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Selected Hemingway Stories: A New Audio Collection
NEVER BEFORE ON AUDIO! ALL-NEW PRODUCTIONS OF TWENTY-FOUR CLASSIC ERNEST HEMINGWAY STORIES.
This brand-new audio collection from the iconic Pulitzer and Nobel Prize–winning author is a listener’s delight. The two dozen short stories presented here have never been published on audio; these new recordings of classic stories will remind listeners of Ernest Hemingway’s incomparable mastery of the short story form.
Included are three short stories on war—by one of history’s greatest writers on the subject—that were never published in any print or audio collection before 2019: “A Room on the Garden Side,” “Indian Country and the White Army,” and “The Monument.”
Also featured here are almost twenty stories from The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: “One Trip Across,” “The Tradesman’s Return,” “The Denunciation,” “The Butterfly and the Tank,” “Night Before Battle,” “Under the Ridge,” “Nobody Ever Dies,” “The Good Lion,” “The Faithful Bull,” “Get a Seeing-Eyed Dog,” “A Man of the World,” “An African Story,” “A Train Trip,” “The Porter,” “Black Ass at the Cross Roads,” “Landscape with Figures,” “I Guess Everything Reminds You of Something,” “Great News from the Mainland,” and “The Strange Country.” Rounding out this audio collection are two classics from the Hemingway Library edition of The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: “Untitled Milan Story” and “Judgment of Manitou.”
An invaluable anthology of beloved favorites and undiscovered treasures, read by acclaimed actor and audiobook narrator John Bedford Lloyd, Selected Hemingway Stories is a must-listen for every Hemingway fan.
This brand-new audio collection from the iconic Pulitzer and Nobel Prize–winning author is a listener’s delight. The two dozen short stories presented here have never been published on audio; these new recordings of classic stories will remind listeners of Ernest Hemingway’s incomparable mastery of the short story form.
Included are three short stories on war—by one of history’s greatest writers on the subject—that were never published in any print or audio collection before 2019: “A Room on the Garden Side,” “Indian Country and the White Army,” and “The Monument.”
Also featured here are almost twenty stories from The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: “One Trip Across,” “The Tradesman’s Return,” “The Denunciation,” “The Butterfly and the Tank,” “Night Before Battle,” “Under the Ridge,” “Nobody Ever Dies,” “The Good Lion,” “The Faithful Bull,” “Get a Seeing-Eyed Dog,” “A Man of the World,” “An African Story,” “A Train Trip,” “The Porter,” “Black Ass at the Cross Roads,” “Landscape with Figures,” “I Guess Everything Reminds You of Something,” “Great News from the Mainland,” and “The Strange Country.” Rounding out this audio collection are two classics from the Hemingway Library edition of The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: “Untitled Milan Story” and “Judgment of Manitou.”
An invaluable anthology of beloved favorites and undiscovered treasures, read by acclaimed actor and audiobook narrator John Bedford Lloyd, Selected Hemingway Stories is a must-listen for every Hemingway fan.
Audible Audio
Published July 16, 2019
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About the author
Ernest Hemingway
2,206 books32.3k 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 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 1, 2025
Most of the Rest of the Short Stories
A review of the Simon and Schuster audiobook (July 16, 2019) narrated by John Bedford Lloyd and collecting various stories originally written 1916 to 1956 and later published from 1934 to 2019.
[2.7 star average for the 24 stories, rounded up to a GR 3 star]
This is probably only going to be of interest to Hemingway fans aka Papaphiles and/or Papa completists. It is an audio only anthology of most of the later published stories that were not included in the The Short Stories/The First Forty-nine Stories With a Brief Preface by the Author: The First Forty-nine Stories With a Brief Introduction by the Author (1938).
The additions have gradually been published in posthumous short story collections such as The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition (1987) and the The Collected Stories (Everyman's Library Classics) by Ernest Hemingway (25-May-1995) Hardcover (1995). Some further finds have been made and added in the Hemingway Library Editions of The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Hemingway Library Collector's Edition (2017) and For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition (2019). The posthumous The Nick Adams stories (1966) are NOT included as they were already narrated by Stacy Keach in a 2007 audiobook The Nick Adams Stories.
