Hemingway, The KGB Spy? Archives Show Agent 'Argo' Was Willing Recruit

Guardian:

Up till now, this has been a notably cheerful year for admirers of Ernest Hemingway -- a surprisingly diverse set of people who range from Michael Palin to Elmore Leonard. Almost every month has brought good news: a planned Hemingway biopic; a new, improved version of his memoir, A Moveable Feast; the opening of a digital archive of papers found in his Cuban home; progress on a movie of Islands in the Stream.

Last week, however, saw the publication of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (Yale University Press), which reveals the Nobel prize-winning novelist was for a while on the KGB's list of its agents in America. Co-written by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, the book is based on notes that Vassiliev, a former KGB officer, made when he was given access in the 90s to Stalin-era intelligence archives in Moscow.

Read the whole story: Guardian

Comments

[Zapatista]

= The most brilliant author of the last few centuries ...

this only confirms that intellect usually leads one to Marxism.

[Kanuk1]

hey, everybody knew the clown was a closet commie - no news here!

[rf dude]

Yeah, right.

He was selling fishing-hole locations and hangover recipes to the Rooskies...
--

[glockman]

Hemingway was never the man he pretended to be. He was no good at boxing, he got his a*& kicked repeatedly, and he wasn't much of a lover.

But he commanded the stichomythic narrative better than any writer ever has. I strain to emulate his writing style in my own, but usually fail miserably.

[Zapatista]

'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is still the greatest novel of all time.

+ Hemingway competed on the same boat in a fishing competition against Fidel Castro & Che Guevara, which to me only makes him more awesome.

[Steamboater]

What's awesome s, in fcat downright ridiculous, that you find Castro and Che awsome. I have no love for the Batistas of CCuba but those Castro has exuted and thrown in prison for speaking out against him or for less would hardly agree with you, and neither would anyone who believes in free elections.

[CigarGod]

Hard not to respect the efforts of people who defeated Batista and have kept the USA and the exiled Batista's at bay...all these years.

I always try to put my feet in Castro's shoes and imagine the challenges he faced holding his country together...while trying to hold to his ideals.

[Zapatista]

Castro has done what is necessary to defend his nation from the constant bombardment of the world's sole superpower.

Uncle Sam in Miami has been harboring terrorists, assassins, and killers like Luis Posada Carriles ("South America's Bin Laden" who blew up Cubana Flight 455 in 1976), Orlando Bosch (his partner in crime), Felix Rodriguez (point man for Oliver North in Iran/Contra, trained central American death squads, ordered execution of Che Guevara), Alpha 66 (= Gusano Al Qaeda), Brigade 2506, etc

This U.$. backed & harbored ‘Latino-Hezballah’ of South Florida terrorizes Cuba, blows up hotel lobbies, hijacks ferries and planes, strafes Cuban beaches with gun fire, drops poisonous pathogens on Cuban crops, poisons Cuban water supplies, etc. Then they have the chutzpah to bash Fidel for jailing their lackeys on the island.

[Harold Stone]

I've heard they are retitling it "Who Does the Bell Ring For?" to appeal to younger readers.

[newworldman777]

I wouldn't be surprised. When you include the word "whom" in the title of anything, you can rest assured that you have repulsed a vast majority of potential American readers.

[mountainweb]

Considering the source and how long they have been dead, this is unsupported speculation and may be like accusing the pope of being a spy, great for selling a book but worthless in the face of history....

[hypnus]

The KGB probably tried to recruit Ernie in a Havana bar where he was already smashed and would gladly entertain your thoughts as long as you were buying. He awoke in the morning, on the floor, in his underwear, wearing a Ushanka and could remember nothing of the night before.

[Weirdwriter]

It was good. It was sweet. It was a fine, fine post. Fanned.

[NewmanKitten]

I don't think it hurts his reputation at all. I mean, it's Hemingway - he did many things for the sake of literary credibility. He could never have written what he did if it hadn't been for some of the nutball things he did.

