Ernest Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was originally published in 1940 and follows a young American guerrilla fighter. Throughout 1937 and 1938, Hemingway travelled between Spain and America promoting the Loyalist cause. He helped in the production of a short film about the effects of the war in Spain on its people, The Spanish Earth, and made many publicity and fund-raising appearances. His play, the three-act The Fifth Colum, was published in 1938 together with a collection of previously published short stories. The play did not present the horrors of the civil war as successfully as seven short stories were written during this period: The Denunciation, The Butterfly and the Tank, The Night Before the Battle, Old Man at the Bridge, Nobody Ever Dies, Under the Ridge, and Landscape with Figures. Elements of each of these splendid portraits of human dignity and courage enter into Hemingway's fourth novel, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Jordan is an American who had lived in Spain during the pre-war period and fights as an irregular soldier for the Republic against Francisco Franco's fascist forces. An experienced dynamiter, he is ordered by a Russian general to travel behind enemy lines and destroy a bridge with the aid of a band of local anti-fascist guerrillas, in order to prevent enemy troops from responding to an upcoming offensive. You can listen online to free English audiobook “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Ernest Hemingway on our website.
