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The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Hemingway Library Collector's Edition
The fourth in the series of new annotated editions of Ernest Hemingway’s work, edited by the author’s grandson Seán and introduced by his son Patrick, this “illuminating” ( The Washington Post ) collection includes the best of the well-known classics as well as unpublished stories, early drafts, and notes that “offer insight into the mind and methods of one of the greatest practitioners of the story form” ( Kirkus Reviews ).
Ernest Hemingway is a cultural icon—an archetype of rugged masculinity, a romantic ideal of the intellectual in perpetual exile—but, to his countless readers, Hemingway remains a literary force much greater than his image. Of all of Hemingway’s canonical fictions, perhaps none demonstrate so forcefully the power of the author’s revolutionary style as his short stories. In classics like “Hills like White Elephants,” “The Butterfly in the Tank,” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” Hemingway shows us great literature compressed to its most potent essentials. We also see, in Hemingway’s short fiction, the tales that created the these are stories of men and women in love and in war and on the hunt, stories of a lost generation born into a fractured time.
The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway presents many of Hemingway’s most famous classics alongside rare and unpublished Hemingway’s early drafts and correspondence, his dazzling out-of-print essay on the art of the short story, and two marvelous examples of his earliest work—his first published story, “The Judgment of Manitou,” which Hemingway wrote when still a high school student, and a never-before-published story, written when the author was recovering from a war injury in Milan after WWI. This work offers vital insight into the artistic development of one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers. It is a perfect introduction for a new generation of Hemingway readers, and it belongs in the collection of any true Hemingway fan.
Ernest Hemingway is a cultural icon—an archetype of rugged masculinity, a romantic ideal of the intellectual in perpetual exile—but, to his countless readers, Hemingway remains a literary force much greater than his image. Of all of Hemingway’s canonical fictions, perhaps none demonstrate so forcefully the power of the author’s revolutionary style as his short stories. In classics like “Hills like White Elephants,” “The Butterfly in the Tank,” and “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,” Hemingway shows us great literature compressed to its most potent essentials. We also see, in Hemingway’s short fiction, the tales that created the these are stories of men and women in love and in war and on the hunt, stories of a lost generation born into a fractured time.
The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway presents many of Hemingway’s most famous classics alongside rare and unpublished Hemingway’s early drafts and correspondence, his dazzling out-of-print essay on the art of the short story, and two marvelous examples of his earliest work—his first published story, “The Judgment of Manitou,” which Hemingway wrote when still a high school student, and a never-before-published story, written when the author was recovering from a war injury in Milan after WWI. This work offers vital insight into the artistic development of one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers. It is a perfect introduction for a new generation of Hemingway readers, and it belongs in the collection of any true Hemingway fan.
384 pages, Paperback
Published July 17, 2018
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410 people want to read
About the author
Ernest Hemingway
2,216 books32.4k followersErnest Miller Hemingway was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Best known for an economical, understated style that significantly influenced later 20th-century writers, he is often romanticized for his adventurous lifestyle, and outspoken and blunt public image. Most of Hemingway's works were published between the mid-1920s and mid-1950s, including seven novels, six short-story collections and two non-fiction works. His writings have become classics of American literature; he was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature, while three of his novels, four short-story collections and three nonfiction works were published posthumously.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he spent six months as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star before enlisting in the Red Cross. He served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in World War I and was seriously wounded in 1918. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. He married Hadley Richardson in 1921, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926.
He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had worked as a journalist and which formed the basis for his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. He and Gellhorn separated after he met Mary Welsh Hemingway in London during World War II. Hemingway was present with Allied troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. He maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida, in the 1930s and in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. On a 1954 trip to Africa, he was seriously injured in two plane accidents on successive days, leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, on July 2, 1961 (a couple weeks before his 62nd birthday), he killed himself using one of his shotguns.
Hemingway was raised in Oak Park, Illinois. After high school, he spent six months as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star before enlisting in the Red Cross. He served as an ambulance driver on the Italian Front in World War I and was seriously wounded in 1918. His wartime experiences formed the basis for his 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms. He married Hadley Richardson in 1921, the first of four wives. They moved to Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star and fell under the influence of the modernist writers and artists of the 1920s' "Lost Generation" expatriate community. His debut novel The Sun Also Rises was published in 1926.
