August 11th 1940 Hemingway interview for the NY Times that happened while he was writing his longest novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls" which was published that same year (1940)
Here is the link INTERVIEW and here is an excerpt on him talking about war. Its interesting how he thinks that the difficulty of of the decision is more important than the acutal choice...
He talked of his own job as a commander. He said that in his army regulations the first sentence was the seemingly meaningless one that roughly translated into "the first duty of the commander is to make decisions."
"It seems simple when you read it. You think, 'What is decision? Each day I decide what color shoes to wear, what to eat.' But decision, when the life or death of hundreds of men depend on your decision, that is much else. In Spain I was assigned, as you know, to hold a position. My cowardice told me to draw in my left flank so that if I failed I would be near the French border and the lives of thousands would be saved if we lost. My judgment said perhaps that is right but perhaps it would be better to turn my right flank, though if we lost we would be cut off from safety. That is a decision that hurts all through your body; you cannot sleep, you ache. There is nothing more difficult in life."
"Which flank did you turn?"
"My right flank. But that is not important. The decision is important."
"Do you suppose all commanders feel that way? Did Napoleon?"
"Napoleon was a victor. When you are a victor, what can hurt you? But when you must fight a long defensive action with no chance of winning, only of holding the enemy off, then with every decision you are in hell," said Duran.
"You ache with wanting--but what you want cannot quite be reached. It is like my sitting in this chair wanting to rip that necktie from your neck. I reach, I almost seize it. It is just beyond my hand. Always in war there are possibilities plain to be seen, but materials are lacking, the men fail, a mistake is made somewhere along the line--and frustration eats your stomach."
It is interesting to see the interview because you actually get Hemingway talking about his own work as opposed to when we are reading his books. In class, we still get his own words, but this is like he is actually telling us
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