There is no print equivalent for this audio collection so it is a 0 page add to the GR page count. With an audiobook length of 11 hours and 27 minutes it would be approximately 345 pages in print. That assumes 30 pages = 1 hour of narration, which is reasonable if the pages are full and not short measure.
The narration by John Bedford Lloyd was excellent throughout and had the proper gravitas when needed.
The following individual story ratings and synopses are not spoiler blocked.
1. A Room on the Garden Side **** written in 1956 but not published until 2018 in The Strand magazine. A Hemingway proxy named Robert who is also nicknamed “Papa” and a small band of his irregulars are enjoying the amenities of The Ritz Hotel in Paris after its liberation during World War II. Robert reads a copy of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (1857) (casually mentioning that Charles Ritz gave it to him and that it is the one with the Théophile Gautier introduction) and together they sing the French war song Le 31 du mois d’Aout (1800). See further information at PBS.
2. Indian Country and the White Army *** written in 1956 but not published until the expanded Hemingway Library Edition of [For Whom the Bell Tolls] (2019). War correspondent Hemingway as himself (called Ernie) is travelling through the Ardennes Forest along with Col. Buck Latham during World War II. See further information at PBS.
3. The Monument *** as in #2, this was written in 1956 but not published until 2019. This reads as if it is a continuation of the previous WWII story. The army regiment, irregulars and correspondents continue on their journey through reconquered France. The title refers to a monument in a town that commemorates the first Belgian casualty of WWI.
4. One Trip Across *** first published in Cosmopolitan (1934) later became the opening chapters of the novel [To Have and Have Not] (1937). Charter fishing boat captain Harry Morgan is cheated by his client and is stranded in Cuba. He turns to crime and ferrying contraband and illegals, but things turn desperate as he betrays his own clients. Unfortunately, Harry makes constant use of the n word while referring to his fishing bait assistant. Told in 1st person POV.
5. The Tradesman’s Return *** first published in Esquire (1936) later part of the novel [To Have and Have Not] (1937). Harry Morgan and Wesley (who is perhaps the bait man from the previous story) are running illegal liquor from Cuba to America but are caught in a shootout with the Coast Guard and are wounded. While still headed to Key West they encounter friend Willie’s fishing charter who has two American officials on board who are suspicious of Harry’s boat. Told in 3rd person POV unlike #4.
6. The Denunciation **** first published in Esquire (November, 1938), later collected in [The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War] (1969) and [The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway] (1987). In Chicote’s bar in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, an American journalist Edwin Henry recognizes a fascist spy and advises the waiter to phone the Seguridad to denounce him for arrest. He later tells his contact at the Security Service to tell the spy that he denounced him so that he won’t think badly of the waiters or of Chicote’s before he is executed.
7. The Butterfly and the Tank **** first published in Esquire (December, 1938), later collected in [The Fifth Column…] (1969) and [The Complete…] (1987). Again at Chicote’s bar during the Spanish Civil War, Edwin Henry is having drinks when a foolish man enters and starts spraying the waiters with an insecticide spray gun as a joke. The waiters and patrons are annoyed by this and the man is beaten up and killed. Later it turns out the spray was only eau de cologne, but the Chicote manager says that the man’s attitude was like that of a butterfly going up against an armoured war tank.
8. Night Before Battle *** first published in Esquire (January, 1939), later collected in [The Fifth Column…] (1969) and [The Complete…] (1987). During the Spanish Civil War, journalist Edwin Henry returns from filming a failed assault to Chicote’s Bar where he talks with Al, a friend who is a tank division commander. They return to Henry’s hotel and then to a restaurant to eat. Al is convinced that he will die in the following day’s assault.
9. Under the Ridge *** first published in Cosmopolitan (1939), later collected in [The Fifth Column…] (1969) and [The Complete…] (1987). Continuing the Spanish Civil War stories. Edwin Henry views the aftermath of a losing battle. He views the Russian battle police shoot one of the men that was attempting to desert and hears another such story about a man with a self-inflicted wound who returned to the front after hospitalization only to be executed as well. Henry returns to his hotel in despair about the war.