He divorced Richardson in 1927 and married Pauline Pfeiffer. They divorced after he returned from the Spanish Civil War, where he had worked as a journalist and which formed the basis for his 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. Martha Gellhorn became his third wife in 1940. He and Gellhorn separated after he met Mary Welsh Hemingway in London during World War II. Hemingway was present with Allied troops as a journalist at the Normandy landings and the liberation of Paris. He maintained permanent residences in Key West, Florida, in the 1930s and in Cuba in the 1940s and 1950s. On a 1954 trip to Africa, he was seriously injured in two plane accidents on successive days, leaving him in pain and ill health for much of the rest of his life. In 1959, he bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, where, on July 2, 1961 (a couple weeks before his 62nd birthday), he killed himself using one of his shotguns.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
February 3, 2024
On Sale February 3, 2024 Update I'm just dropping out of hiatus mode for a minute to let possible fans know that this Hemingway Library Edition selection of the Short Stories is on sale today in Kindle & other eBook formats for $1.99 Cdn. at the usual online sources e.g. Amazon, Kobo, etc.
"It's déjà vu all over again." - Yogi Berra
Review of the Scribner Hemingway Library hardcover edition (2017) selected from various sources.
5 out of 5 for Papaphiles
3 out of 5 for the General Reader
July 29, 2020 Update to Trivia & Links section to note the discovery of the previously unpublished short story Pursuit as Happiness in The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition (2020).
Your enthusiasm or frustration with this will likely depend on your degree of interest in Hemingway minutiae. The Hemingway Library Edition of The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway presents 2 juvenilia stories ("Judgment of Manitou" and the previously unpublished fragment "Untitled Milan Story") and 24 mature stories (arguably a "Best of" the 85-or-so published stories to date) along with all available draft versions/excerpts of them.
You could extend that count of 26 stories by a further 2 posthumously published stories by noting that "Indian Camp" Appendix 5a contains the fragment "Three Shots" and that "Big Two-Hearted River" Appendix 9c contains the fragment "On Writing" both of which were previously edited and collected in The Nick Adams Stories (1972).
All that being said, even the most devoted Papaphile will likely find their patience being tested as they read through the 5 draft versions/excerpts of "Up in Michigan" labelled as 3a to 3e. These do not seem to be so extraordinarily different from each other or the final story version to excite much interest. Those 5 drafts are an exception as most of the stories here have only 1 or 2 early drafts included, but it makes for a rocky start since "Up in Michigan" is at the front end of the book and you begin to wonder whether you have the patience to read infinitesimal variations on stories back to back. Once over the hump though, it becomes easier sailing. You begin to look for the cuts and edits made and have the benefit of hindsight in deciding how well they served the story in the end.
Aside from having the unedited view of "Three Shots" and "On Writing" the only other draft that seemed to have an extensive segment that was cut (likely censored) from the final story was a 2 page section of "A Way You'll Never Be" 20a where Hemingway-proxy character Nick Adams in World War I witnesses his Italian friend the Maggiore passing judgment on two trench soldiers caught in flagrante delicto (he lets them off with a warning).
To sum up, this "Best of" collection with drafts that includes the gems like "Indian Camp", "Cat in the Rain", "Big Two-Hearted River", "Hills Like White Elephants", "The Sea Change", "A Clean Well-Lighted Place", "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" will always get 5 stars from me. But I can understand some finding this present format a bit of a trial. Try to vary your reading experience from the standard front to back by selecting in order of your favourites & also reading drafts first and then the final. That should help alleviate the "déjà vu all over again" pattern somewhat.
Appendix (Details for Completists)
The Everyman Library edition of The Collected Stories (1995) remains the optimal book for obtaining the most complete collection of Ernest Hemingway short stories as it includes juvenilia ("Judgment of Manitou" and 7 others), the posthumous Nick Adams stories ("Three Shots", "On Writing" and 6 others) and 7 posthumous additions from The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (1987) as well as 9 previously uncollected stories on top of the standard canon of "The First Forty-Nine" which have been the mainstay since The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (1939).
Everyman's "The Collected Stories" is however missing the 3 novel sections (2 from To Have and Have Not and 1 from The Garden of Eden) which were excerpted as stories in "The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway" (1987). Those can obviously be obtained in the novels instead.
