[Gocamino] The Camino, Ernest Hemingway and Banned Books

[Grant Spangler]

The Camino, Ernest Hemingway and Banned Books

Ernest Hemingway put Pamplona on the map with his description of El Encierro, the running of the bulls, as a part of the San Fermines festival. He and a friend went fly fishing in the Pyrenees and lodged at the Hostal Burguete for 15 pesetas per day. You can still stay there, but for a bit more than 15 pesetas. They were closed when we walked by in January, but then, many places on the Path close for the winter. Here’s some Camino that Papa John wove into his stay in Burguete.

A selection from “The Sun Also Rises”:

We paid for the message and walked back to the inn. Harris was there and the three of us walked up to Roncesvalles. We went through the monastery. "It's a remarkable place," Harris said, when we came out. "But you know I'm not much on those sort of places." "Me either," Bill said. "It's a remarkable place, though," Harris said. "I wouldn't not have seen it. I'd been intending coming up each day." "It isn't the same as fishing, though, is it?" Bill asked. He liked Harris. "I say not." We were standing in front of the old chapel of the monastery. "Isn't that a pub across the way?" Harris asked. "Or do my eyes deceive me?" "It has the look of a pub," Bill said. "It looks to me like a pub," I said. "I say," said Harris, "let's utilize it." He had taken up utilizing from Bill. We had a bottle of wine apiece. Harris would not let us pay. He talked Spanish quite well, and the innkeeper would not take our money. "I say. You don't know what it's meant to me to have you chaps up here." "We've had a grand time, Harris." Harris was a little tight. "I say. Really you don't know how much it means. I've not had much fun since the war." "We'll fish together again, some time. Don't you forget it, Harris." "We must. We have had such a jolly good time." "How about another bottle around?" "Jolly good idea," said Harris. "This is mine," said Bill. "Or we don't drink it." "I wish you'd let me pay for it. It does give me pleasure, you know." "This is going to give me pleasure," Bill said. The innkeeper brought in the fourth bottle. We had kept the same glasses. Harris lifted his glass. "I say. You know this does utilize well." Bill slapped him on the back. "Good old Harris." "I say. You know my name isn't really Harris. It's Wilson Harris. All one name. With a hyphen, you know." "Good old Wilson-Harris," Bill said. "We call you Harris because we're so fond of you." "I say, Barnes. You don't know what this all means to me." "Come on and utilize another glass," I said. "Barnes. Really, Barnes, you can't know. That's all." "Drink up, Har
ris." We walked back down the road from Roncesvalles with Harris between us. We had lunch at the inn and Harris went with us to the bus. He gave us his card, with his address in London and his club and his business address, and as we got on the bus he handed us each an envelope. I opened mine and there were a dozen flies in it. Harris had tied them himself. He tied all his own flies.

Now for the news. The American Library Association has a listing of banned books. Hemingway has three books on that list: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Other racy authors like JD Salinger, John Steinbeck, and Benjamin Franklin make the list as well. Here are the notes on the three Hemingway pieces. 

The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
Banned in Boston, MA (1930), Ireland (1953), Riverside, CA (1960), San Jose, CA (1960). Burned in Nazi bonfires (1933).

A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
The June 1929 issue of Scribner's Magazine, which ran Hemingway's novel, was banned in Boston, MA (1929). Banned in Italy (1929) because of its painfully accurate account of the Italian retreat from Caporetto, Italy; banned in Ireland (1939); challenged at the Dallas, TX Independent School District high school libraries (1974); challenges at the Vernon-Verona-Sherill, NY School District (1980) as a "sex novel”; burned by the Nazis in Germany (1933).

For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway
Declared non-mailable by the U.S. Post Office (1940). On Feb. 21, 1973, eleven Turkish book publishers went on trial before an Istanbul martial law tribunal on charges of publishing, possessing, and selling books in violation of an order of the Istanbul martial law command. They faced possible sentences of between one month's and six months’ imprisonment "for spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state" and the confiscation of their books. Eight booksellers also were on trial with the publishers on the same charge involving For Whom the Bell Tolls. 

Some otherwise civilized places (OK .. Riverside, CA may be pushing it) have bought into the ban. It’s Banned Books Week September 25 – October 2. Be a rebel. Go read a banned book. 

Web Source: 

Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century

http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned/index.cfm

 
Buen Camino,

Grant

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