Hemingway - The Butterfly and the Tank - Stories of the Spanish Civil War

The stories grew out of Hemingway's experience in the Spanish Civil war as a correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance and as a participant in filming a pro-Loyalist/Leftist work "The Spanish Earth." This story and others grew from adventures in and around besieged Madrid--particularly in the Hotel Florida and in a bar called Chicote's. The book is notable for the dominating presence of the author, who is to be found alive on every page. That presence slants the focus, this is immediate, unmistakable Hemingway.

The experience behind the stories was pretty much actual. There is a question as to how autobiographical fiction differs from autobiographical journalism--the best, that is, of the dispatches the correspondent filed from Spain, which were reprinted a couple of years ago in "By-Line: Ernest Hemingway." The answer is that the difference lies more in quality than kind. As good as some of that correspondence was, all four of these stories are better than any of it.