With this publication of the "Hemingway Library Edition", the Everyman is also missing the now newly published "Untitled Milan Story" fragment.
All of the above are missing "My Life in the Bull Ring with Donald Ogden Stewart" (1924) a short story rejected by Vanity Fair in 1925 and left unpublished until it was included in its letter attachment format in The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 2, 1923 1925 and "Pursuit as Happiness", a newly discovered short story published in The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition (2020).
Links
For more on "My Life in the Bull Ring with Donald Ogden Stewart" see https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
September 29, 2017 Update
Hemingway's First Story Found in Florida
A juvenilia work written at age 10.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/bo...
July 29, 2020 Update
You can read Pursuit as Happiness in the June 8/15, 2020 issue of the New Yorker here.
"It's déjà vu all over again." - Yogi Berra
Review of the Scribner Hemingway Library hardcover edition (2017) selected from various sources.
5 out of 5 for Papaphiles
3 out of 5 for the General Reader
July 29, 2020 Update to Trivia & Links section to note the discovery of the previously unpublished short story Pursuit as Happiness in The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition (2020).
Your enthusiasm or frustration with this will likely depend on your degree of interest in Hemingway minutiae. The Hemingway Library Edition of The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway presents 2 juvenilia stories ("Judgment of Manitou" and the previously unpublished fragment "Untitled Milan Story") and 24 mature stories (arguably a "Best of" the 85-or-so published stories to date) along with all available draft versions/excerpts of them.
You could extend that count of 26 stories by a further 2 posthumously published stories by noting that "Indian Camp" Appendix 5a contains the fragment "Three Shots" and that "Big Two-Hearted River" Appendix 9c contains the fragment "On Writing" both of which were previously edited and collected in The Nick Adams Stories (1972).
All that being said, even the most devoted Papaphile will likely find their patience being tested as they read through the 5 draft versions/excerpts of "Up in Michigan" labelled as 3a to 3e. These do not seem to be so extraordinarily different from each other or the final story version to excite much interest. Those 5 drafts are an exception as most of the stories here have only 1 or 2 early drafts included, but it makes for a rocky start since "Up in Michigan" is at the front end of the book and you begin to wonder whether you have the patience to read infinitesimal variations on stories back to back. Once over the hump though, it becomes easier sailing. You begin to look for the cuts and edits made and have the benefit of hindsight in deciding how well they served the story in the end.
Aside from having the unedited view of "Three Shots" and "On Writing" the only other draft that seemed to have an extensive segment that was cut (likely censored) from the final story was a 2 page section of "A Way You'll Never Be" 20a where Hemingway-proxy character Nick Adams in World War I witnesses his Italian friend the Maggiore passing judgment on two trench soldiers caught in flagrante delicto (he lets them off with a warning).
To sum up, this "Best of" collection with drafts that includes the gems like "Indian Camp", "Cat in the Rain", "Big Two-Hearted River", "Hills Like White Elephants", "The Sea Change", "A Clean Well-Lighted Place", "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" and "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" will always get 5 stars from me. But I can understand some finding this present format a bit of a trial. Try to vary your reading experience from the standard front to back by selecting in order of your favourites & also reading drafts first and then the final. That should help alleviate the "déjà vu all over again" pattern somewhat.
Appendix (Details for Completists)
The Everyman Library edition of The Collected Stories (1995) remains the optimal book for obtaining the most complete collection of Ernest Hemingway short stories as it includes juvenilia ("Judgment of Manitou" and 7 others), the posthumous Nick Adams stories ("Three Shots", "On Writing" and 6 others) and 7 posthumous additions from The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (1987) as well as 9 previously uncollected stories on top of the standard canon of "The First Forty-Nine" which have been the mainstay since The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (1939).
Everyman's "The Collected Stories" is however missing the 3 novel sections (2 from To Have and Have Not and 1 from The Garden of Eden) which were excerpted as stories in "The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway" (1987). Those can obviously be obtained in the novels instead.
With this publication of the "Hemingway Library Edition", the Everyman is also missing the now newly published "Untitled Milan Story" fragment.
All of the above are missing "My Life in the Bull Ring with Donald Ogden Stewart" (1924) a short story rejected by Vanity Fair in 1925 and left unpublished until it was included in its letter attachment format in The Letters of Ernest Hemingway: Volume 2, 1923 1925 and "Pursuit as Happiness", a newly discovered short story published in The Old Man and the Sea: The Hemingway Library Edition (2020).
