A Farewell to Arms: A Norton Critical Edition (Norton Critical Editions)

“In every line and movement of the book there is an extraordinary impression of reality that labels the Victorian shibboleths, truth, justice, honor, not so much adolescent as senile dodderings. Life grips us; we dance and we die.” –THE ENGLISH JOURNAL (1930) “I find it noble and beautiful. […] It presents you with the youthful will to live, opposed to the willingness to die and it comes out at last, though it is nowhere so phrased, to the feeling of disillusion. It is so easy to think disillusion. But Hemingway presents you with emotion of disillusion.” –B. H. LEHMAN, Bulletin of the American Library Association (1930) This Norton Critical Edition includes: The first edition of the novel (1929), accompanied by the alternative endings and list of titles. Marc K. Dudley’s engaging introduction and note on the text, as well as expert annotations to the novel. Two maps of the Italian front. Wide-ranging contextual selections, which include excerpts from Hemingway’s personal correspondence, his early writings, his literary and historical influences, and contemporary reviews. Modern critical essays that explore the novel’s central themes. A chronology of Hemingway’s life and a selected bibliography.