There is such a thing as starting it all over and you’ve been given a chance to and you can do it and you will do it. Will you make all the promises again? Yes. If necessary I will make all the promises and I will keep them. Not all the promises? Knowing you have broken them? He could not say anything to that. You mustn’t be a crook before you start. No. I mustn’t. Say what you can truly do each day and then do it. Each day. Do it a day at a time and keep each day’s promises to her and to yourself. That way I can start it all new, he thought, and still be straight.

I hate giving up on a book, especially after I'm 54% through it, as my kindle informs me. But this was just not for me. I hated it, myself and Hemingway. I loved Old Man and the Sea and expected more of the same. Alas not.

All this horrid abrasive men's stuff brought out the wus(s?) in me.

Tormenting and slowly killing bulls etc sucks. I realise I'm in the minority but don't really care about that. 2*s for what I've read so far and not a jot or a tiitle more

A writer whose self-absorbed mendacity cannot but shine through even in his completely unadorned and occasionally witty style. One wonders what he might have been without the inescapable self-hatred which ended him.

Read a few of the most famous stories. Arghhh I hate those dialogues! So mechanical, unrealistic, boring. As long there is action the writing is fine and the reading exciting but once these characters start talking .... I don't think Hemingway has a great psychological insight. The actions of the wife in the Macomber story are too eccentric to be true. It is clear that the authors obsession with women has determined the behaviour of the women in these stories, not a plasusible character development. These women are not real women, they are the projections of the authors mind.

A short story by Hemingway, is equal to a long novel by Tolstoy. Beneath the story you read, there is an untold story that is not told but keeps you thinking. You'd find a sentence in a short story, which is a short story itself. One of my favorite stories is, Snows of Kilimanjaro, the first character is an author who is injured in Africa and while anticipating death, remembers the stories he hasn't written. Stories that take place in different distant cities in different continents. When done with "Snows of Kilimanjaro" you're left thinking about Hemingway.

Night Before Battle -- I was thinking last night, while we were watching M*A*S*H*, about Hemingway's preoccupation with war.

There is an episode of M*A*S*H*, not the one we were watching, where they make a thinly veiled attack on Hemingway's war writing. A famous journalist/author with a red beard and huge physical presence comes to the 4077th and has a run in of philosophy with Hawkeye and BJ (I think it was BJ), and he's written off as a bloodthirsty exploiter of warfare.

As a take on Hemingway, I think M*A*S*H* was pretty unfair, but it has made me seriously consider -- both in the past and again last night -- what Hemingway saw in war that made it such an important part of his writing.

And I think we see much of what motivates Hemingway in "Night Before Battle." Hemingway is interested, above all things, on what motivates people's emotions, and there are few more powerful settings for overwhelming emotion than war. And since war is an experience that Hemingway was familiar with at first hand (he was a genuine hero in the First World War, after all), it makes sense that Hemingway would focus on war and its aftermath as the background upon which to set his examinations of human emotion.

In "Night Before Battle," Hemingway is dealing most poignantly with the emotions of Al Wagner, the Tank Commander who's convinced he will die the next day in an attack that he knows should not be made. Al moves from feeling "wet," sure that he will die and genuinely afraid of what's to come, to an acceptance of his fate. But all around Al swirls a cast of wounded people making their way the best they can while fighting what most of them know is a lost cause. We get glimpses of the emotional lives of a number of people: the divisive Comrade in the bar, Manolita, a Spanish girl flirting with the English newspaperman, Baldy, the drunken pilot, and Henry the filmmaker. None are as thoroughly drawn as Wagner, but they're all dealing with their own emotional despairs in whatever way they can.

For a man who so many people imagine as the very symbol of American masculinity, Hemingway's stories reveal a sensitivity to emotions and understanding of pain that is unparalleled by his peers. He just happens to use war as the touchstone for his examination of emotion, and it is difficult for me, in the face of a story like "Night Before Battle," to see his work as a glorification of war.

Hemingway didn't love war, he just happened to know it. What Hemingway loved was how people responded to the horrors of war, so...if anything...he's glorifying the human spirit in times of adversity.

