Never understood why guys like to fish, but I do now.

I trying to apreciate, understand, and revalue Hemingway voice in my life, as recent dispute or bullying to be exact unfolding in Indonesia literature scene. I'm trying revalue his voice again, trying to differentiate his toxic masculinity tendencies, with something true and real as his voice help me several time in my life. Its hard, i haven't finding the exact answer after i finish his short stories once again. I like DA, ASL, and YAP writing, they're simply good, and forefront of contemporary Indonesian literature. But, their recent behavior in media social, their ignorant, apathetic, and homophobic statement toward NPE-another writer that i also held in high esteem--made me become disillusioned toward masculinity persona, and hemingway value, that this Indonesian writer-- ASL and DA especially, idolized and mimic in their writing and identity, as i did.

In the jumble and loud voice of social media, is hard to made the genuine truth. Sexual harrasment accusation DA made toward NPE, is really serious accusation, and made me side with him at first. But the privilege that DA and bias that i have toward him--his writing that represented my idenitity more, as my ethno identity-that live and grow up at the same small city in island province-sexual orientation, and systemic, and status quo hegemonic value in Indonesia Literature that favor writer that live in java, like DA, ASL and YAP made me side with NPE more and more, and at the same time questioning my identity and masculity persona that male Indonesia writer and Hemingway value.

I finished this short stories once again, as i have more good grasp and undestanding the voice behind it, as my reading history grow more and more, i find that his voice is simply sublime and genuine. His parsiminous, and simple voice that said "Life is hard, but it is worth living and fighting for" that he usually said in French "Dans la vie (il faut) d'abord durer" that become a manthra that i can always murmurs. But, at the same time i know his value is for the worst of it, sometimes become outdated, and contain toxic masculinity that simply doesn't hold up inthe world value that keep changing. His voice contain contradiction and perpetuate toxic masculinity, javenese oriantated culture that dominated Indonesian Literature culture, that come into question once again, as recent bullying unfolding.

I always think that literature and writer, to citate Pamuk (2006) "the best invention that humanity have, and made us more empathetic, humane, and understanding that each and everyone of us have the same wound that make us similar" and writer is best person in the world that made us understand that. I would like to think writer have more reserve and compassion toward the other, especially the writer that systematicly become the "other". I'm simply sad, dissapointed, and angry with behavior of the writers that beforehand i simply adore and admire, as their behaviour contradict universal value that literature contain, and apathetic to their own privilege in the system that favor their voice. In the constanst change of value in still unkind world, to understand the worst side of masculinity and hemingway value, to acknowledged privilege, and changing hegemonic status quo in literature, and to simply read more woman, queer and LGBT, and non-javanese writer that represent other voice and value, is simply obligation as a reader. I hope that i always remember that.

Oficialmente este es el último libro de Hemingway que he sido capaz de conseguir y ahora lo he terminado.
El proceso de lectura, como con cualquiera de sus otros libros, ha sido magnífico e inspirador, prácticamente una experiencia espiritual.
No obstante, al finalizarlo, el sentimiento que deja tal vez sea equiparable al náufrago que a pesar de administrar concienzudamente sus contados recursos en una isla desierta o en un pequeño naufragio a la deriva, enfrenta el impostergable momento en el que, por necesidad y por ninguna otra buena razón más que por necesidad pura y simple, debe hacer uso de ellos y con el pleno conocimiento de las consecuencias.
Por obvias razones, el personaje en cuestión, al igual que el lector de estas historias cortas, no puede sentirse más que nostálgico ante el recuerdo del recurso que ha decidido agotar. Ante la partida novelista de todos aquellos tenientes norteamericanos destacados en Italia, viajeros, toreros en ciernes y boxeadores venidos a menos que nunca más serán una novedad sino un simple recuerdo, y a lo sumo, un viejo y querido conocido pero nunca más un nuevo encuentro.
En fin, todos sabemos que es necesario sobrevivir.
Así de difícil es acostumbrarse a la idea de dejar ir, luego de haber disfrutado, un buen libro como este.
Farewell Mr. Hemingway!

