Posted on 07/10/2009 10:37:42 AM PDT by nickcarraway
A new U.S. book claims Ernest Hemingway was a not-very-effective spy for the KGB during the 1940s. The Nobel prize-winning author is listed in "Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America," Yale University Press, co-written by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev from notes Vassiliev took in Moscow archives.
A former KGB officer, Vassiliev was provided with access in the 1990s to Stalin-era files, The Guardian reported.
In the book, Hemingway is referred to as a "dilettante spy." His file says he was recruited in 1941 before he went to China, the book claims. He was called "Argo" and allegedly met with Soviet agents in Havana and London in the 40s, The Guardian reported.
The books described Hemingway as enthusiastic, but not very effective, and said Soviet contacts with Hemingway ended by the end of the decade.
"Spies" doesn't say whether the authors believe Hemingway was serious about spying or looking for material for a book.
He was really into the Spanish Civil War, and probably hooked up with the Stalinistas when he was in Spain.
George Will mentioned the Hemingway spying on the air some years ago. Could be this is a book, and Will had read an article or research paper?
I love Hemingways writings, but he was always shooting his mouth off.
I would net that K. Edgar Hoover knew all about Hemmingway precisely because of his Spanish Civil War activities, and his earlier associations while in Paris. The Soviets would have been fools to send an important ‘handler’ anywhere near him.
Winning entry from the annual Bad Hemingway writing contest:
“Ernest Hemingway had been his hero ever since he was belched out of his mother’s angry, belligerent womb.”
That’s how he died.
Hemingway was just another of those lousy writers promoted by the Leftist dominated critics of the 20s and 30s because he was politically reliable. He cut his teeth on collaboration with the Communists during the Spanish Civil War. He was a liar, a charlatan, a latent homosexual, and a poseur. I am not at all surprised he was willing to serve Stalin as a spy, effective or not.
I have read every book Hemingway wrote. There was nothing ever to indicate he was a procommunist.
That is nuts. That is how rumors get started.
Not in his writings but toward the end, he was preoccupied about committing suicide which he finally did.
Interesting.
I will have to start reviewing Hemingway all over again from a different point of view.
Eyes opened are better that eyes continued closed.
that = than
I will make my own judgement in the end.
Thanks.
I don’t know I think he was both an effective and enthusiastic drinker.
There was no KGB in the time frame mentioned in the article. The agency was called the NKVD. Typical sloppy UPI reportage.
True but a minor quibble as they merely rebadged the same organization. Cheka, NKVD, MGB, KGB, FSB are all one and the same.
No one in the gulags or any of the captive nations ever said, “Whew, I’m lucky the NKVD got us, and not those other guys.” as the trains chugged north or the weapons were cocked.
Those that suffered under the Soviets called them Chekisti regardless of the official title.
His best writing was done in the 1920s well before the Spanish Civil War and the existence of the KGB (or NKVD for that matter). If you look at the early critical writing about him it was mostly regarding the new approach to English prose.
He was probably scamming them like he did to get gas for his boat from the US govt during the war so he could “look for submarines” off Cuba in the prime deep sea fishing areas.
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