Ah, yes. Ernest Hemingway. The writer with "economical and understated style," who "did more to change the style of English prose than any other writer in the 20th century," and who "wrote in short, declarative sentences and was known for his tough, terse prose." When you read about Ernest Hemingway it's never the quality of his stories you'll see praised, or his brilliant characters, or his creativity, or his intelligence, or his imaginative worlds, or his ability to pull you into a distant land, or his thoughtful philosophy, or his engaging style, or his brilliant plots, or his visionary concepts, or his biting wit, or his insightful nature, or his challenging ideas, or his evocative sense of reality. No, because none of this at all describes Ernest Hemingway. The only thing you'll read about him is that his supposedly groundbreaking prose makes him an important writer. That's too bad, because of all the bad things that can be said about Hemingway, his dry, formulaic, boring, absolutely uninteresting prose is perhaps the thing most easily criticized. If his dull and lifeless narration doesn't put you to sleep, the dialogue of his utilitarian, flat characters might make you laugh. Not because it's funny, but because it's stupid and unbelievable.

Many of his readers try to find deep meaning in his stories the same way a conspiracy theorist finds threats of mind-control and blood poisoning in the clouds in the sky. If you enjoy theorizing and speculating about the presence of imagined deeper meaning in his work, that is fine. It's even fine to grasp at straws to force together a contrived interpretation that no one will agree on unless they've all read the same literary critic synopsis of the work. But unlike a conspiracy theorist, some just see the clouds as masses of droplets of water and other harmless atmospheric chemicals, and aren't interested in doing Hemingway's work for him.

I could go on about Hemingway's insipid prose forever. I'll leave it alone and move on to the rest.

When I read fiction I look for at least one of the following traits to keep me interested: Piercing of the soul, examination of reality and unreality, an exploration of human and inhuman concerns, enticing plot, exciting ideas, imaginative and creative concepts, worlds I can feel and experience, alluring and interesting characters, stimulating action, finely crafted suspense or mystery or tension, capable humor, captivating dialogue, great prose, emotional turmoil, mind-opening perspectives, some kind of payoff or satisfying resolution or hard-hitting finale, insightful commentary, a significant, resonating idea, a new way of looking at something, a lyrical delivery, and a few other things not on the top of my head. Any of these things. Something worth writing will have some of these traits.

Hemingway offers none of these features in any of his stories. Not one. Even his fans will surely admit this. Many say the "understated" and dry, dull nature of Hemingway's writing is part of his appeal, and that a more attentive, thoughtful reading is required to fully digest it. This is false. A more attentive reading will reveal only too plainly the uninspired vapidity below Hemingway's words, and will open to any thoughtful reader a hundred hidden doorways of personal interpretation that Hemingway never intended, but that all work just as well because his writing wasn't direct and wasn't put together in a way to craft a real meaning. Shallow ideas, shallow characters, shallow everything, all covered over with a trick style designed to imply there's more to it than the writer put in. Hemingway is in no way a thinking-man's writer, nor does his understated, formulaic prose make his writing worthwhile. This is the illusion he crafted and perpetuated, giving nothing in the hope that readers would assume there's more to it, saving him the trouble of actually developing anything on his own. While this isn't the easiest form of writing, it's a lot easier than actually writing content and thinking through your story.

When you read a work of fiction, you enter the imagination of the author. If one has made a career of writing, or even has a serious passion about it, it should be expected that the imagination you're entering should be worth entering, and should show you things you wouldn't have seen on your own. Such is not the case with Hemingway. When you read his work and are sucked into his head, you find you're right back in the world around you, only it's more staged, colorless, less interesting, and without purpose. Not a hint of imaginative invention awaits you, not a glimpse of adventure or enchantment or excitement or thought provoking content greets you. You are in a head more boring than your own, less observant than your own, with a delirious fixation on machismo and posturing and flatness that seem like a sad step down. You rightfully feel cheated for it. You interact with cardboard cutouts who try to pass as people, you spend your time on a beach looking at waves and talking about vague things. You sip on your beer and you wonder why any of this exists. It may be that you enjoy slice of life fiction. In that case, you're better off sticking to life, not entering the unimpressive imagination of America's dullest prose-etician.

There are millions of books to read, and hundreds of millions of stories to explore. There are no more hours in my life I can afford to waste on Hemingway. Even the most trite trash out there has more to offer than Hemingway. At least something that makes me laugh or scrunch up my face in revulsion gets a response out of me that's stronger than a yawn.

