This is the End

Talk about being a perfectionist… Can you imagine Hemingway rewriting the final page of his 1929 novel “A Farewell to Arms” an astonishing 39 times to achieve satisfaction? Set during the Italian campaign of World War I, Hemingway, when asked by an interviewer about the trouble he faced, replied, “Getting the words right.”

Around the same time, great American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald sent Hemingway a ten-page letter advising him on which passage he should use to end A Farewell to Arms. The advice was not well-received, and Hemingway sent back a note with just three words: “Kiss my ass!”

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