Hemingway, Ernest

Typed letter signed ("Ernest Hemingway | Hotel Ambos Mundos | Havana—Cuba") in pencil, 1 page (13 x 8 3/8 in.; 328 x 214 mm), Havana, 24 December [1941], to Ben Weissman, with original typed envelope; envelope worn.

Typed letter signed ("Ernest Hemingway | Hotel Ambos Mundos | Havana—Cuba") in pencil, 1 page (13 x 8 3/8 in.; 328 x 214 mm), Havana, 24 December [1941], to Ben Weissman, with original typed envelope; envelope worn.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

"In the end I think the writing straight will be the most valuable thing I can do": a pugnacious Papa defends For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway here responds to a young admirer who had evidently taken exception to his portrayal in the novel of André Marty, the Secretary of Comintern from 1935 to 1944 and Political Commissar of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1938. 

"Marty was that way all right as many who knew him well would tell you. He was also many other ways but that is a good picture of the bad way he was. It is not a typical picture of a commissar. I wrote an introduction to Gustav Regler's book The Great Crusade. Regler was a wonderful Commissar. ... Marty was the way I say he was and did great harm. But he is a symbol and so cannot be criticized." Gustav Regler who was the political commissar of the XII International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War, published The Great Crusade, a novel about his experiences in the Spanish Civil War in 1940, the same year For Whom the Bell Tolls appeared. Hemingway provided an introduction for the book, which was translated into English by Whittaker Chambers.

Hemingway continues to explain why his novel is, in his view at least, beyond criticism. "The book is a straight book and I think it might have been praised by those reviewers if there had been no Marty chapter. My own politics are exactly the same as they were in Spain. As a writer, after the war is over (temporarily there) I have to write things as I see them if we are to profit from our mistakes."

In the concluding paragraph, Hemingway discusses his credo of not mixing politics with his writing. "I am glad you liked the book and also To Have and Have Not. They were both as straight as I could make them. If I belon[g]ed to any party I could perhaps be more useful and better loved, but I could not write as straight and in the end I think the writing straight will be the most valuable thing I can do. I will do any thing in the world to further something I believe in. But in writing I will only tell the truth. Each man only tells it as he sees it."