If you're interested in Hemingway for his prose, there are others who did it first, who did it better, and who had more to offer. Ambrose Bierce, John Steinbeck, Dashiell Hammett. Go to them. The reason you don't hear about their 'terse, tight prose' that predated Hemingway is because there was a lot more to these authors than their prose, despite their prose also being quite good, and those things are what you will hear about instead. It's the same reason you don't hear about the winning touchdown in the last high school football game of professional athletes, but you'll hear all about it from men whose athletics never took them past that point.

If you're interested in Hemingway for his actual stories, there are others who sometimes wrote on similar topics or themes, but did it a lot better, did it first, and had a lot more to offer. Guy de Maupassant, Herman Melville, Nikolai Gogol, Franz Kafka. Go to them. They also had excellent prose, which in many cases became a living part of the story, a means of immersion and involvement and insight that Hemingway never achieved with his words.

This is the perfect collection to drop you into the delicate confines of slumber.

داستان های کوتاه همینگوی که از بهترین داستان های کوتاه جهان است، و در بسیاری از کلاس های نویسندگی جهان به عنوان الگوی ایجاز و تمثیل تدریس می شوند، متاسفانه در زبان فارسی، سرنوشت چندان جالبی نداشته اند، چرا که اغلب توسط کسانی که با زبان همینگوی آشنا نبوده اند، ترجمه شده اند. بهترین داستان های کوتاه، و نزدیک ترین به زبان موجز همینگوی، در زبان فارسی توسط ابراهیم گلستان ترجمه شده؛ "زندگی خوش و کوتاه فرنسیس مکومبر" (1348)، "برف های کلیمانجارو" در مجموعه ای به نام "کشتی شکسته ها" (1334)، داستان کوتاه "پس از طوفان" که در جنگ اصفهان چاپ شده و "کلبه ی سرخپوستان" که از اولین و زیباترین نمونه های آثار کوتاه همینگوی است. برخی دیگر از داستان های کوتاه همینگوی که در فارسی سرنوشت خوبی داشته اند عبارت اند از: "یک گوشه ی پاک و پر نور"، "پیرمرد بر سر پل"، "پروانه و تانک"، "تپه هایی چون فیل های سفید"، "آدم کش ها" که همه با ترجمه ی احمد گلشیری منتشر شده اند، و "گربه در باران" که توسط صفدر تقی زاده و محمدعلی صفریان به زیبایی ترجمه شده است. بسیاری دیگر از داستان های همینگوی توسط سیروس طاهباز، کامبیز فرخی، رضا قیصریه و... ترجمه شده اند.

میزان تعهد بعضی مترجمین و نویسندگان ایرانی ستودنی‌ست؛ مقدمه‌‌ی ۱۱۲ صفحه‌ای جناب گلشیری از زندگی همینگوی که خود دست‌کمی از داستان و رمان‌هایش ندارد یا مقدمه‌ی شادروان دریابندری بر پیرمرد و دریا که نیمی از کتاب را در بر می‌گرفت.

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

4.25 stars

So I haven't read all the short stories in here, but I plan to someday and as time goes on I'll hopefully read the whole collection. For now I'll mark this as a read novel and chronicle my journey through Hemingway as I read.

I actually haven't been intrigued by Hemingway like I am by some classic writers. My English teacher recommended a few of the short stories in this collection to me and I'm glad that I've finally been exposed to Hemingway on my own volition. It's harder to enjoy a writer who is forced upon me in school unless I'm really intrigued by the premise or ideas of the author. Then again I was excited to read The Road and that was a huge dud so excitement doesn't always lead to satisfaction in reading. Hemingway is a great writer. He's simple, but not too simple. There's a context behind his words and he doesn't invent symbols for the sake of doing so (I'm looking at you, Nathaniel Hawthorne). I can definitely see why he is considered to be one of America's greatest writers.

n  "Isn't love any fun?
No."n
The End of Something
3.5 stars

This story follows Nick and Marjorie briefly as they fish. The scenery and tension of this trip showcases that their relationship is nearing its end. Nick is the kind of who ends his relationship because Marjorie "knows everything" because "he taught her everything" and while that's a dick thing to say and think it's also fitting for the story. I also really enjoy the way I felt while reading. I felt I was entering the end of something that I had no knowledge of prior and I was only witnessing the end and the possibility of and a new beginning. Simple and it's only four pages, but there's a lot to take away.