Links
For more on "My Life in the Bull Ring with Donald Ogden Stewart" see https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...
September 29, 2017 Update
Hemingway's First Story Found in Florida
A juvenilia work written at age 10.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/bo...
July 29, 2020 Update
You can read Pursuit as Happiness in the June 8/15, 2020 issue of the New Yorker here.
October 3, 2019
When I was nineteen years old my father gave me his Modern Library edition of THE FIRST FORTY NINE SHORT STORIES of Ernest Hemingway. I literally read that book till it fell apart. I can still remember all the underlined passages and notes my father made on the best stories. Whenever Jack in FIFTY GRAND was sore at people my father wrote "Jason Compson" in the margin. In BIG TWO HEARTED RIVER my father caught one sentence that was written backwards like in James Joyce, something about pouring buckwheat batter onto a hot skillet. And at the end of A CLEAN WELL LIGHTED PLACE my father added the words "God is dead." No other edition of Hemingway will mean that much to me, that's for sure!
But this new edition is really amazing! I got it from the Niskayuna Public Library and I loved every story, except "The Tank and The Butterfly." The book is set up so that after each classic story they show two or three pages of rough drafts with lines crossed out, showing how Hemingway made decisions about what to put in and what to take out. You can learn so much from how he shortened each story to make it better.
The only disappointment is that several of my favorite stories from Forty Nine aren't included here. I really miss "The Capital of the World," "A Pursuit Race," and "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen." I think they also left out "My Old Man!" I sure miss my old man, that's for sure. He would have loved this book.
But this new edition is really amazing! I got it from the Niskayuna Public Library and I loved every story, except "The Tank and The Butterfly." The book is set up so that after each classic story they show two or three pages of rough drafts with lines crossed out, showing how Hemingway made decisions about what to put in and what to take out. You can learn so much from how he shortened each story to make it better.
The only disappointment is that several of my favorite stories from Forty Nine aren't included here. I really miss "The Capital of the World," "A Pursuit Race," and "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen." I think they also left out "My Old Man!" I sure miss my old man, that's for sure. He would have loved this book.
July 27, 2022
This is the uncut version of Hemingway’s short story collection, some of which are published here for the first time. It is prefaced by both his son and grandson and contains a revealing, insightful essay by Hemingway on the Art of the Short Story.
As well as the standard version of each story, this compendium includes the earliest first draft original manuscripts, complete with Hemingway’s pencil corrections and edits that he, for example, shared with Gertrude Stein and his loyal and devoted friend Scott Fitzgerald.
His trademark ‘tip-of-the-iceberg’ writing style means there is much left unsaid in his stories which are written sparingly, to say the least. However, the addition of his pencil notes adds a brand new dimension to the collection.
A must-buy for all Hemingway fans!
As well as the standard version of each story, this compendium includes the earliest first draft original manuscripts, complete with Hemingway’s pencil corrections and edits that he, for example, shared with Gertrude Stein and his loyal and devoted friend Scott Fitzgerald.
His trademark ‘tip-of-the-iceberg’ writing style means there is much left unsaid in his stories which are written sparingly, to say the least. However, the addition of his pencil notes adds a brand new dimension to the collection.
A must-buy for all Hemingway fans!
July 23, 2025
There’s girl sad, and then there’s BOY SAD.
April 6, 2024
Hemingway ♥️ Every story had other versions and notes that he wrote, it was so interesting to see how he changed things before finally coming up with the version he sent to print.
February 20, 2024
Hemingway’s language is simple and straight forward, so much of it can flow very easily. While I am not a big fan of most of his themes - drinking, fishing, hunting, war, which is basically all he writes about, I still find snippets of writing I enjoy and think are wonderfully written. I liked Soldier’s Home and The Snows of Kilimanjaro a lot. But for the most part, much of the dialogue seemed to go nowhere, the characters seemed to be talking in circles or weren’t even having the same conversation at all, the characters seemed one dimensional and once again, most of the themes bored me. Still, there are some brilliantly written lines. Maybe his short stories aren’t for me.
