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The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of José Robles
When Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos, the new literary voices of America, traveled to Spain together during the Spanish Civil War, their relationship and rivalry reached a critical point after the murder of a close friend who was accused as a spy. 25,000 first printing.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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182 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Koch
23 books79 followersStephen Koch is the author of The Modern Library Writer’s Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of Fiction; The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of José Robles; Double Lives: Spies and Writers in the Secret Soviet War of Ideas Against the West; and other books. He previously taught creative writing at Columbia and Princeton universities for nearly twenty years.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
April 19, 2015
In 1937, American novelists John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway, who became friends in Paris in the 1920s, went to Spain for first hand experience of the Spanish Civil War. What happened in Spain ended their friendship.
Dos Passos was a supporter of the radical left and was committed to the Spanish Republican cause. Hemingway had no particular interest in Spanish (or any other) politics, but he was interested in adventure and being in a war zone meant that there would be adventure.
Dos Passos' friend, José Robles Pazos, was a left wing Spanish academic who had taught at John Hopkins University. At the outbreak of war, he was on vacation in Spain and became actively involved on the Republican side. Robles disappeared in early 1937. Hemingway believed the story that Robles was shot as a Fascist spy, a story put about by the emissaries of the Soviet government, which was gaining increasing control over the Republican forces. Dos Passos didn't believe this story for a moment. Hemingway was wrong and Dos Passos was right: there is no evidence that Robles was a spy and Stalinists undoubtedly murdered him. Their differing views about this incident not only ended Hemingway and Dos Passos' friendship, but also led to Dos Passos breaking with left wing politics.
I was familiar with the bare bones of the story from reading Kenneth L Lynn's biography of Hemingway. This work adds flesh to the bones, so from that point of view it was worth reading. However, the writing style didn't work for me. The subject matter calls for a serious, sober, well-researched approach to the events it describes, but Koch seemed to be going for the feel of a thriller. While the story is something of a real life thriller, the fact that it was written in that way repeatedly took me out of the narrative. As a consequence, I found myself doubting the accuracy of Koch’s account – or rather, the accuracy of some of its details - as I rolled my eyes when encountering yet another literary flourish.
This is not a book for general consumption. Nor, I think, would it be of interest to a serious scholar of the Spanish Civil War. To get anything out of it, you have to have an interest in the lives of its main protagonists and an ability to overlook its stylistic deficiencies. I’m less interested in the details of the war itself and more interested in the involvement in it of writers such as Dos Passos, Hemingway and Orwell, so I’ll continue to look out for suitable works covering that aspect of the war. In this regard, We Saw Spain Die has been brought to my attention. It's author, Paul Preston, appears to have some expertise in the subject matter. I look forward to a more fulfilling reading experience. For this work, 2.5 stars.
September 6, 2020
The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos and the Murder of Jose Robles by Stephen Koch
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
This is part of my “Red Decade” reading project, which is apparently growing out of my reading of Eugene Lyon’s “The Red Decade” and “Assignment in Utopia,” Bella Dodd’s “The School of Darkness,” Lionel Trilling’s “The End of the Journey,” and other books from and about the period. Actually, I received this book as a gift back in 2010 but never got around to reading it until just now.
As an insider’s look into the culture of the left during the Red Decade (the 1930s), this book is delightful. It is equally delightful in providing an overview of the lives of John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway and the literary world they inhabited. It is another book that startles me with the realization of how small the world is at some levels. In this book, for example, Dos Passos and Hemingway were friends in Paris in the 1920s when they were starting out as writers in the “Lost Generation.” Both had been ambulance drivers during World War I in different theaters. Eric Blair (George Orwell), who had been fighting for POUM in Catalonia, was staying at the same hotel in Barcelona, where Blair made a point of speaking to Dos Passos about Communist tactics and machinations in Spain.
This book follows Dos Passos and Hemingway from their early lives through the height of their fame in the Spanish Civil War to an epilogue that describes their eventual fates. Hemingway is the heavy in this book. Hemingway comes across as egotistical, shallow, cruel, and vicious, all of which may have been true. As I am writing this review, I am watching the Nicole Kidman/Clive Owens 2013 film “Hemingway and Gelhorn” with one eye. I am finding it difficult to watch this movie after having just finished “The Breaking Point” as every lie about Dos Passos is presented as true and Gelhorn’s self-serving fantasies are presented in her favor. It is as able a piece of propaganda as anything done to Dos Passos in Spain.
Jose Robles is set up as the fulcrum of this book. Robles was a Spaniard and a friend of both Hemingway (“Hem”) and Dos Passos (“Dos”) in the 1920s. Like Dos, Robles was a committed Leftist. As Dos climbed to the heights of literary and Leftist acclaim with his USA trilogy; Robles worked in America as a professor of Spanish at Columbia. When Franco’s rebellion was launched, Robles returned to Spain to take a role in the Republican (Leftist) government against the Nationalists (Rightist) forces. Robles was appointed to act as the liaison for the Soviet general leading Communist forces in Spain, where presumably he learned quite a bit about Soviet control over the Republican government.
This information seems to have made him a danger to the Communists. An extra-legal police force arrested and shot Robles with due process or acknowledgment of his murder.
Meanwhile, Dos Passos was being set up by Communist agents of influence to produce a propaganda film in Spain about the Republican cause. Hemingway was essentially apolitical but was brought along.
Author Stephen Koch is very good at explaining how the intricate relationship between Communist politics and the biographical development of his subjects. For example, at the same time that Dos Passos was being romanced to produce the film for the Spanish cause, Communism was rejecting modernism for “Socialist Realism.” Since Dos Passos was the model of modernistic literature, he fell out of favor with Communists and their fellow travelers, which explains his mistreatment in Spain.
In Spain, Dos Passos could not find his friend, Robles. His inquiries were met with inconsistent lies. His friends, including Hemingway and Josephine Herbst – who was a witness in HUAC hearings that tied Alger Hiss to Whittaker Chambers (Small world) – were told that Robles had been executed and they were told that the cover story was a lie that Robles had been executed as a fascist spy. Herbst lied and gaslit Dos Passos as a good Communist apparatchik and Hem took a malicious delight in presenting Dos as a coward who had a fascist friend.
