A Sea Of Red

Up till now, this has been a notably cheerful year for admirers of Ernest Hemingway – a surprisingly diverse set of people who range from Michael Palin to Elmore Leonard. Almost every month has brought good news: a planned Hemingway biopic; a new, improved version of his memoir, A Moveable Feast; the opening of a digital archive of papers found in his Cuban home; progress on a movie of Islands in the Stream.

Last week, however, saw the publication of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America (Yale University Press), which reveals the Nobel prize-winning novelist was for a while on the KGB's list of its agents in America. Co-written by John Earl Haynes, Harvey Klehr and Alexander Vassiliev, the book is based on notes that Vassiliev, a former KGB officer, made when he was given access in the 90s to Stalin-era intelligence archives in Moscow.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/ju ... ed-kgb-spy

If true, it certainly isn't surprising. Robert Jordan was a communist. I'm sure Hemingway would not have been able to provide a whole lot of useful information besides the weather in Key West, Florida or in Ketchum, Idaho. Hemingway was a war worn expatriate and in the end I don't think he would have chosen any country for allegiance (even the USA). I think he was more interested in individual people and wouldn't be keen on towing a party line.