10. Nobody Ever Dies ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). A Cuban revolution story. A wounded man named Enrique is hiding out in a safe house and is assisted by Maria. They flee when police arrive. Maria is defiant as she is arrested by security forces.
11. The Good Lion ** Children’s story first published in Holiday magazine (March 1951), then in [The Complete…] (1987). The good lion is not a carnivore but eats pasta instead. With the wings on his back he flies to Venice to escape the bad carnivorous lions.
12. The Faithful Bull ** Children’s story first published in Holiday magazine (March 1951), then in [The Complete…] (1987). A fighting bull is put out to breed but is faithful to only a single cow. He is then sent to die in the bull ring as punishment for his faithfulness. A very odd story for children?
13. Get a Seeing-Eyed Dog ** first published in The Atlantic Monthly (December 10, 1957) then in [The Complete…] (1987). A recently blinded man and his caregiver wife are reminiscing about their lives, but he keeps thinking that she should leave him.
14. A Man of the World ** first published in The Atlantic Monthly (December 10, 1957) then in [The Complete…] (1987). An old blind man Blindy travels between bars digging or begging for change at slot machines. A bartender tells the story of how Blacky was blinded in a fight and now only answers to Blindy.
15. An African Story *** an excerpt from the posthumous novel [The Garden of Eden] (1986) also published in [The Complete…] (1987). The young David Bourne tells the story about the hunting of an elephant with his father and a tracker guide in Africa. This is one of the stories that the older David would be writing about during the novel.
16. A Train Trip *** not published until [The Complete…] (1987), was part of an unfinished novel from 1927-28 centering on the coming of age of a boy named Jimmy Breen. In this story, Jimmy and his father are on a train bound for Chicago and later for Canada. On the train are 2 captured criminals who are handcuffed to 2 policemen. This is very much in the early Hemingway style which was sometimes described as Lardneresque i.e. in the style of Ring Lardner (1885-1933).
17. The Porter *** not published until [The Complete…] (1987) as in #16, this is part of the unfinished 1927-28 Jimmy Breen novel. While his father sleeps, Jimmy spends time with “George,” the porter on the train. NOTE: “George” is a racist all-purpose name for train porters used by passengers so that they didn't have to learn the real names. The name was taken from George Pullman, the inventor of the luxury Pullman sleeping car on trains. This is not explained in the story. See the non-fiction memoirs My name's not George: The story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters : personal reminiscences of Stanley G. Grizzle (1998) and They Call Me George: The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters (2019) and Suzette Mayr's fiction The Sleeping Car Porter (2022).
18. Black Ass at the Cross Roads ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987), a further World War 2 story along with #1-#3 following a group of mixed French & American irregulars during the reconquest of France. They are set up to ambush German retreaters at a crossroads but are also robbing the dead. The “Captain” is in a “black ass” mood about it, which is Hemingway’s term for depression.
19. Landscape with Figures ***, written in 1938 but not published until [The Complete…] (1987). This was a further Spanish Civil War story along with #6-#9. Edwin Henry is with his film crew at a partially demolished house overlooking an assault scene. There is also a British and American journalist with them. The Brit is attracting enemy fire. In a possible roman à clef the American journalist could be based on Martha Gellhorn.
20. I Guess Everything Reminds You of Something *** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). A roman à clef story about the son of a writer who is a fine shooter at the local gun club, but who also plagiarizes a story for a school project which the narrator discovers many years later. “Stevie” is a stand-in for Hemingway’s son Gregory and the story reflects on their estrangement later in life.
21. Great News from the Mainland ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). There is a major windstorm in Cuba which destroys many crops and trees. The narrator phones back to America where his son is undergoing various injections and shock treatments at a clinic for an undefined condition. The son says he is doing fine. Again this is a possible roman à clef about Hemingway’s son Gregory.
22. The Strange Country ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). This was apparently an abandoned start to what later became the posthumously published novel [Islands in the Stream] (1970). It doesn’t involve sea-faring adventures but is instead about a car road trip with characters named Roger and Helena who seem to be proxies for Hemingway and Gellhorn. The “strange country” is a euphemism for the couple’s sexual experience. This was often cringey in the manner of [Across the River…] (1950).