Koch blames the ideology of the “Popular Front,” which was purely a Communist effort to subvert leftists to the service of Communism. Communists followed orders; fellow travelers followed the party line. Hemingway followed some kind malicious drive to power over his rivals, including his friend Dos, when egged on by Spanish officials appealing to his vanity.
The chief virtue of this book was to expose the deceit of the Red Decade. Koch illustrates how Spain was simply a tool for Russian interests. Stalin was hoping to start a war between Germany and the West in Spain while not ramping up a hostility between Germany and Russia that would stand in the way of a German-Russian Peace Treaty. In fact, Stalin never wanted the Republicans to win. All of the Spaniards who died on both sides of the war, all of the soldiers of the International Brigades who were killed, all of the leftists who donated time and money to the Republican cause were fools duped by Stalin. Stalin liquidated the Popular Front when he had his deal with Hitler, withdrew the International Brigades, and executed the Russian heroes of the Spanish Civil War. Kortsev, a Russian propagandist who was Stalin’s contact in Spain, was called back to Moscow, given a medal for a job well done, and, then, shot the next day. The general who Robles worked for met a similar fate.
The Republican side of the Spanish Civil War is often the only side we hear about, and that side is told through the romantic lens of leftists for whom it was their defining fight against fascism. The modern trope of “Antifa” grows out of the Popular Front movement of the 1930s, but we should never forget that “Antifa” was only popular as long as the Communists wanted to use “Antifa” as a slogan to increase their power. Once they had milked it for all it was worth, they became very much pro-Fascist and the “Antifa” slogan was dropped like moldy bread.
This book is also very good as an introduction to the writings of Hem and Dos. It situates their novels – many of which contained autobiographical elements – within their time and lives. Koch explains the relationship between Hem’s strategic infidelities and his need for a muse to nurture his gift.
The story is well-told and moves the reader along. Koch has an informal style at times, which can be jarring, and yet does help to provide an electrical jolt of energy. I found the book quite enjoyable.
Please give my Amazon review a helpful vote - https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
This is part of my “Red Decade” reading project, which is apparently growing out of my reading of Eugene Lyon’s “The Red Decade” and “Assignment in Utopia,” Bella Dodd’s “The School of Darkness,” Lionel Trilling’s “The End of the Journey,” and other books from and about the period. Actually, I received this book as a gift back in 2010 but never got around to reading it until just now.
As an insider’s look into the culture of the left during the Red Decade (the 1930s), this book is delightful. It is equally delightful in providing an overview of the lives of John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway and the literary world they inhabited. It is another book that startles me with the realization of how small the world is at some levels. In this book, for example, Dos Passos and Hemingway were friends in Paris in the 1920s when they were starting out as writers in the “Lost Generation.” Both had been ambulance drivers during World War I in different theaters. Eric Blair (George Orwell), who had been fighting for POUM in Catalonia, was staying at the same hotel in Barcelona, where Blair made a point of speaking to Dos Passos about Communist tactics and machinations in Spain.
This book follows Dos Passos and Hemingway from their early lives through the height of their fame in the Spanish Civil War to an epilogue that describes their eventual fates. Hemingway is the heavy in this book. Hemingway comes across as egotistical, shallow, cruel, and vicious, all of which may have been true. As I am writing this review, I am watching the Nicole Kidman/Clive Owens 2013 film “Hemingway and Gelhorn” with one eye. I am finding it difficult to watch this movie after having just finished “The Breaking Point” as every lie about Dos Passos is presented as true and Gelhorn’s self-serving fantasies are presented in her favor. It is as able a piece of propaganda as anything done to Dos Passos in Spain.
Jose Robles is set up as the fulcrum of this book. Robles was a Spaniard and a friend of both Hemingway (“Hem”) and Dos Passos (“Dos”) in the 1920s. Like Dos, Robles was a committed Leftist. As Dos climbed to the heights of literary and Leftist acclaim with his USA trilogy; Robles worked in America as a professor of Spanish at Columbia. When Franco’s rebellion was launched, Robles returned to Spain to take a role in the Republican (Leftist) government against the Nationalists (Rightist) forces. Robles was appointed to act as the liaison for the Soviet general leading Communist forces in Spain, where presumably he learned quite a bit about Soviet control over the Republican government.
This information seems to have made him a danger to the Communists. An extra-legal police force arrested and shot Robles with due process or acknowledgment of his murder.
Meanwhile, Dos Passos was being set up by Communist agents of influence to produce a propaganda film in Spain about the Republican cause. Hemingway was essentially apolitical but was brought along.
Author Stephen Koch is very good at explaining how the intricate relationship between Communist politics and the biographical development of his subjects. For example, at the same time that Dos Passos was being romanced to produce the film for the Spanish cause, Communism was rejecting modernism for “Socialist Realism.” Since Dos Passos was the model of modernistic literature, he fell out of favor with Communists and their fellow travelers, which explains his mistreatment in Spain.
In Spain, Dos Passos could not find his friend, Robles. His inquiries were met with inconsistent lies. His friends, including Hemingway and Josephine Herbst – who was a witness in HUAC hearings that tied Alger Hiss to Whittaker Chambers (Small world) – were told that Robles had been executed and they were told that the cover story was a lie that Robles had been executed as a fascist spy. Herbst lied and gaslit Dos Passos as a good Communist apparatchik and Hem took a malicious delight in presenting Dos as a coward who had a fascist friend.
Koch blames the ideology of the “Popular Front,” which was purely a Communist effort to subvert leftists to the service of Communism. Communists followed orders; fellow travelers followed the party line. Hemingway followed some kind malicious drive to power over his rivals, including his friend Dos, when egged on by Spanish officials appealing to his vanity.
