“A Few Funny Things”: Hemingway’s Early Interest in Spanish History and Politics

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Abstract: Critical discourse often overlooks or devalues Hemingway’s attention to Spanish history and politics prior to the mid-1930s. While early Spanish-related works, such as The Sun Also Rises or “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” are admittedly less engaged with politics than later Civil War stories, I challenge perceptions of Hemingway’s early ignorance of or disinterest in Spanish politics—sentiments too readily accepted when focusing so much on Hemingway and Spain through bullfighting. Reading his Star reporting and early correspondences alongside Spanish political history provides contextual markers that enrich the respective stories and themes—and shows Hemingway as a politically-inclined, even if not always publicly political, writer.