n  "Then I'll do it. Because I don't care about me."n
Hills Like White Elephants
5 stars
This is just fantastic. I was warned prior that this caused a lot of controversy, but I immediately understood where this story was going with that certain word procedure. It's a great look into a couple who want to blame a their failures as a joint partnership on an external force (or internal depending on how you look at things). I just really loved something about this psychologically and it really proved to me that Hemingway is a fantastic writer.

n  "It was all nothing and a man was nothing too."n
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
4 stars

An old man enjoys the comfort of a cafe. He's an alcoholic who recently tried to kill himself and the waiter who is married proceeds to be a huge douchecanoe. The other waiter understands. It's an interesting story, but I'm not particularly captured by the story itself. The writing though is fantastic.

n  I myself did not want to sleep because I had been living for a long time with the knowledge that if I ever shut my eyes in the dark and let myself go, my soul would go out of my body."n  
n  Now I Lay Men  
n  4.25 starsn  
n

This is an intense look in the psyche of men at war. The narrator of this story is in a tent with another men and they both can't sleep. The narrator, particularly, can't sleep because he feels that his soul will instantly leave his body once in a deep sleep. It's a really dark story and it's all very unclear to the circumstances. It's more speculative than stated that Nick (the one from previous stories) is wounded and in a recovery tent of sorts. Nick still isn't married and I think that this is hilarious. *See story above The End of Something*

As of early April 2016 I have only read four Hemingway stories and I'm pretty proud of that. More to come...

I pulled out the Nick Adams stories and found them hard-going. Such sadness, so much attention to fishing in the north, so many details. Our dear writer Hemingway is empty of spirit and it's painful to read.

The short happy life of Francis Macomber - 3/5 stars
The capital of the world - 4/5 stars
The snows of Kilimanjaro - 3/5 stars
Old man at the bridge - 3/5 stars
Up in Michigan - 2/5 stars
On the Quai at Smyrna - 1/5 stars
Indian Camp - 3/5 stars
The doctor and the doctor's wife - 2/5 stars
The end of something - 2/5 stars
The three-day blow - 3/5 stars
The battler - 3.5/5 stars
A very short story - 3/5 stars
Soldier's home - 4/5 stars
The revolutionist - 2/5 stars
Mr. and Mrs. Elliot - 3/5 stars
Cat in the rain - 2.5/5 stars
Out of season - 2/5 stars
Cross-country snow - 3/5 stars
My old man - 2/5 stars
Big two-hearted river: Part I - 4/5 stars
Big two-hearted river: Part II - 4/5 stars
The undefeated - 1/5 stars
In another country - 2/5 stars
Hills like white elephants - 2.5/5 stars
The killers - 3/5 stars
Che Ti Dice La Patria? - 1/5 stars
Fifty grand - 3/5 stars
A simple enquiry - 2/5 stars
Ten Indians - 2/5 stars
A canary for one - 4/5 stars
An alpine idyll - 2.5/5 stars
A pursuit race - 1/5 stars
Today is Friday - 4/5 stars
Banal story - 3.5/5 stars
Now I lay me - 3/5 stars
After the storm - 3/5 stars
A clean, well-lighted place - 4/5 stars
The light of the world - 3/5 stars
God rest you merry, gentlemen - 3/5 stars
The sea change - 2/5 stars
A way you'll never be - 2/5 stars
The mother of a Queen - 2/5 stars
One reader writes - 2/5 stars
Homage to Switzerland - 3/5 stars
A day's wait - 2/5 stars
A natural history of the dead - 3/5 stars
Wine of Wyoming - 2/5 stars
The gambler, the nun, and the radio - 2/5 stars
Fathers and sons - 1/5 stars
One trip across - 2/5 stars
The tradesman's return - 3/5 stars
The denunciation - 2/5 stars
The butterfly and the tank - 4/5 stars
Night before battle - 3/5 stars
Under the ridge - 2/5 stars
Nobody ever dies - 3/5 stars
The good lion - 4/5 stars
The faithful bull - 1/5 stars
Get a seeing-eyed dog - 3/5 stars
A man of the world - 2/5 stars
Summer people - 2.5/5 stars
The last good country - 3/5 stars
An African story - 1/5 stars
A train trip - 2/5 stars
The porter - 2.5/5 stars
Black ass at the crossroads - 1/5 stars
Landscape with figures - 2/5 stars
I guess everything reminds you of something - 1/5 stars
Great news from the mainland - 2/5 stars
The strange country - 3/5 stars