The chief virtue of this book was to expose the deceit of the Red Decade. Koch illustrates how Spain was simply a tool for Russian interests. Stalin was hoping to start a war between Germany and the West in Spain while not ramping up a hostility between Germany and Russia that would stand in the way of a German-Russian Peace Treaty. In fact, Stalin never wanted the Republicans to win. All of the Spaniards who died on both sides of the war, all of the soldiers of the International Brigades who were killed, all of the leftists who donated time and money to the Republican cause were fools duped by Stalin. Stalin liquidated the Popular Front when he had his deal with Hitler, withdrew the International Brigades, and executed the Russian heroes of the Spanish Civil War. Kortsev, a Russian propagandist who was Stalin’s contact in Spain, was called back to Moscow, given a medal for a job well done, and, then, shot the next day. The general who Robles worked for met a similar fate.
The Republican side of the Spanish Civil War is often the only side we hear about, and that side is told through the romantic lens of leftists for whom it was their defining fight against fascism. The modern trope of “Antifa” grows out of the Popular Front movement of the 1930s, but we should never forget that “Antifa” was only popular as long as the Communists wanted to use “Antifa” as a slogan to increase their power. Once they had milked it for all it was worth, they became very much pro-Fascist and the “Antifa” slogan was dropped like moldy bread.
This book is also very good as an introduction to the writings of Hem and Dos. It situates their novels – many of which contained autobiographical elements – within their time and lives. Koch explains the relationship between Hem’s strategic infidelities and his need for a muse to nurture his gift.
The story is well-told and moves the reader along. Koch has an informal style at times, which can be jarring, and yet does help to provide an electrical jolt of energy. I found the book quite enjoyable.
May 12, 2008
* The Spanish Civil War and the leftist learnings of many 1930s artists are central to the story of the disintegration of the friendship of Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos.
A test: Which of these men have you heard of?
* Ernest Hemingway? You kidding? Of course. Read his books and many of his short stories. About the best writer the 20th century produced.
* John Dos Passos? Well, yeah, sort of. A writer, sure. Never read any of his stuff.
* Jose Robles? Sorry. Never heard of him.
Those three come together, sort of, in an odd but interesting story of the 1930s' major literary lights by Stephen Koch titled The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles.
Hemingway and Dos Passos in the middle of the 1930 were America's two leading novelists. They were close friends and supporters of the left-wing Popular Front, a Soviet-backed organization of writers and artists. The major battle of the forces of the left against the fascists came during the Spanish Civil War, but with the mix of internal Spanish politics and Soviet meddling, nothing in this tale is simple. The story revolves around the dissipation of the friendship between Hemingway and Dos Passos. That occurred for a number of reasons, including Hemingway's paranoia and his role in spreading the rumor that Jose Robles -- Dos Passos' friend -- was executed by the Spanish government because he was a fascist spy.
Koch has carefully researched this tale of Depression era radical chic. He includes many interesting sidelights, such as the development of the relationship between Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, the noted journalist who would become Hemingway's third wife. (Gellhorn is about to be honored by the U.S. Postal Service.) Hemingway is clearly the villain, and Dos Passos is the good guy in Koch's view, and it's hard to disagree with him.
One of the over-arching lessons of this book is how extensively the Communist and leftist movement gripped many of the nation's leading authors and artists in the 1930. This hold led many of them to ignore Stalin's atrocities until it was too late, and they too had blood on their hands as Uncle Joe's apologists.
If you are interested in any of these issues, this is an excellent book.
Highly recommended.
A test: Which of these men have you heard of?
* Ernest Hemingway? You kidding? Of course. Read his books and many of his short stories. About the best writer the 20th century produced.
* John Dos Passos? Well, yeah, sort of. A writer, sure. Never read any of his stuff.
* Jose Robles? Sorry. Never heard of him.
Those three come together, sort of, in an odd but interesting story of the 1930s' major literary lights by Stephen Koch titled The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles.
Hemingway and Dos Passos in the middle of the 1930 were America's two leading novelists. They were close friends and supporters of the left-wing Popular Front, a Soviet-backed organization of writers and artists. The major battle of the forces of the left against the fascists came during the Spanish Civil War, but with the mix of internal Spanish politics and Soviet meddling, nothing in this tale is simple. The story revolves around the dissipation of the friendship between Hemingway and Dos Passos. That occurred for a number of reasons, including Hemingway's paranoia and his role in spreading the rumor that Jose Robles -- Dos Passos' friend -- was executed by the Spanish government because he was a fascist spy.
Koch has carefully researched this tale of Depression era radical chic. He includes many interesting sidelights, such as the development of the relationship between Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, the noted journalist who would become Hemingway's third wife. (Gellhorn is about to be honored by the U.S. Postal Service.) Hemingway is clearly the villain, and Dos Passos is the good guy in Koch's view, and it's hard to disagree with him.
One of the over-arching lessons of this book is how extensively the Communist and leftist movement gripped many of the nation's leading authors and artists in the 1930. This hold led many of them to ignore Stalin's atrocities until it was too late, and they too had blood on their hands as Uncle Joe's apologists.
If you are interested in any of these issues, this is an excellent book.
Highly recommended.
December 14, 2009
Interesting book. I knew something about the period so it was not a surprise. I have always thought Dos Passos was a better writer than Hemingway, and is undeservedly forgotten. The book was entertaining and provided some new perspective. There is some explanation here as to why Dos Passos' writing seems to fade after his period in Spain, and why Hemingway's writing flourished. Oddly though, I assumed I would continue to dislike Hemingway as a person apart from his writing, but in the end the book only made me feel sorry for him, as if he both squandered his talent as he destroyed others. But aside from any knowledge of the works of the actual authors, the story was interesting on its own, if not also maddening as it portrays many of the less savory aspects of human behavior.
