Title
Ernest Hemingway’s Books of Common Prayer
Document Type
Essay
Annotation
Surveys prayer scenes throughout Hemingway’s major works, arguing that instead of utilizing the beliefs and rituals of a specific religion, Hemingway samples from a variety, often in opposition with one another, in his search for spiritual relief. Reading prayer as a gauge of morality, Curnutt analyzes how Hemingway’s protagonists in In Our Time, The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Old Man and the Sea adapt rituals in a meaningful way to bring order and balance to the chaotic modern world.
Published in
Crisis of Faith
Date
2013
Pages
165-186
COinS
Citation
Curnutt, Kirk. “Ernest Hemingway’s Books of Common Prayer.” In Crisis of Faith, edited by Robert C. Evans, 165-86. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, 2013.