive tour

11:00 a.m.-Noon Ernest Hemingway and Sheridan, Wyoming. Come and learn about Hemingway’s 1928 trip to Sheridan, Wyoming, a place he escaped to in order to finish A Farewell to Arms.

Noon-2:00 p.m. Lunch on your own

2:00-4:00 p.m. "Sensing an Ending: Hemingway's Difficult Farewell." by David Wyatt, Professor of English, University of Maryland

"Farewell is about the best word I know in English," Hemingway wrote to Arnold Gingrich in 1932. Hemingway liked endings, and was good at farewells. But when it came to saying good-bye to his second novel, he struggled with how to end it. The 47 variant endings printed at the back of the Hemingway Library Edition of A Farewell to Arms (2012) testify to the difficulty of this struggle. Seminar members are encouraged to defend one of these alternative endings as providing a better "farewell."

4:00-5:00 Closing reception with light refreshments

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