23. Judgment of Manitou ** Juvenilia. This was Hemingway’s first published story (presumably in a school newspaper), written in 1916 when he was a high school student, not published until the Hemingway Library Edition of [The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway] (2017). Two hunters fall prey to the forces of nature and their own poor judgment.
24. Untitled Milan Story ** written in 1918 but not published until the Hemingway Library Edition of [The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway] (2017). A roman à clef story featuring Hemingway’s proxy Nick Adams who is in hospital after being wounded in World War I.
Soundtrack
I couldn't help but be curious about the early 19th century French naval war song in story #1 and I found several recordings of it on YouTube, one of which you can listen to here.
In the short story, Hemingway's characters triple down on the merde lyric in the chorus by singing Merde! Merde!! MERDE!!! 💩🤣
A review of the Simon and Schuster audiobook (July 16, 2019) narrated by John Bedford Lloyd and collecting various stories originally written 1916 to 1956 and later published from 1934 to 2019.
[2.7 star average for the 24 stories, rounded up to a GR 3 star]
This is probably only going to be of interest to Hemingway fans aka Papaphiles and/or Papa completists. It is an audio only anthology of most of the later published stories that were not included in the The Short Stories/The First Forty-nine Stories With a Brief Preface by the Author: The First Forty-nine Stories With a Brief Introduction by the Author (1938).
The additions have gradually been published in posthumous short story collections such as The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition (1987) and the The Collected Stories (Everyman's Library Classics) by Ernest Hemingway (25-May-1995) Hardcover (1995). Some further finds have been made and added in the Hemingway Library Editions of The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Hemingway Library Collector's Edition (2017) and For Whom the Bell Tolls: The Hemingway Library Edition (2019). The posthumous The Nick Adams stories (1966) are NOT included as they were already narrated by Stacy Keach in a 2007 audiobook The Nick Adams Stories.
There is no print equivalent for this audio collection so it is a 0 page add to the GR page count. With an audiobook length of 11 hours and 27 minutes it would be approximately 345 pages in print. That assumes 30 pages = 1 hour of narration, which is reasonable if the pages are full and not short measure.
The narration by John Bedford Lloyd was excellent throughout and had the proper gravitas when needed.
The following individual story ratings and synopses are not spoiler blocked.
1. A Room on the Garden Side **** written in 1956 but not published until 2018 in The Strand magazine. A Hemingway proxy named Robert who is also nicknamed “Papa” and a small band of his irregulars are enjoying the amenities of The Ritz Hotel in Paris after its liberation during World War II. Robert reads a copy of Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal (1857) (casually mentioning that Charles Ritz gave it to him and that it is the one with the Théophile Gautier introduction) and together they sing the French war song Le 31 du mois d’Aout (1800). See further information at PBS.
2. Indian Country and the White Army *** written in 1956 but not published until the expanded Hemingway Library Edition of [For Whom the Bell Tolls] (2019). War correspondent Hemingway as himself (called Ernie) is travelling through the Ardennes Forest along with Col. Buck Latham during World War II. See further information at PBS.
3. The Monument *** as in #2, this was written in 1956 but not published until 2019. This reads as if it is a continuation of the previous WWII story. The army regiment, irregulars and correspondents continue on their journey through reconquered France. The title refers to a monument in a town that commemorates the first Belgian casualty of WWI.
4. One Trip Across *** first published in Cosmopolitan (1934) later became the opening chapters of the novel [To Have and Have Not] (1937). Charter fishing boat captain Harry Morgan is cheated by his client and is stranded in Cuba. He turns to crime and ferrying contraband and illegals, but things turn desperate as he betrays his own clients. Unfortunately, Harry makes constant use of the n word while referring to his fishing bait assistant. Told in 1st person POV.
5. The Tradesman’s Return *** first published in Esquire (1936) later part of the novel [To Have and Have Not] (1937). Harry Morgan and Wesley (who is perhaps the bait man from the previous story) are running illegal liquor from Cuba to America but are caught in a shootout with the Coast Guard and are wounded. While still headed to Key West they encounter friend Willie’s fishing charter who has two American officials on board who are suspicious of Harry’s boat. Told in 3rd person POV unlike #4.