November 30, 2019
Una gran obra de divulgación sobre los niveles de abyección que pueden llegar a haber en un régimen totalitario. Si no fueran dos personajes archiconocidos (Hemingway y Dos Passos), podría llegar uno a pensar que es un relato exagerado. Pero no, es una obra muy cuidada en sus fuentes y ambientes históricos. A un norteamericano como Stephen Koch, después de su magna obra "La edad de la inocencia", le resulta irresistible indagar en la traición de los intelectuales a la civilización occidental (eso es el comunismo en mi opinión) si esa traición la ejecutan los dos escritores más famosos de su país. Lo logra con un gran trabajo y nos deja un mal sabor de boca a los que nos gusta Hemingway.
March 24, 2010
A book about John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway's falling out amidst and as a result of the the Spanish Civil War. This book has everything, art, friendship, betrayal, war. It's full of historical background about the Spanish Civil War which is one of the most fascinating parts of modern history. It's written like a novel and reads like a thriller. I picked this book up after reading Dos Passos' The 42nd Paralell. I had researched the author and was disappointed that he became a bit of a conservative in later life, when he one of the most important radical writers of his time. I feel like I got some answers, but even moreso, I read a fascinating book.
February 9, 2014
This book is absolutely important for people interested specially in the following topics: Spain, 20th century history, communism, literature (Dos Passos, Hemingway), politics, and modern history in general. It will be interesting to the general reader because it is written almost like a detective story; the author has done a tremendous work of investigation.
By the way, this new book follows up on Stephen Koch's previous work "Double Lives", which is, I believe, the "intellectual father" of this new book, since they are very related.
There is much to be amazed of, much to learn about, in this story. The role of the Soviet Commintern in world politics and its consequences in our social lives is something that I can't stop being amazed at. How they handled people, propaganda, ideas, deserves more attention from the people, so we taken in again.
There are three contending sides in this political/criminal story: the communists (aka Stalinists) and their servants (propagandists, artists, hit-men), the independents (non-Stalinist communists, anarchists, and other revolutionaries), and the vanity-fair people (rich, stupid, intellectual and irresponsible fellows who lent their names to one or the other side of the battle that caused the lives of many REAL working-class people. This book is a good incentive to pause and reflect upon the miseries that many irresponsible self-called intellectuals have caused on common folk. They never fought, they never risked their lives, but they helped to provoke (and still do) the wars and dictatorships of the 20th century immensely. From Marx (who never met a factory worker in his rascal life) to Picasso, Garcia Marquez, Hemingway, Dos Passos, Hammett, Orwell, even Einstein or Delano Roosevelt, were to some extent puppets in the hands of the soviet agenda.
Here we have the Stalinists (Commintern) killing thousands of anti-fascists and saying they were fascists, and at the same time having deals with the Nazis in Germany in order to share Europe between the two countries. And everybody believed it! But what this book is about is not so much the big picture, but the involvement of some of its most relevant artistic protagonists. We deal here with very personal and human stories.
Jesus was right, you mustn't hate your enemies, you must love them.If you go out looking for enemies, whether it is "the rich" or the "Jews", you may find him where you never thought: in your own side. Robles looked for enemies among the rich in Spain (ironically, he was one of them), took sides with those he thought were the "good" side against those he thought were the "fascist" side; well, he got his own awakening.
By the way, this new book follows up on Stephen Koch's previous work "Double Lives", which is, I believe, the "intellectual father" of this new book, since they are very related.
There is much to be amazed of, much to learn about, in this story. The role of the Soviet Commintern in world politics and its consequences in our social lives is something that I can't stop being amazed at. How they handled people, propaganda, ideas, deserves more attention from the people, so we taken in again.
There are three contending sides in this political/criminal story: the communists (aka Stalinists) and their servants (propagandists, artists, hit-men), the independents (non-Stalinist communists, anarchists, and other revolutionaries), and the vanity-fair people (rich, stupid, intellectual and irresponsible fellows who lent their names to one or the other side of the battle that caused the lives of many REAL working-class people. This book is a good incentive to pause and reflect upon the miseries that many irresponsible self-called intellectuals have caused on common folk. They never fought, they never risked their lives, but they helped to provoke (and still do) the wars and dictatorships of the 20th century immensely. From Marx (who never met a factory worker in his rascal life) to Picasso, Garcia Marquez, Hemingway, Dos Passos, Hammett, Orwell, even Einstein or Delano Roosevelt, were to some extent puppets in the hands of the soviet agenda.
Here we have the Stalinists (Commintern) killing thousands of anti-fascists and saying they were fascists, and at the same time having deals with the Nazis in Germany in order to share Europe between the two countries. And everybody believed it! But what this book is about is not so much the big picture, but the involvement of some of its most relevant artistic protagonists. We deal here with very personal and human stories.
Jesus was right, you mustn't hate your enemies, you must love them.If you go out looking for enemies, whether it is "the rich" or the "Jews", you may find him where you never thought: in your own side. Robles looked for enemies among the rich in Spain (ironically, he was one of them), took sides with those he thought were the "good" side against those he thought were the "fascist" side; well, he got his own awakening.
August 10, 2020
Very interesting book because it goes into great depth about why Hemingway turned against his friend, John Dos Passos. John Dos Passos was a brilliant, sensitive writer and has always been under-rated. Unfortunately because of the excellent research the author did for this book about the events in the late 1930s during the Spanish Civil War, I think a little less of Hemingway now. This was a very complicated War with no winners. And emotions ran high among all the American and Europeans intellectuals of the time, and even though there appeared to be two sides to this War, in fact, it was very complicated and there was no “right” side to be on.
June 7, 2009
THE BREAKING POINT is a fascinating multilayered narrative that explores Russian scheming and influence in Spanish Civil War, the presence of Stalinist agents in America’s cultural scene in the 1930s, the creative and personal turmoil of Hemingway, and the fading career Dos Passos. Hem appears as a bully, careerist, and macho kiss-up. Highly recommended.
