A Farewell to Arms stature. The book became his first best-seller, and has been called "the premier American war novel from that debacle World War I." The novel has been adapted a number of times, initially for the stage in 1930; as a film in 1932 and again in 1957, and as a three-part television miniseries in 1966. The 1996 film "In Love and War", directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Chris O'Donnell and Sandra Bullock, depicts Hemingway's life in Italy as an ambulance driver in the events prior to his writing of "A Farewell to Arms". The novel is divided into five sections.
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber are on a big-game safari in generalized Africa. We know that the "gun-bearers" and "personal boys" speak Swahili and sometimes receive illegal lashings, as described by the white, professional hunter and guide, Robert Wilson. Earlier, Francis had panicked when a wounded lion charged him, and Margot mocks Macomber for this act of cowardice. Wilson is critical of Macomber, presented in interior monologue, but outwardly tries to shepherd Macomber toward a more accepted "code" practiced by experienced hunters. This is Francis' thirty-five-year-old "coming of age" story. In flashback, we experience Francis' cowardly run from his wounded and charging lion. We also