September 14, 2018
Well, I got halfway through and I took it back to the library. This is my second or third go-round with Hemingway. I really wanted to like him. I really wanted to get what his fans see in him. But I don't. The dialogue seems stilted. Many of his characters sound like each other. I'm not interested in hunting, fishing, bullfighting, or war. And that accounts for just about all of his subject matter. There is not one fully-formed female character in the dozen or so stories I read. So, so long, Ernie, I'm movin' on.
August 26, 2018
A treasure trove...being able to watch him think, seeing the alternative endings is marvelous...and, if you're a writer, a master class.
June 25, 2020
Thought I would try Ernest Hemingway reading his short stories. Not a fan of his writing. I know I know. How can I say th at about Hemingway. But it is the truth.
May 21, 2021
This version has extra notes from previous drafts of each story. It was neat to see the progression of each piece.
February 6, 2020
I have never been a Hemingway fan. Although I have read his major novels, my favorite is "The Old Man and the Sea" which is really a "long short story". A friend encouraged me to give Ernest another chance by reading his short stories. My favorites in this collection were The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and The Snows of Kilimanjaro. The latter is kind of cheating since I have seen the film and knew the premise. Several stories reached my level of OK. I enjoyed the stories most which left me with unanswered questions. I liked Hemingway's appreciation of nature. I don't think I will ever be a fan, because of the misogyny and "macho" over valuation. I was going to excuse him for this because of the decades in which he wrote, but other amazing authors such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sherwood Anderson were contemporaries whose works did not glorify only the "manly". I am glad I read the stories but I had difficulty "bonding" with the characters. A book or short story do not reach my definition of "great" for me if I do not care what happens to the protagonist. I am probably a philistine, but Hemingway is not my cup of tea. Kristi & Abby Tabby
November 1, 2019
Disappointed. This book is just a collection of draft upon draft of the same stories. Unless you are very interested in Hemmingway's creative process - like if you just want to read his stories for entertainment (like me) - find another volume.
May 16, 2021
The clean economy of prose is masterful in so many of these stories. The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber is one of the best short stories I’ve ever read. What Hemingway packs into the ending of that story is incredible. The subtle, matter-of-fact language that lays out the stories of Up in Michigan and Hills Like White Elephants makes you put your guard down before revealing what it's all about. There’s a silent emotional pull to those stories that sticks with you as a reader.
The other stories I loved in this collection: The Killers, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Indian Camp, and Big Two-Hearted River.
This edition also includes old drafts of the stories, which are part of a collection at the JFK Library in Boston. It seemed like an innovative idea to include in the book, but the drafts and edits aren’t very interesting or useful. They’re basically versions where words are lined out here and there. You don’t get any real sense of what was changing from draft to draft or what Hemingway’s thoughts were as he refined the story. The latter would have been a treasure.
Hemingway is a giant in literature for good reason. But he’s known mostly for his novels, so I hadn't really considered the short stories until I watched the Ken Burns doc (which is excellent). I think the novels are astounding, but the stories above are in the same league. They show the depth of his emotional well and his keen awareness of human nature.
The other stories I loved in this collection: The Killers, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, Indian Camp, and Big Two-Hearted River.
This edition also includes old drafts of the stories, which are part of a collection at the JFK Library in Boston. It seemed like an innovative idea to include in the book, but the drafts and edits aren’t very interesting or useful. They’re basically versions where words are lined out here and there. You don’t get any real sense of what was changing from draft to draft or what Hemingway’s thoughts were as he refined the story. The latter would have been a treasure.
Hemingway is a giant in literature for good reason. But he’s known mostly for his novels, so I hadn't really considered the short stories until I watched the Ken Burns doc (which is excellent). I think the novels are astounding, but the stories above are in the same league. They show the depth of his emotional well and his keen awareness of human nature.
February 20, 2024
I decided to read some Ernest Hemingway. His short stories had been recommended to me by my sister. Being a writer myself, this particular anthology of 17 Hemingway short stories was of particular interest as it came with several early revisions of each story. More importantly it cost me just $1.99 on Amazon.
The stories are presented in order of when they were written. The first having been written when EH was a teenager. The final being the Snows of Kilimanjaro, written when Hemingway was 37. There is also an unpublished essay by EH entitled The Art of the Short Story, which serves as a kind of second introduction to the anthology. I didn’t spend too much time looking at the early revisions of the stories, although I do intend to do that in the near future.