6. The Denunciation **** first published in Esquire (November, 1938), later collected in [The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War] (1969) and [The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway] (1987). In Chicote’s bar in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War, an American journalist Edwin Henry recognizes a fascist spy and advises the waiter to phone the Seguridad to denounce him for arrest. He later tells his contact at the Security Service to tell the spy that he denounced him so that he won’t think badly of the waiters or of Chicote’s before he is executed.
7. The Butterfly and the Tank **** first published in Esquire (December, 1938), later collected in [The Fifth Column…] (1969) and [The Complete…] (1987). Again at Chicote’s bar during the Spanish Civil War, Edwin Henry is having drinks when a foolish man enters and starts spraying the waiters with an insecticide spray gun as a joke. The waiters and patrons are annoyed by this and the man is beaten up and killed. Later it turns out the spray was only eau de cologne, but the Chicote manager says that the man’s attitude was like that of a butterfly going up against an armoured war tank.
8. Night Before Battle *** first published in Esquire (January, 1939), later collected in [The Fifth Column…] (1969) and [The Complete…] (1987). During the Spanish Civil War, journalist Edwin Henry returns from filming a failed assault to Chicote’s Bar where he talks with Al, a friend who is a tank division commander. They return to Henry’s hotel and then to a restaurant to eat. Al is convinced that he will die in the following day’s assault.
9. Under the Ridge *** first published in Cosmopolitan (1939), later collected in [The Fifth Column…] (1969) and [The Complete…] (1987). Continuing the Spanish Civil War stories. Edwin Henry views the aftermath of a losing battle. He views the Russian battle police shoot one of the men that was attempting to desert and hears another such story about a man with a self-inflicted wound who returned to the front after hospitalization only to be executed as well. Henry returns to his hotel in despair about the war.
10. Nobody Ever Dies ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). A Cuban revolution story. A wounded man named Enrique is hiding out in a safe house and is assisted by Maria. They flee when police arrive. Maria is defiant as she is arrested by security forces.
11. The Good Lion ** Children’s story first published in Holiday magazine (March 1951), then in [The Complete…] (1987). The good lion is not a carnivore but eats pasta instead. With the wings on his back he flies to Venice to escape the bad carnivorous lions.
12. The Faithful Bull ** Children’s story first published in Holiday magazine (March 1951), then in [The Complete…] (1987). A fighting bull is put out to breed but is faithful to only a single cow. He is then sent to die in the bull ring as punishment for his faithfulness. A very odd story for children?
13. Get a Seeing-Eyed Dog ** first published in The Atlantic Monthly (December 10, 1957) then in [The Complete…] (1987). A recently blinded man and his caregiver wife are reminiscing about their lives, but he keeps thinking that she should leave him.
14. A Man of the World ** first published in The Atlantic Monthly (December 10, 1957) then in [The Complete…] (1987). An old blind man Blindy travels between bars digging or begging for change at slot machines. A bartender tells the story of how Blacky was blinded in a fight and now only answers to Blindy.
15. An African Story *** an excerpt from the posthumous novel [The Garden of Eden] (1986) also published in [The Complete…] (1987). The young David Bourne tells the story about the hunting of an elephant with his father and a tracker guide in Africa. This is one of the stories that the older David would be writing about during the novel.
16. A Train Trip *** not published until [The Complete…] (1987), was part of an unfinished novel from 1927-28 centering on the coming of age of a boy named Jimmy Breen. In this story, Jimmy and his father are on a train bound for Chicago and later for Canada. On the train are 2 captured criminals who are handcuffed to 2 policemen. This is very much in the early Hemingway style which was sometimes described as Lardneresque i.e. in the style of Ring Lardner (1885-1933).
17. The Porter *** not published until [The Complete…] (1987) as in #16, this is part of the unfinished 1927-28 Jimmy Breen novel. While his father sleeps, Jimmy spends time with “George,” the porter on the train. NOTE: “George” is a racist all-purpose name for train porters used by passengers so that they didn't have to learn the real names. The name was taken from George Pullman, the inventor of the luxury Pullman sleeping car on trains. This is not explained in the story. See the non-fiction memoirs My name's not George: The story of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters : personal reminiscences of Stanley G. Grizzle (1998) and They Call Me George: The Untold Story of The Black Train Porters (2019) and Suzette Mayr's fiction The Sleeping Car Porter (2022).