May 25, 2020
Un buen escritor no es necesariamente una buena persona. La pelea personal de Ernest Hemingway con John Dos Passos que con un buen grado de maestría narra Stephen Koch, lo demuestra con documentos e impresiones a ratos brutales. De alguna manera este libro puede leerse como una secuela de "Hemingway vs. Fitzgerald. The Rise an Fall of a Literary Friendship", escrito por Scott Donaldson. Uno desarrollado en el París de los años 1920s, el otro en la convulsionada España de los 1930s. Ambos forman parte de un collage en donde varios ingredientes convergen: el ego de los escritores, los ruegos y peleas con los editores, las relaciones amorosas y el incesante consumo del alcohol.
Donaldson nos cuenta la relación entre un Fitzgerald que ya ha probado el éxito, y que ayuda en demasiadas ocasiones a un novato Hemingway para que fuera reconocido, y la manera en que el mismo Ernest --ya reconocido-- comienza a denostar las crisis alcohólicas de su amigo y casi mentor calificándolo como un espíritu débil y despreciando su bloqueo creativo. La fortaleza lo es todo para Hemingway, la debilidad es el peor pecado y así lo hace ver en varias cartas y telegramas que hoy se vuelven públicas, y en las que no le temblaba la mano para hacer escarnio de los tropiezos de Fitzgerald. Ese era un mundo más cercano a la fiesta parisina, al encanto que el modernismo cernió en la llamada Generación perdida. Las disputas era más bien personales y sí, muy llenas de las presunciones y las bajas autoestimas que muchas veces van de la mano.
En el caso de "The Breaking Point", el escenario se complica, los problemas son más profundos y menos frívolos: la postura que Hemingway tuvo frente a la guerra civil española (convencido de que la Rusia de Stalin salvaría a la República), y un John Dos Passos que tenía una mayor perspectiva política e histórica. A pesar de que ambos apoyaban a la izquierda en ese conflicto, había marcadas diferencias. Según Koch, mientras Hemingway disfrutaba de la emoción de la guerra, Dos Passos veía con preocupación las traiciones y las bajas. Todo el aparato Stalinista comenzaba a hacer su propaganda y empleaba espías que seducían a los escritores norteamericanos a muy pocas semanas de que el terror ruso comenzara a ejecutar casi a capricho. Hemingway veía la guerra como una gran oportunidad para escribir y Dos Passos, mientras tanto, realizaba una pesquisa: quería saber qué había pasado con su gran amigo español José Robles que había desaparecido.
En varios momentos Hemingway le echa en cara a Dos Passos que le empañe su emoción con cuestionamientos que la historia después confirmaría. En esta nueva relación, Hemingway es el alcohólico errático quien incluso celebra una comida en una terraza con Pepe Quintanilla "el verdugo de Madrid" que estaba a las órdenes de Stalin, mientras las bombas caían a su alrededor y Quintanilla va cantando las detonaciones con más entusiasmo aún que el escritor norteamericano.
En el libro hay escenas memorables como el bombardeo al hotel Florida que era donde estaban todos los corresponsales y escritores extranjeros, el encuentro entre Dos Passos y George Orwell quien, por su edad, ya tenía una visión posterior a la que ondeaba la Generación perdida, los malabares de engaños que Hemingway hace entre su esposa y amante, entre otras perlas.
El estudio biográfico parece novela. Para ello Stephen Koch recrea los momentos más personales echando mano de documentos invaluables como memorias, cartas, entrevistas, biografías que pierden su formato acartonado para lograr un libro lleno de vida y sin duda de revelaciones algunas muy vergonzosas.
Y no: Ernest Hemingway no termina bien parado. Su egoísmo es a prueba de amistades profundas. Los atisbos de sus demonios internos, que lo llevarían años más tarde al suicidio, están siempre presentes. De la misma manera, la historia nos recuerda a un Dos Passos injustamente olvidado a pesar de que en algún momento, con su Trilogía U.S.A. fue comparado con James Joyce.
Libro imperdible para entender a toda una generación de escritores, para entender los crueles recovecos de la Guerra civil española, para entender cómo se conformaron los pactos y alianzas que tendrían por desenlace a la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Un libro, finalmente, para entender las veleidades y voluntades de los escritores, sus egos y sus derrotas.
Donaldson nos cuenta la relación entre un Fitzgerald que ya ha probado el éxito, y que ayuda en demasiadas ocasiones a un novato Hemingway para que fuera reconocido, y la manera en que el mismo Ernest --ya reconocido-- comienza a denostar las crisis alcohólicas de su amigo y casi mentor calificándolo como un espíritu débil y despreciando su bloqueo creativo. La fortaleza lo es todo para Hemingway, la debilidad es el peor pecado y así lo hace ver en varias cartas y telegramas que hoy se vuelven públicas, y en las que no le temblaba la mano para hacer escarnio de los tropiezos de Fitzgerald. Ese era un mundo más cercano a la fiesta parisina, al encanto que el modernismo cernió en la llamada Generación perdida. Las disputas era más bien personales y sí, muy llenas de las presunciones y las bajas autoestimas que muchas veces van de la mano.
En el caso de "The Breaking Point", el escenario se complica, los problemas son más profundos y menos frívolos: la postura que Hemingway tuvo frente a la guerra civil española (convencido de que la Rusia de Stalin salvaría a la República), y un John Dos Passos que tenía una mayor perspectiva política e histórica. A pesar de que ambos apoyaban a la izquierda en ese conflicto, había marcadas diferencias. Según Koch, mientras Hemingway disfrutaba de la emoción de la guerra, Dos Passos veía con preocupación las traiciones y las bajas. Todo el aparato Stalinista comenzaba a hacer su propaganda y empleaba espías que seducían a los escritores norteamericanos a muy pocas semanas de que el terror ruso comenzara a ejecutar casi a capricho. Hemingway veía la guerra como una gran oportunidad para escribir y Dos Passos, mientras tanto, realizaba una pesquisa: quería saber qué había pasado con su gran amigo español José Robles que había desaparecido.
En varios momentos Hemingway le echa en cara a Dos Passos que le empañe su emoción con cuestionamientos que la historia después confirmaría. En esta nueva relación, Hemingway es el alcohólico errático quien incluso celebra una comida en una terraza con Pepe Quintanilla "el verdugo de Madrid" que estaba a las órdenes de Stalin, mientras las bombas caían a su alrededor y Quintanilla va cantando las detonaciones con más entusiasmo aún que el escritor norteamericano.