So you might ask, what’s there to say about an EH short story right? You already know he is known for his bare bones, and brilliant writing style. Who needs to hear more of that, right? Well the thing of it is, the first few short stories of the anthology are laughingly bad, particularly when compared to the last two: ‘The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” or “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”. Which are masterpieces. In between, one witnesses a progression of an author honing his art, for me a mind blowing experience costing me a mere two bucks.
PS- don’t expect to get too much out of EH’s essay on the art of the short story. Written when he was 60, seemingly from the bottom of the bottle.
The stories are presented in order of when they were written. The first having been written when EH was a teenager. The final being the Snows of Kilimanjaro, written when Hemingway was 37. There is also an unpublished essay by EH entitled The Art of the Short Story, which serves as a kind of second introduction to the anthology. I didn’t spend too much time looking at the early revisions of the stories, although I do intend to do that in the near future.
So you might ask, what’s there to say about an EH short story right? You already know he is known for his bare bones, and brilliant writing style. Who needs to hear more of that, right? Well the thing of it is, the first few short stories of the anthology are laughingly bad, particularly when compared to the last two: ‘The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” or “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”. Which are masterpieces. In between, one witnesses a progression of an author honing his art, for me a mind blowing experience costing me a mere two bucks.
PS- don’t expect to get too much out of EH’s essay on the art of the short story. Written when he was 60, seemingly from the bottom of the bottle.
January 26, 2019
To state so seems obvious, but to enjoy fully the packing of this collection one ought to be warm with the singular style of Hemingway. That is not to say that anyone couldn’t admire this book or any number of the stories within it, but actually to say that anyone who is not to be enamoured continuously by the execution of the prose, imagery, dialogue, and culturally astute details, will inevitably admire it less.
Because there are stories in this collection that are forgettable. One or two are even unremarkable.
I found that I enjoyed it from front to back the whole way through, skipping only the ancillary drafts at times, though I owe that to a long-standing personal affinity to the man and his finesse with syntax. Five or six of them were such stories that I will go back and read them again out of sheer pleasure, certainly. Others I was able to indulge, in lack of a better word, for study.
Snows, The Short and Happy..., Indian Camp, A Clean and Well-Lighted Place, and Big Two Hearted River are as good as anything. Many others were very good, if not great (The Killers, Soldier’s Home), though hang by the peripheral; and then two or three unremarkable stories intermixed.
I would say, at large, it’s a splendid collection. I would also say it is especially splendid if you harbour any curios or reverence for the methods of a man who was, no matter your own opinion, well-oiled for and incomprehensibly in-tune with his craft for more than forty years.
Because there are stories in this collection that are forgettable. One or two are even unremarkable.
I found that I enjoyed it from front to back the whole way through, skipping only the ancillary drafts at times, though I owe that to a long-standing personal affinity to the man and his finesse with syntax. Five or six of them were such stories that I will go back and read them again out of sheer pleasure, certainly. Others I was able to indulge, in lack of a better word, for study.
Snows, The Short and Happy..., Indian Camp, A Clean and Well-Lighted Place, and Big Two Hearted River are as good as anything. Many others were very good, if not great (The Killers, Soldier’s Home), though hang by the peripheral; and then two or three unremarkable stories intermixed.
I would say, at large, it’s a splendid collection. I would also say it is especially splendid if you harbour any curios or reverence for the methods of a man who was, no matter your own opinion, well-oiled for and incomprehensibly in-tune with his craft for more than forty years.
April 25, 2021
Ernest Hemingway Library Addition - This fat book contains 26 short stories including most of In our Time and the famous Snows of Kilimanjaro his tale of the death of an African safari participant from gangrene. Each story is followed with the author’s notes, alternative endings, and other edits. The book also has lengthy forwards, afterwords, and introductions by various family and friends. One of my favorites was The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber which ends when the scheming, two timing wife shoots her husband in the back while he fires away at an African Bull just about to deliver the kill shot. He’s gained his courage back after earlier running from a lion and she realizes he’ll leave her if she doesn’t kill him. Great stuff. I don’t think anyone else is writing like this at that time.