18. Black Ass at the Cross Roads ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987), a further World War 2 story along with #1-#3 following a group of mixed French & American irregulars during the reconquest of France. They are set up to ambush German retreaters at a crossroads but are also robbing the dead. The “Captain” is in a “black ass” mood about it, which is Hemingway’s term for depression.
19. Landscape with Figures ***, written in 1938 but not published until [The Complete…] (1987). This was a further Spanish Civil War story along with #6-#9. Edwin Henry is with his film crew at a partially demolished house overlooking an assault scene. There is also a British and American journalist with them. The Brit is attracting enemy fire. In a possible roman à clef the American journalist could be based on Martha Gellhorn.
20. I Guess Everything Reminds You of Something *** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). A roman à clef story about the son of a writer who is a fine shooter at the local gun club, but who also plagiarizes a story for a school project which the narrator discovers many years later. “Stevie” is a stand-in for Hemingway’s son Gregory and the story reflects on their estrangement later in life.
21. Great News from the Mainland ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). There is a major windstorm in Cuba which destroys many crops and trees. The narrator phones back to America where his son is undergoing various injections and shock treatments at a clinic for an undefined condition. The son says he is doing fine. Again this is a possible roman à clef about Hemingway’s son Gregory.
22. The Strange Country ** not published until [The Complete…] (1987). This was apparently an abandoned start to what later became the posthumously published novel [Islands in the Stream] (1970). It doesn’t involve sea-faring adventures but is instead about a car road trip with characters named Roger and Helena who seem to be proxies for Hemingway and Gellhorn. The “strange country” is a euphemism for the couple’s sexual experience. This was often cringey in the manner of [Across the River…] (1950).
23. Judgment of Manitou ** Juvenilia. This was Hemingway’s first published story (presumably in a school newspaper), written in 1916 when he was a high school student, not published until the Hemingway Library Edition of [The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway] (2017). Two hunters fall prey to the forces of nature and their own poor judgment.
24. Untitled Milan Story ** written in 1918 but not published until the Hemingway Library Edition of [The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway] (2017). A roman à clef story featuring Hemingway’s proxy Nick Adams who is in hospital after being wounded in World War I.
Soundtrack
I couldn't help but be curious about the early 19th century French naval war song in story #1 and I found several recordings of it on YouTube, one of which you can listen to here.
In the short story, Hemingway's characters triple down on the merde lyric in the chorus by singing Merde! Merde!! MERDE!!! 💩🤣
Buvons un coup,
Buvons en deux,
À la santé des amoureux!
À la santé du Roi de France,
Et merde pour le roi d'Angleterre
Qui nous a déclaré la guerre!
TRANSLATION:
Let's have a drink,
Let's have two,
To the health of lovers!
To the health of the King of France,
And shit for the King of England
Who declared war on us!
December 7, 2019
More N-words thrown around than at a KKK rally. C'mon Ernie.
October 4, 2019
Wow. What do you say when you know you love an author, and then you read something and feel little to nothing? I would title this The B List Stories. I can't recall having heard any of these before. And maybe I am just getting older, but while I can totally comprehend the use of the "n" word in the context of place and time, it is disturbing to hear it over and over in an audio book. It just has a different impact. And killing an elephant....no. When I was in HS and "discovered" Hemingway - no problem that I can recall, but I hadn't yet developed much sensitivity.
So, it did at all times sound like Hemingway. It just didn't draw me in that much. Technically, I would go back and re-read...just to try to develop a better appreciation. Some of them anyway. The one that sounded most like the ones I have enjoyed came toward the end, a road trip up and out of FL; a middle aged author and his 22 year old near bride. There were details that I believe were truly lifted right from his life, at least as far as I recall. He certainly was one who wrote from his life. I admit that I have read quite a mix of Hemingway authored fiction, fiction about Hemingway (and his wives) and Hemingway non-fiction. He ends up bigger than life itself. Isn't that how it was meant to be?