Really couldn’t put this down and am sad to have finished it. Really solid collection. If you want to like Hemingway I feel like you should start with his short stories. His writing style shines through brighter here than it did in The Sun Also Rises for me (although I also enjoyed that very much as well). These stories include a wide variety of subject matter although it’s clear most of it is pulling from personal experience. Out of the 26 short stories in this collection, there were maybe 2 I wasn’t excited about. I’ve included my top 5 below in order.

5. Now I Lay Me
4. Ten Indians
3. My Old Man
2. Indian Camp
1. Big Two Hearted River Parts 1 and 2

Los cuentos de Hemingway, porque en los cuentos es donde era muy bueno. Me mantengo alejado de sus novelas. En Hemingway el artefacto del cuento se ve en toda su desnudez, sencillo, nítido. Dejando aparte que las historias de toreros me aburren un poco tiene muchos cuentos formidables.

In questo libro, come nei precedenti che ho letto, c'è lo zampino di quella grande donna che risponde al nome di Fernanda Pivano. Ogni libro che consiglia è una chicca di sublime bellezza e questo ne è la dimostrazione.
Ho viaggiato con Hemingway in Spagna in mezzo ai tori e alle corride, nella Parigi che in alcune scene, mi ricordava "Midnight in Paris", nella Milano delle corse al trotto, a Roma, nell'Africa dei cacciatori, insomma, in tutti i luoghi cari a Hemingway.
"I 49 racconti" che Hemingway presenta sono ricchi di bellezza, a tratti struggente, di poesia. Un vero e proprio spaccato di vita dell'universo di Ernest Hemingway.

"In going where you have to go, and doing what you have to do, and seeing what you have to see, you dull and blunt the instrument you write with. But I would rather have it bent and dulled and know I had to put it on the grindstone again and hammer it into shape and put a whetstone to it, and know that I had something to write about, than to have it bright and shining and nothing to say, or smooth and well oiled in the closet, but unused."
— Ernest Hemingway



When I first removed n  The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingwayn off my bookshelf, I was surprised that this old, weathered paperback, with its faded, creased, dog-eared cover & yellowed pages, had gone virtually ignored by me for over forty years. I was surprised that one of the greatest American novelist of the 20th-century had only now found its way onto my reading table, and only after a chance reading of an article regarding his cats survival in his former home in the Florida Keys during a hurricane. However, I was pleasantly surprised to now have at my finger tips, a ready access to this Nobel Prize winner, who would now school me in the true art and nature of the Short Story.

The adventurous, larger-than-life exploits of Earnest Hemingway have been chronicled extensively in many places by literary scholars and historical writers alike, both critics and writing analysts, and primarily by Hemingway himself as well. His escapades in war, or on safari, or in the bullfighting arena, became the source for many of the best known works, some of which included here in this very collection; clearly & candidly biographical in nature, demonstrating his mastery of subtlety & understatement, and (to the annoyance of some), tales that defy any explicit resolution. For rather than penning clear delineated plots, they become more story "fragments" or One Act Plays, seemingly isolated from a larger narrative, and yet all are brimming with metaphor and symbolism, and are driven by characters both familiar (traits and views reflective of Hemingway himself), as well as a few appropriated from his vast anthology of personalities with whom he’s interacted with.

In his Preface of n  The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingwayn, Hemingway describes the collection as being “many kinds of stories” and he expresses a hope that the reader will simply find some they “like”. So, as I gingerly turned each of the fragile, crackling pages (some of which, both individually & in segments, separated from the old, dry glue binding), I found my favorites. Of course there were some I was challenged by, having primarily to do with my lack of context, or (in one case) my inability to understand French, but for the most part, I found his writing style comfortable, economic, and astonishingly profound in its simplicity.

In many of the stories, there's a preoccupation with death, decay, and demise, but also, a struggle for rebirth, and a restored glory both subtle and profound. While his themes are never overly analytical, his vague and often abrupt endings obtusely contributes to what passes for the stories resolution, even if the demise is only implied. And even though the pages of my paperback copy are now even more fragile and failing, the words upon them are still strong and durable, much like the man who wrote them, and the n  The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingwayn will continue to stand the test of even more time ... even if my paperback copy doesn't.