Some of the stories are noted as never before published and there seems to be a reason for this. Altogether 4****
Some of the stories are noted as never before published and there seems to be a reason for this. Altogether 4****
September 5, 2024
I did not plan on or expect to like this collection. I read the first half in sporadic drop-in's, and for the first several found him repugnantly dull. However, when I settled to read the rest through, i think i settled into his pacing and I couldn't deny how good I found some. Towards the end of the collection, especially, the stories started to really stack up in my mind and emotional bank.
People talk about how bare his writing is but they don't talk about how slow, how methodically paced out it is. I also think his big-game hunter personality has overshadowed the fact that I now think of him as one of the most unflinchingly melancholic writers I'm familiar with. If he was diminutive and dark and slender, like a Kafka, I think he'd be talked about totally differently. And I think that's more the writer he is in reality.
People talk about how bare his writing is but they don't talk about how slow, how methodically paced out it is. I also think his big-game hunter personality has overshadowed the fact that I now think of him as one of the most unflinchingly melancholic writers I'm familiar with. If he was diminutive and dark and slender, like a Kafka, I think he'd be talked about totally differently. And I think that's more the writer he is in reality.
April 26, 2021
I learned about Hemingway's short stories while watching the Ken Burns/PBS Documentary Hemingway. Since A Moveable Feast and the Old Man and the Sea are two of my all time favorite books, I had to pick up a copy of Hemingway's short stories.
These stories are a reminder of why I love literature and reading. Masterful, vivid, sentimental, stunning, and harsh. My favorite stories in the book were: The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio, Indian Camp, Fathers and Sons, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.
These stories are a reminder of why I love literature and reading. Masterful, vivid, sentimental, stunning, and harsh. My favorite stories in the book were: The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio, Indian Camp, Fathers and Sons, and The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.
February 19, 2025
Not exactly what I expected, more an educational history
I selected this when suggested by Kindle Unlimited expecting a collection of short stories. Instead this was 17 short stories and showing various versions (ie A, B, C edits)
So a lot of rereading.
It’s a good way to learn his writing and editing style, but I just wanted to read a collection.
I selected this when suggested by Kindle Unlimited expecting a collection of short stories. Instead this was 17 short stories and showing various versions (ie A, B, C edits)
So a lot of rereading.
It’s a good way to learn his writing and editing style, but I just wanted to read a collection.
October 20, 2017
No doubt that Hemingway is one of the masters of the short story form. The manuscripts included shine new light onto the stories as you can watch Hemingway actively cut and add new details from each story. Highly recommend for anyone interesting in Hemingway.
February 9, 2019
I enjoyed this more than anticipated
There are the edits and commentary that makes his work come to life
Not the old man and the sea or farewell to arms ... but easily picked up without missing a beat
I enjoyed the collection
There are the edits and commentary that makes his work come to life
Not the old man and the sea or farewell to arms ... but easily picked up without missing a beat
I enjoyed the collection
March 27, 2021
Master of the Short Story
Looking past his “code” of masculinity and his Great White Hunter mythology, Hemingway’s command of prose, of the structure of a story and brilliance as a first rank artist will be admired and emulated as long as great writing is valued.
Looking past his “code” of masculinity and his Great White Hunter mythology, Hemingway’s command of prose, of the structure of a story and brilliance as a first rank artist will be admired and emulated as long as great writing is valued.
March 18, 2024
This is probably the most interesting book I have ever read. Seeing the corrections, additions, and re-writes of his stories was mind-boggling. There were two or three stories that I absolutely hated. "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" was wonderful; I thoroughly disliked "Fathers & Sons".
September 7, 2020
How to edit.
November 21, 2020
A front row seat to his growth and edits to construct famous works
October 16, 2021
gotta remember to re-read these stories everyone once in a while
April 21, 2022
Listened to the audiobook version of these stories. Not really all that impressive. I loved _The Old Man and the Sea_ but these were not nearly as good. Hemingway’s debauchery shows clearly through in these stories. Like my reading of Mark Twain’ Connecticut Yankee, this set of short stories was marred by too much politicizing and philosophizing influence. Tell a fun story! Don’t try to argue for your views!
September 24, 2022
The Master at his best!
April 18, 2023
I liked that they included one of his notes in the beginning where he said that these are the stories that saw the light of day simply because he liked them
May 18, 2025
Fantastic collection of short stories, with a great write up on 'The Art of the Short Story' by Hemingway himself.
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