Robert Jordan's (and Ernest Hemingway's) "True Book": Myths and Moral Quandaries in For Whom the Bell Tolls

The "true book" Robert Jordan intends to write is, self-reflexively, the one his creator does write, including truths Hemingway would not reveal in his wartime journalism. These truths undermine a two-dimensional view of the war (Loyalists good, fascists evil). They reveal Stalinist terror, cynicism, lies and corruption that challenge Jordan's purpose. The truths dramatize Loyalist atrocities and puncture the myths surrounding Loyalist "saints" and heroes. More important, they express moral dilemmas Jordan experiences in fulfilling his duty, quandaries which again undermine any right-wrong understanding of action in wartime.