Among the forty-nine stories, I feel are the strongest are:

THE UNDEFEATED
The habiliments & forum of bull fighting center around an aging Manuel Garcia, a Matador recently hospitalized, and now seeking a return to the arena. Meticulous in its scrutiny of the sport's strategy, and the insensitivity of its promoters, it is told from multiple POV's, and is an admonition of how society first builds its heroes, then watches them fall.

THE OLD MAN AT THE BRIDGE
A brief & poignant account centering on a conversation between a recognizance soldier & an old man resting by a rivers edge, who explains that it was his task to protect a few farm animals from artillery fire, how he was forced to abandoned them, but was very certain that the cat would be fine.

THE SHORT HAPPY LIFE OF FRANCIS MACOMBER
A professional hunter, a wealthy thrill-seeker, and his unscrupulous wife, go on an African safari in search big game, and soon discover the thin veils that separate cowardice & courage, ethics & egos, and decorum & chicanery.

THE CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Young Paco, an apprentice waiter, was allured to the romantic life of Madrid. He dreamed to one day fight the bulls. However, beyond his aspirations at the hotel Luarca, his avocation failed to curb his more riskier daydreams, where “decorum and dignity, rank above courage,” and also despite the examples of despoiled Matadors of whom he collected dirty dishes from.

THE SNOWS OF KILLIMANJARO
Reverie & regret occupy Harry’s thoughts, as, while stranded with his devoted wife, lies dying on an African plane. He recalls all the things he longed to write about, but knows now he never will do so. Instead, he takes satisfaction from realizing that his natural curiosity remained vibrant & strong, right until the end.

A VERY SHORT STORY
Unrequited love between an unnamed soldier and a hospital nurse, who romance, then separate, but plan to reunite again in the states after the war. However, emotions, worldly experiences, and self-discoveries change their intentions, resulting in a different outcome.

MY OLD MAN
Told from the perspective of a young Joe, it relays memories of his father as a professional jockey, his fortunes and failures, and is a story that uniquely focuses on the emotions and responses to the events, rather than motivations or any specific details.

A CANARY FOR ONE
Riding by train across the Parisian countryside, we hear from an "American Lady", how she is traveling to see her daughter, who is low on life, and bringing her a cheery little bird. She will also undoubtedly remind her to never again "fall in love with a foreigner."

TODAY IS FRIDAY
A one-act play centering on three Roman soldiers drinking after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, conversing about their participation during the day's events, and suggesting that Jesus was like a prizefighter taking the brutality like a good soldier, and that one of them may have been doing their job too long.

A CLEAN, WELL-LIGHTED PLACE
It's an old man sitting in a cafe' at closing time, and 2 waiters conversing, one young & one old, as they sit across the room waiting for him to leave. It's a story that explores the realities of loneliness, and the gap between substance and nothingness; an idea crucial to many of Hemingway’s themes. James Joyce once called it “one of the best short stories ever written.”
I agree.

Please be aware that the following review may contain spoilers of the works of fiction being reviews. Continue reading at risk of having the story spoiled.



Overall, I moderately enjoyed reading the numerous stories within Hemingway’s collection, The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. Most of the stories were both interesting enough to captivate the average reader and complex enough to be analyzed through numerous critical theories. Nevertheless, one aspect of this collection that I was not particularly fond of was the fact that most of these stories had similar social commentaries. A vast majority of the stories allude to Hemingway’s distaste for the role of enforced masculinity in society and how it can degrade relationships. Nick Addams, one of the only reoccurring characters among the short stories, develops from adolescence to adulthood showing the overall message that enforced masculinity can lead to the mental deterioration of both men and women.

