Encyclopedic and lively, this book illuminates the basic facts associated with the more than 2,500 fictional and historical people, animals, events and cultural artifacts which appear in Hemingway's nine novels.

Hemingway advertised himself as an authority on sport and war, but his interests were much broader. He studied the literary, political, and popular cultures of the many countries he lived in (Cuba, France, United States) and visited regularly (Spain, Germany, Austria, Italy, eastern Africa). His novels reveal his erudition: They are studded with often arcane references to art, history, literature, music, religion, medicine, weapons, travel, and contemporary events. Mandel's encyclopedic Reading Hemingway: The Facts in the Fictions identifies this network of allusions and retrieves these unwritten contexts.

Includes illustrations, endnotes, a comprehensive bibliography, and index. A useful complement to the many biographical and critical efforts to unravel Hemingway's novels, this volume will encourage informed classroom discussion and enhance scholarly debate. Paperback edition available 2001. Cloth edition previously published in 1995.