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A Farewell to Arms was printed in 1929 by Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel Prize-winning American writer. Like the protagonist, Hemingway served at the Italian Army as a Red Crossambulance driver during World War I, got wounded, also spent time in an American Army in Milan, where he fulfilled with a nurse. Similar to characters in A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway was profoundly influenced by his own experiences at war.

Actually, Hemingway is considered to be part of the "The Lost Generation." The phrase was coined by Gertrude Stein to refer to Modernist artists that felt "lost" after seeing the horrors of World War I.

Hemingway certainly relied on his own experiences in WWI Italy to write this novel, but he did use other sources as well. Though A Farewell to Armsbegins in 1916, Hemingway did not get to Italy until the summer of 1918. The Italian escape from Caporetto, described in these detailed in the novel, began in October 1917. So how did Hemingway describe it so well? The novel is meticulously researched. Hemingway was a journalist and worked for the Kansas City Star paper when the retreat was on, read details of it, and was very concerned over the war generally. (For a discussion of the importance of newspapers to the novel, see "Symbols, Imagery, and Allegory.") It is very likely that such concern motivated him to enlist with the Red Cross at the first location.

A Farewell to Arms caused a great deal of fuss when its very first installment was released by Scribner's Magazine. The Boston superintendent of police kept Scribner's away newsstands, though not for long. He maintained that it was pornography. (Check out "Sex" for more.) Fortunately, the ban only boosted earnings and gave the novel free publicity. Nowadays, it's hardly considered pornographic and is instead known for its sensitive depiction of the war. The novel is even educated at U.S. military academies.

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