One of my favorite characters in the collection is Paco from “The Capital of the World.” In the short amount of time we are exposed to Paco, he proves to be an ambitious young man who dreams of taking on the world. His passion for bullfighting–a sport in which he has never participated–is inspiring and reminds the reader of the hope and energy associated with youth. Paco’s life ends tragically with what I consider to be the most shocking scene in all of the stories. Paco tries to prove his love of bullfighting by having a mock-bull fight with his coworker armed with a chair with steak knives tied to it as horns. Paco starts off in the fight giving a performance on par to a professional matador, effortlessly dodging the chair while it is being aggressively shoved by his friend to imitate the movements of an angry bull. Right as the reader is filled with the raw passion in Paco’s rite of passage, Paco gets impaled by one of the knives and dies a painful death, alas. This scene is so memorable to me because I saw a bit of myself in Paco’s swift demise. Despite the idea that passion is all you need to succeed, it often leads to failure at the hands of unfavorable odds. While I, personally, have never been impaled by a faux-bull, I can certainly relate to the feeling of disappointment caused by being passionate for something that is just not meant to be.

In our discussions about the collection of short stories, the questions that inspired the most debate were “How does Hemmingway use ‘Indian Camp’ to comment about men’s control of femininity?” and “How does Hemmingway use many of his stories to comment about interpersonal relationships?” As a group, we came to the consensus that “Indian Camp” was a vessel that Hemingway used to comment on the fragility of women’s roles within society. Hemingway uses childbirth as a symbol of the ultimate struggle between a woman and her body. However, with the introduction of the male doctor, the woman in the story no longer has any control over her own childbirth. The fact that this woman so easily loses all of her power within the situation is indicative of the reality that the patriarchy makes it so easy for men to force women to forfeit control. Furthermore, the woman being held down by men during her sans-anesthetic cesarian section is meant to represent how women often feel as if they are being held down by their male counterparts. When discussing the interpersonal relationships shown within the stories, we decided that the reoccurring character Nick is Hemingway’s main outlet for expressing his opinions about the complexity of human connections. Nick is unable to connect with many people in his life: his father thinks lowly of him, and Nick is unable to have healthy relationships with his significant others. The only time Nick is shown to be at peace is when he is isolated from society and forced to contemplate his life alone. While humans are indeed social creatures, the constant presence of others can distract one from thinking clearly about their own lives.

I would recommend people read certain short stories in this collection. The diversity of the stories makes it highly probable that everyone can at least find one story they truly enjoy. I enjoyed “The Capital of the World”, “Indian Camp”, and “Cat in the Rain” the most, but this is just my personal opinion.

Nie zachwyciłam się Hemingwayem. Było kilka opowiadań które mi się podobały jednak większość z nich ulatywała mi z pamięci zaraz po przeczytaniu. Nie jestem w stanie wczuć się w punkt widzenia autora przez co bohaterowie w ogóle mnie nie obchodzą. Są to co prawda zgrabnie napisane obserwacje na temat życia różnych ludzi ale nic z nich nie wynika. Może z amerykańskiej perspektywy jest to ciekawsze i przez to dla mnie jest za banalne. Nie wiem, ale raczej się już nie dowiem a te prawie 200 stron to aż nadto żeby być pewnym że Hemingway nie jest dla mnie i to co go tak fascynowało ze mną w ogóle nie rezonuje.

Tyto povídky jsem rozečetl někdy před deseti lety, ještě v překladu od Nenadála, Pellarů, Válka a Valji. Nelíbily se mi. Občas jsem si řekl, že bych to napsal líp. Teď jsem tomu dal znovu šanci, pro změnu v překladu od Jiřího Joska a byl jsem více než mile překvapen. Nechci říct, že by jeho překlad byl lepší nebo horší, to neumím posoudit, ale rozhodně je čtivý a jazyk je současný (předchozí překlad je z roku 1965). A co si budeme povídat, Martin T. Pecina tomu udělal nádhernou grafickou úpravu.

Ho portato a termine un'avventura durata quasi quattro mesi e il risultato è che, se è possibile, lo amo ancora di più. Se lo conoscevo come romanziere, i suoi racconti (non tutti allo stesso modo, chiaro) sono opere d'arte.

A me Hemingway non piace

D'accordo non si può dire avendone letto solo i racconti, anche se 49 :-)
anche perché i racconti in genere non è che mi piacciano molto.
Seconda chance anche per Ernst!
Fiesta o Addio alle armi?
Si accettano consigli!