konstant hohe qualität der geschichten, vor allem die zum spanischen bürgerkrieg - trotzdem aber auch wenig, was dann sehr herausragt

As a collection of short stories it fulfilled it's purpose. I found the content of the stories both varied, colourful and frustrating. Many of them were as if they had been a chapter plucked from a book and called a story seemingly to have no beginning or ending which made it difficult at times. But within the confines of this there were wonderfully descriptive passages of text in which the essence of the author's experiences came through. Perhaps I should have read a couple of stories, then another book, then another couple of stories and it may have seemed a bit different, rather than reading it as one book. Generally both wondrous, and a bit of a trial.

Some of the stories were really good and some were, well, meh. (i do not have Hemingway's way with words).

Porzucone – dawno nie czytałem czegoś tak złego i zgorzkniałego. Nwm nie rozumiem fenomenu. Każde opowiadanie jest po prostu o zabijaniu zwierząt, nadużywaniu alkoholu, kobiety są złe, a chłopy nie rozmawiają ze sobą. Wtf

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.

"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.

Genial. Me gustan más que sus novelas largas.

niepokonany 2/5, zapaśnik 2/5, wzgórza jak białe słonie 3/5, śniegi kilimandżaro 2/5

O pisica în ploaie
Sat indian
Campionul
Soldatul s-a întors acasa
Cincizeci de bătrâne
Bătrânul de lângă pod

Some of the stories herein are better than others, but Hemingway’s voice throughout the collection is palpable. The dude got style

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.

Since I've already read the collections of short stories (In Our Time, Men Without Women and Winner Takes Nothing), which are a part of this larger collection, I'm only concentrated on the four novels,first added in The Fifth Column and the First Forty Nine Stories (note that I haven't read The Fifth Column),as well as Up in Michigan (first published in Three Stories and Ten Poems). These four are The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, The Capital of the World, The Snows of Kilimanjaro (most famous among them) and Old Man at Bridge. Together, they have plenty material to look at them as an independent work. While Old Man at Bridge is short and tells the tragic and horrors of war,as the old man runs from the chaos, living his lovely animals behind, the other three are quite long and each focuses on an different aspect of Hemingway's life through his personal hobbies and experiences (safari, travel, spectating bull fights and socializing with the locals). I've found The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber most enjoyable, as it shows men's bragging, fear and will to make amends and to prove himself to the others. The Capital of the World revolves around bull fights and a wish to achieve honor and glory, while The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a contemplation of personal life in a desperate situation. I recommend you to read each story during the weekend with a pause, if you want to dive deep in it's plot and themes. During the rest of the week I will probably review titles that I've read and watch their movie adaptations, so, if you are interested, you should expect them after a day or two.