En el libro hay escenas memorables como el bombardeo al hotel Florida que era donde estaban todos los corresponsales y escritores extranjeros, el encuentro entre Dos Passos y George Orwell quien, por su edad, ya tenía una visión posterior a la que ondeaba la Generación perdida, los malabares de engaños que Hemingway hace entre su esposa y amante, entre otras perlas.
El estudio biográfico parece novela. Para ello Stephen Koch recrea los momentos más personales echando mano de documentos invaluables como memorias, cartas, entrevistas, biografías que pierden su formato acartonado para lograr un libro lleno de vida y sin duda de revelaciones algunas muy vergonzosas.
Y no: Ernest Hemingway no termina bien parado. Su egoísmo es a prueba de amistades profundas. Los atisbos de sus demonios internos, que lo llevarían años más tarde al suicidio, están siempre presentes. De la misma manera, la historia nos recuerda a un Dos Passos injustamente olvidado a pesar de que en algún momento, con su Trilogía U.S.A. fue comparado con James Joyce.
Libro imperdible para entender a toda una generación de escritores, para entender los crueles recovecos de la Guerra civil española, para entender cómo se conformaron los pactos y alianzas que tendrían por desenlace a la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Un libro, finalmente, para entender las veleidades y voluntades de los escritores, sus egos y sus derrotas.
September 17, 2017
The story itself of the break between dos Passos and Hemingway is great - better than most novels - but how does someone who has taught creative writing at Columbia and Princeton for 20 years end up ruining a great story like this with a style worse than that of most undergraduate students? The style is very repetitive, full of short sentences and often colloquial. The story would also be more powerful if the author's very clear opinions on the good guys and the bad guys did not shine through. Hemingway's and Gellhorn's actions are bad enough on their own. There is no need to add a layer of strident moral outrage. The proper reaction to have is obvious.
When I read the book, I kept thinking that the author came across as if he was struggling to reach his word count, filling pages with repetitions while a shorter scene would have been more effective, and perhaps relying too much on research by an undergraduate assistant, although perhaps the author was so outraged during the entire time it took him to write the book that he kept writing in short repetitive sentences in shock and anger at the fate of Robles and, in a way, dos Passos (I've read "The Modern Library Writer's Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of Fiction" by the same author and that style is much more appropriate).
Again, the story itself is great but I find the book a missed opportunity. It's not a bad book, though, so if you're interested in learning more about the end of the friendship between Hemingway and dos Passos it is still an informative read.
When I read the book, I kept thinking that the author came across as if he was struggling to reach his word count, filling pages with repetitions while a shorter scene would have been more effective, and perhaps relying too much on research by an undergraduate assistant, although perhaps the author was so outraged during the entire time it took him to write the book that he kept writing in short repetitive sentences in shock and anger at the fate of Robles and, in a way, dos Passos (I've read "The Modern Library Writer's Workshop: A Guide to the Craft of Fiction" by the same author and that style is much more appropriate).
Again, the story itself is great but I find the book a missed opportunity. It's not a bad book, though, so if you're interested in learning more about the end of the friendship between Hemingway and dos Passos it is still an informative read.
June 1, 2018
This non-fiction account covered a couple of aspects that intrigue me very much, namely the Spanish Civil War and the literary figures who played some role in it. Also, I know so little about Dos Passos that this seemed to be an interesting way to become a little more familiar with this notable author of the early 20 century.
Koch is a good story teller, who did a lot of research in this small drama between Hem" and "Dos." He paints a vivid, none too flattering portrait of the protagonists, and delves into some of the surrounding family issues, such as Hemingway's serial wives and blatant affair while in Spain. A surprising aspect is the degree on communist influence on the Civil War players. The co opting and outright duping of American figures, such as Hem and Dos is spelled out in detail. The book also depicts Stalin's motivation in first supporting then taking over and then abandoning the Republican effort in Spain. There is also the mystery of the fate of Jose Robles, which obsesses Dos Passos and is flipped off by Hemingway.
So there is a lot to like in this tale: history, spies, communists, murder, sex, and literature, all captured in a writing style that is agreeable reading.
Koch is a good story teller, who did a lot of research in this small drama between Hem" and "Dos." He paints a vivid, none too flattering portrait of the protagonists, and delves into some of the surrounding family issues, such as Hemingway's serial wives and blatant affair while in Spain. A surprising aspect is the degree on communist influence on the Civil War players. The co opting and outright duping of American figures, such as Hem and Dos is spelled out in detail. The book also depicts Stalin's motivation in first supporting then taking over and then abandoning the Republican effort in Spain. There is also the mystery of the fate of Jose Robles, which obsesses Dos Passos and is flipped off by Hemingway.
So there is a lot to like in this tale: history, spies, communists, murder, sex, and literature, all captured in a writing style that is agreeable reading.
January 27, 2021
Again a book I bought a while back and began but which I came back to in lockdown number XLXLXL. So what brought me back? Again it was a combination of things that colluded but the two main factors were the pernicious solidification of Russian communism in the global events of the 1930s and the wilful seduction of left-wing intellectuals. In this beautifully written and sensitive account, Koch brings together idealism with crushed reality and awakening through the murder of Jose Robles, one time Spanish revolutionary and friend of the foremost American modernist writer John Dos Passos and the blind seduction, naivety and collaboration of Ernest Hemingway. The two great writers of the 20th century couldn't be and become further apart as they are drawn and used in the tragic events of the Spanish Revolution by forces far more pernicious and criminal that they wanted to realise at the time or as in in Hemingway's case, ever. This account is far more than a whoddunit, it's a political, social, pshycological and literary account and a character study of two very different personalities and responses to personal and world events. A compelling read.
