Ernest Hemingway was a reporter for The Kansas City Star in 1918. Eager to be directly involved in the war effort, he volunteered for the American Red Cross ambulance service in Italy, providing assistance to Italian soldiers. In July, an artillery attack left him seriously injured and he spent the rest of the war’s duration recovering at the American Red Cross hospital in Milan. These wartime experiences shaped Hemingway as both an adventurer and writer, especially influencing his classic 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms.
Hemingway’s words inspired contemporary Italian artists to create a global digital media project seeking to connect the present with the past through sound. There is a long history of the human impulse to create art in response to war and human suffering, and in turn, this art inspires others, creating a collective cultural memory of war. Art helps us interpret, reinterpret and remember our history.
This sound installation, Insight, will be available for the public to experience on the Research Level of the National WWI Museum and Memorial through May 20, 2018. Come take a listen.
Presented in partnership with IoDeposito, B#SideWar Festival, SIAE & Sillumina program and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.
Want to learn more about Hemingway's time in Italy during the war? Read this article by Steve Paul, author of Hemingway at Eighteen: The Pivotal Year That Launched an American Legend.