THE NEW EDITION OF TOROS & TORSOS ORDERING INFORMATION BELOW |
In T&T, Hector has gone to Spain as a favor to Pauline
Hemingway — agreeing to watch over a sometimes erratic Ernest, while at the
same time doing what he can to contain Hem’s growing preoccupation with
journalist Martha Gellhorn, the woman destined to become the third of four Mrs.
Hemingways.
For his part, Ernest was participating in the filming of the
propaganda/fundraising documentary The Spanish Earth, which Hem would
eventually personally screen for FDR.
IN SPAIN, BEFORE THE BREAK: DOS PASSOS (far left), HEMINGWAY (far right) |
John Dos Passos was searching Spain for his missing friend and
translator José Robles — a quest that would eventually result in the destruction
of the longtime Hemingway/Dos Passos friendship.
That rupture is vividly
explored at length in Stephen Koch’s gripping The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos and the Murder of José Robles.
Toros & Torsos finds Hector in the
crossfire of the Hemingway/Dos Passos feud, and, eventually, he risks becoming one of the Spanish Civil War “disappeareds” — like Robles — when Hector
receives what madrileños called the “Knock of Death.”In other words, a late-night visit from the Spanish secret police, a visit that typically ended in arrest, torture, and frequently, summary execution.
A snippet of The Spanish Earth:
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