December 8, 2023
3.5
I was inspired to read this book by the off-broadway play Spain, which examines the interplay between art and propaganda in making the documentary The Spanish Earth, a film about the then-ongoing Spanish Civil War. The Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens was a frontman for the KGB, and his handlers wanted Ernst Hemingway to be the writer/ narrator. Ivens and his partner used John Dos Passos to lure Hemingway.
I knew nothing of this incident but was intrigued when I learned about Stephen Koch's nonfiction book The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles. The book provides the historical context lacking in the play and shifts the focus to the battle between the Stalinists and the independent left during the Civil War. The Stalinists' murder of Jose Robles, Dos Passos's close friend, leads to his disillusionment and break with Hemingway. Like Orwell, whom he befriends, he leaves Spain a changed man.
The book provides an in-depth and complex portrait of the war and the famous writers who traveled to Spain to cover it in the international press. It is thoroughly researched and reads like a novel. I recommend it to anyone interested in this period.
I was inspired to read this book by the off-broadway play Spain, which examines the interplay between art and propaganda in making the documentary The Spanish Earth, a film about the then-ongoing Spanish Civil War. The Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens was a frontman for the KGB, and his handlers wanted Ernst Hemingway to be the writer/ narrator. Ivens and his partner used John Dos Passos to lure Hemingway.
I knew nothing of this incident but was intrigued when I learned about Stephen Koch's nonfiction book The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles. The book provides the historical context lacking in the play and shifts the focus to the battle between the Stalinists and the independent left during the Civil War. The Stalinists' murder of Jose Robles, Dos Passos's close friend, leads to his disillusionment and break with Hemingway. Like Orwell, whom he befriends, he leaves Spain a changed man.
The book provides an in-depth and complex portrait of the war and the famous writers who traveled to Spain to cover it in the international press. It is thoroughly researched and reads like a novel. I recommend it to anyone interested in this period.
February 8, 2023
Investigação séria e apurada, da vida de personagens tão icónicos como Hemingway e Dos Passos, nos anos frenéticos da Guerra Civil Espanhola, quando o mundo da cultura convergia em Madrid e personagens 'históricos' de todos os quadrantes se acotovelavam nos hotéis e bares de Madrid.
Há um curiosíssimo detalhe anedotal quando o autor esclarece que ‘não, ao contrário do que alguns disseram, o condutor da ambulância, não era Malraux’ … assim era a gentrificação da Madrid daqueles dias…
Através do caso do assassinato de José Robles, político republicano que foi professor em Johns Hopkins, às ordens dos diferentes braços armados que executaram com maestria, até ao fim, a infeliz e sempre paranóica política estalinista que precedeu a conclusão do Pacto Germano-Soviético, o autor leva-nos num percurso fascinante seguindo os percursos gradualmente divergentes de dois escritores de génio que a narrativa da guerra foi afastando de forma irremediável.
Há um curiosíssimo detalhe anedotal quando o autor esclarece que ‘não, ao contrário do que alguns disseram, o condutor da ambulância, não era Malraux’ … assim era a gentrificação da Madrid daqueles dias…
Através do caso do assassinato de José Robles, político republicano que foi professor em Johns Hopkins, às ordens dos diferentes braços armados que executaram com maestria, até ao fim, a infeliz e sempre paranóica política estalinista que precedeu a conclusão do Pacto Germano-Soviético, o autor leva-nos num percurso fascinante seguindo os percursos gradualmente divergentes de dois escritores de génio que a narrativa da guerra foi afastando de forma irremediável.
May 14, 2024
Interesting insight into Spain in 1936-38 period and that time when it became a battleground, literally and for a certain group of literary people. Most notably as the title says, for Hemingway and Dos Passos. The latter comes off as a decent and honorable man in contrast to his better known and former friend, the 'great' Hemingway. I was never a huge fan anyway, but i might have to try 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'. I read the 'USA' trilogy by Dos Passos recently and will seek out his writing on Spain.
Reading this while in Spain and Madrid gave it some extra meaning and significance for me. Almost a century ago now, but reading his description of bomb damage in Plaza Mayor right near where we stayed was a bit jarring. Might say 3.5 stars but will round up for that unusual happenstance and the quality of research which is reflected in extensive end notes.
Reading this while in Spain and Madrid gave it some extra meaning and significance for me. Almost a century ago now, but reading his description of bomb damage in Plaza Mayor right near where we stayed was a bit jarring. Might say 3.5 stars but will round up for that unusual happenstance and the quality of research which is reflected in extensive end notes.
November 29, 2017
At first glance the title makes you think Hemingway was involved in the murder of someone but of course that it not true. This is the story of two authors during the Spanish Civil War and the death of a friend and perhaps the death of their friendship. It also tells the story of Hemingway's end of his second marriage as well delving into some of his mental health issues. I haven't read anything by Dos Passos and am just not sure I will be at this point but may be later. I find it hard to believe that many of the authors listed were sympathetic to the communist cause but then it was the thirties and life was hard for many all the way around.
October 22, 2017
A wonderful, atmospheric read. Spain and the Spanish Civil War is a subject I know very little about and so I read with rapt attention. Hemingway is portrayed as a callous brute, but John Dos Passos comes off as a fascinating and sympathetic person and writer; someone about whom I'd like to know more and possibly read. Dos Passos' search for the truth about his old friend Jose Robles Pazos is heartbreaking.
November 5, 2021
Sad but thorough account of what happened in Spain between Hem, Dos, and perhaps saddest of all, the doomed fate of “la causa.”
There is no love lost between the author and Hemingway. Certainly Hem had his well-documented flaws but the disdain and contempt were palpable.
There is no love lost between the author and Hemingway. Certainly Hem had his well-documented flaws but the disdain and contempt were palpable.
July 28, 2021
Koch es un grande. Cada libro suyo es el resultado de una intuición genial, de una investigación seria y de una prosa elegante y entretenida.
August 31, 2022
Fascinating read
March 5, 2023
Purple prose and lots of unnecessary editorializing.
