Holiday Potluck: "For Whom the Bell Tolls," Part 1

December brings our traditional holiday potluck, in which we discuss the first half of a long classic (which we then finish reading and discuss in its entirety in January).

Please bring a dish to share. In the interests of variety, consider mentioning what kind of food you plan to bring in the comments! (But if it turns into a game-day decision and a bag of chips, that's okay. The most important thing is, we want to see YOU!)

In the vote for this year's Big Two-Part Classic, Ernest Hemingway's 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls walked away with the prize. Here's a description from the Encyclopedia Britannica:

"The novel is set near Segovia, Spain, in 1937 and tells the story of American teacher Robert Jordan, who has joined the antifascist Loyalist army. Jordan has been sent to make contact with a guerrilla band and blow up a bridge to advance a Loyalist offensive. The action takes place during Jordan’s 72 hours at the guerrilla camp. During this period he falls in love with María, who has been raped by fascist soldiers, and befriends the shrewd but cowardly guerrilla leader Pablo and his courageous wife, Pilar."

For Whom the Bell Tolls is considered one of Hemingway's greatest novels and is thought to you have been influential in his selection for the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.

If you want to be on track to finish the novel comfortably in two months, we recommend that you read through Chapter 17 in time for the December potluck. We will try to keep the discussion free of spoilers for anything that happens in Chapter 18 or later.

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