So, it did at all times sound like Hemingway. It just didn't draw me in that much. Technically, I would go back and re-read...just to try to develop a better appreciation. Some of them anyway. The one that sounded most like the ones I have enjoyed came toward the end, a road trip up and out of FL; a middle aged author and his 22 year old near bride. There were details that I believe were truly lifted right from his life, at least as far as I recall. He certainly was one who wrote from his life. I admit that I have read quite a mix of Hemingway authored fiction, fiction about Hemingway (and his wives) and Hemingway non-fiction. He ends up bigger than life itself. Isn't that how it was meant to be?
March 13, 2025
An interesting collection of short works.
Selected Hemingway Stories: A New Audio Collection was my introduction/reintroduction to Hemmingway’s story telling. To be honest I don’t remember reading any of his works some sixty years ago when I was in high school. But I’d bet The Old Man, and the Sea was required reading back then.
My reason for listen to this collection of stories was twofold, the entertainment value from the stories, and as a n example of writing technique. I’ve read books by many authors who hold Hemmingway up as their ideal author, so I needed to see for myself.
Sure, the stories show their age, the language of the times when these were written is remarkedly different. But so is history and everything else – it’s all about perspective and being able to realize the past was much different than your current present. Just like fifty years from now what was acceptable today will surely be offensive at that time.
After the first couple of stories, I began to see why several authors I read consistently hold Hemmingway as their ideal. His ability to paint such vivid pictures of his scenes through almost stripped-down prose is amazing. His narratives of the wars of the last century paint such a vivid picture of everyday life going on amid such destruction made me feel like I was sitting in the bar in Spain observing all the goings on.
Prior to listening to this collection of stories I wasn’t familiar with John Bedford Lloyd’s narration. After listening to him for over 11 hours I realized how well his style of delivery and diction fit these stories. I’ve begun to look for more titles narrated by Mr. Lloyd to see if I’ll enjoy them as much as this collection of Hemmingway stories.
Selected Hemingway Stories: A New Audio Collection was my introduction/reintroduction to Hemmingway’s story telling. To be honest I don’t remember reading any of his works some sixty years ago when I was in high school. But I’d bet The Old Man, and the Sea was required reading back then.
My reason for listen to this collection of stories was twofold, the entertainment value from the stories, and as a n example of writing technique. I’ve read books by many authors who hold Hemmingway up as their ideal author, so I needed to see for myself.
Sure, the stories show their age, the language of the times when these were written is remarkedly different. But so is history and everything else – it’s all about perspective and being able to realize the past was much different than your current present. Just like fifty years from now what was acceptable today will surely be offensive at that time.
After the first couple of stories, I began to see why several authors I read consistently hold Hemmingway as their ideal. His ability to paint such vivid pictures of his scenes through almost stripped-down prose is amazing. His narratives of the wars of the last century paint such a vivid picture of everyday life going on amid such destruction made me feel like I was sitting in the bar in Spain observing all the goings on.
Prior to listening to this collection of stories I wasn’t familiar with John Bedford Lloyd’s narration. After listening to him for over 11 hours I realized how well his style of delivery and diction fit these stories. I’ve begun to look for more titles narrated by Mr. Lloyd to see if I’ll enjoy them as much as this collection of Hemmingway stories.
April 13, 2021
The same joys and problems for me. Hemingway seems to capture something pure and real but always leaves it just out of grasp for the reader. The stories dont seem to ever be climatic, just flat and subtle. And the dialog between romantic partners seems overly dramatic and puts me off. I still find his wrting style captivating, which is why I keep coming back for more.
November 12, 2022
I wanted to like this more than I did. Perhaps it was the racist language - surely acceptable at the time it was written; it's very challenging to hear it now, and with such frequency - in some of the stories. Perhaps it was the not-so-subtle theme of incest that dominated one story.
I believe others when they say he was a great writer. I just can't attest to it from this selection of stories.
I believe others when they say he was a great writer. I just can't attest to it from this selection of stories.
March 1, 2020
Nine hours of Hemingway in headphones is too much. Also, poor choice of stories.
March 6, 2025
Worth the time. I keep thinking of Hemingway as only doing novels.
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