September 16, 2023
a fascinating insight into both the Spanish civil war and the communist left from Stalin's Kremlin to the US avant-garde.meticulously researched to tell a small part of the story in great detail. really enjoyed it
September 12, 2016
I have read a lot of Hem nonfiction for the past six weeks. this book, besides educating me on the Spanish Civil war, also introduced me to several other meaningful authors /journalists from Hems salad days.
it read more like a novel than a work of nonfiction. poor Jose, though he was the main thrust of this book, he was just a back drop, much like a stage prop, to dissect the relationship of Dos and Hem and it's ultimate collapse. To me the most telling occurrence was the get well concerned letter Dos sent Hem after his stint in the Mayo Clinic.
At the end Hem had so few friends left that he had not run off with his belligerent attitudes and mental illness run amuck.
Martha Gellhorn so easy to dislike. wonder if Hem regarded her as his female reflection? she made no attempt to conceal her intentions to use him.
everything I read about Ernest Hemingway makes me want more. I like so many other people male and female alike have come under his spell.
it read more like a novel than a work of nonfiction. poor Jose, though he was the main thrust of this book, he was just a back drop, much like a stage prop, to dissect the relationship of Dos and Hem and it's ultimate collapse. To me the most telling occurrence was the get well concerned letter Dos sent Hem after his stint in the Mayo Clinic.
At the end Hem had so few friends left that he had not run off with his belligerent attitudes and mental illness run amuck.
Martha Gellhorn so easy to dislike. wonder if Hem regarded her as his female reflection? she made no attempt to conceal her intentions to use him.
everything I read about Ernest Hemingway makes me want more. I like so many other people male and female alike have come under his spell.
October 31, 2024
Interesting story of Dos Passos, Hemingway, Jose Robles and the Spainish Civil War. This covers Dos Passos involvement in making of the film "The Spainish Earth" and his trip to Spain in Spring 1937, and his search for his friend Jose Robles, a Spanish Liberal/leftist, former John Hopkins U professor (and interpeter for Soviet General in charge of Madrid's defenses), who had mysteriously disappeared in March 1937.
Dos Passos discovered his friend had been executed as a "Trotskyite". This eventually led to him to break his friendship with Hemingway and his relationship with the Communist Party. Koch tells the story in an enteraining literaray manner, not as dry history. And he tells the story without the usual flattery of Gellhorn or Hemingway, or the usual whitewashing of Stalin and the Communist role in destroying their opposition in Republican Spain.
My only beef is that I don't find the death of Robles particularly tragic or unjust. Robles wasn't noble. He had no problem with "the Republic" killing 6,000 Spainish Catholic clergy, or having Stalin's secret agents in Spain, or sending apolitical peasants off to die, or jailing/killing Conservatives - so-called "fascists". Like all the "Nice Liberals" anything was OK as long it beat Franco. So, instead of a Bourgoise or Catholic Priest ending up in a NKVD/secret police execution cell, Robles did. Sads.
Dos Passos discovered his friend had been executed as a "Trotskyite". This eventually led to him to break his friendship with Hemingway and his relationship with the Communist Party. Koch tells the story in an enteraining literaray manner, not as dry history. And he tells the story without the usual flattery of Gellhorn or Hemingway, or the usual whitewashing of Stalin and the Communist role in destroying their opposition in Republican Spain.
My only beef is that I don't find the death of Robles particularly tragic or unjust. Robles wasn't noble. He had no problem with "the Republic" killing 6,000 Spainish Catholic clergy, or having Stalin's secret agents in Spain, or sending apolitical peasants off to die, or jailing/killing Conservatives - so-called "fascists". Like all the "Nice Liberals" anything was OK as long it beat Franco. So, instead of a Bourgoise or Catholic Priest ending up in a NKVD/secret police execution cell, Robles did. Sads.
November 17, 2014
Man, Hemingway is a prick! I mean, I've heard all sorts of stories, and I knew he wasn't really right in the head (plus the whole machismo thing) but this book lets you see just how dumb, how vain, how shallow and how egocentric he was. As the largest personality (by far) of the three people in the title, the book delves much deeper into him than it does the other two - I still don't know who Jose Robles really was or why he was so important, and Dos Passos comes across as slightly two dimensional - but it's a great historical read and an eye-opening introduction not only to Hemingway's personality but also what inspired him to write certain books and stories and how he viewed those in his world.
August 5, 2010
Part gossip, part fabrication and too tendentious. Koch claims that Josephine Herbst was an agent of the Comintern but cites no primary evidence. Herbst made one single radio broadcast "from a cellar deep underground in Madrid." There is also no evidence that Alvarez del Vayo told Herbst that Robles was shot as a spy. Nor does Koch present evidence to back up his account that Hemingway and Herbst planned to publicly humiliate Dos Passos by showing him to be the friend of a fascist spy. Paul Preston give a far more judicious account in his We Saw Spain Die.
November 10, 2009
Ernest - male, chauvinist pig with a flair for life and a talent for writing about that life.
Dos Passos - an idealist who was a good friend to the end.
Spanish Civil War - a puppetshow with the Russian communists as the puppetmasters.
Jose Robles - a victim of the show.
An interesting detective story as well and well written and documented.
Dos Passos - an idealist who was a good friend to the end.
Spanish Civil War - a puppetshow with the Russian communists as the puppetmasters.
Jose Robles - a victim of the show.
An interesting detective story as well and well written and documented.
October 23, 2010
Interesting take on the Spanish Civil War. Dos Passos had been a longtime leftist, but the murder of his friend Jose Robles, what he found out about it and how he was treated during his search for the truth began his turn to the right, which continued for the rest of his life.
Hemingway does not fare too well in this book. He is portrayed as something of a fool.
Hemingway does not fare too well in this book. He is portrayed as something of a fool.
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July 31, 2011Interesante acercamiento a las figuras de Hemingway y Dos Passos con el telón de fondo de la Guerra Civil española y el asesinato, a manos de miembros del NKVD del profesor José Robles. Como en otras obras de Koch, el tema desarrollado de manera demasiado literaria. En cualquier caso, un obra interesante
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