[levibatgirl]

Now shortbus will have to find another cigar smoking,animal hunting, bullfight watching ultra macho acting hero.

I guess he's stuck with palin.

[Gwen R]

He didn't pass on any information. I'll just assume he was drunk when they asked. He slapped on them on the back, said "Sure, 'comrade', whatever." and then couldn't be bothered to actually pass on any info. I also wonder if the US has any record of him as a counter-agent, passing Soviet questions back to the feds. Yes, we were allied with the Soviets, but we all know that our allies are often "the enemy of my enemy" and not necessarily friends. Hemingway wasn't a saint, but he was a soldier, and I can't imagine him giving them information that would hurt us or put troops in harms way.

[truenortherner]

hate to be a nitpicker. He was an ambulance driver ... failed the medical.

[CigarGod]

My Grandparents were on friendly terms with him and his crowd in Idaho.
They hunted together, ate together.
They were not in awe of him...but kind of were of Gary Cooper.
My folks were very proper and would not have associated with him if he had not been a gentleman in their company.

Just a little second hand info that seems at odds with some of the opinions here.

I loved his books as a kid, but not so much anymore.

[gurukalehuru]

First, in 1941, the U.S. was allied with Russia.
2nd, at the same time, he was doing what he could as an old man with a fishing boat to locate German U-boats.
3rd, Hemingway's reputation, and his importance to the world, is as a great writer, not as Mother Teresa.
4th, Who are you people who come on here and say he wasn't a great writer? I only wish I could write half as well.

[CigarGod]

Have a cigar!

[ZenCrusader]

Hemmingway = the most overrated writer of that American century.

[NevaforLeadership]

Totally agree.

Also, anyone who has read about Hemmingway's life will not be surprised by this revelation.

He was also nasty and arrogant. Very mean to Scott Fitzgerald, who was a far superior writer.

[thebirdstheword]

how can either of you critique literature if you can't even spell his name correctly?

i could understand if it was a difficult or obscure name, but come on.

[truenortherner]

Please, Fitzgerald was a panty-waste effete carpetbagger from the City. he deserved Papa's scorn.

[RoloTomassi]

That's a far bigger problem, IMO, of your critique; judging any artist by their life and not their work is inappropriate.

Critiques not based on the work alone are valueless.

[weebils]

I keep saying this over and over. The Old man and The Sea was torture. Even movie versions of his writing stink. I can never understand the fascination with this guy.

[gurukalehuru]

Saying it over and over doesn't make it true. The fact that you didn't like "The Old Man and the Sea," says as much about you as it does about Hemingway.

[gorgol]

OH PAPA!!! Say it ain't so!!!! Ernest, if you had lived for a later generation, you could have joined the Bush administration and thus become a traitor to this country and probably gotten a medal for it....such is life.

[SaulBloodworth]

He was not a traitor. The U.S. was allied with the Soviet Union in the 1940s.

Franco‘s Spain was part of the Axis powers.

[kfdan]

The author of this drivel needs to remember ... Hemingway was a true romantic. It's not difficult to see him marching into the nest of intrigue during the war and after for the sheer joy of the illusion of adventure. He probably got tired of baiting the Russians ... after all, can one really stand the Stalinist mind set?

[ZenCrusader]

I disagree - Hemmingway was one of most insensitive men who ever picked up a pen - a true romantic ? far from it. He was a cold calculating and selfish man - it was the image he projected and the myths that rose around him that elevated his status - his prose often rings hollow and without an echo or romance.

[kfdan]

Get back to the books ... Old Man of the Sea ... I think that's the title ... is one of the greatest stories and it's well written. The guy was good.

[kfdan]

... or 'White Hills like Elephants' - short and sweet. Don't sell this guy short just because he was a hard-arse!

[thebirdstheword]

simple prose is often the most difficult to write. flowery, convoluted writing is much easier.