Product Description

The ideal introduction to the genius of Ernest Hemingway, The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories contains ten of Hemingway's most acclaimed and popular works of short fiction. Selected from Winner Take Nothing, Men Without Women, and The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories, this collection includes "The Killers," the first of Hemingway's mature stories to be accepted by an American periodical; the autobiographical "Fathers and Sons," which alludes, for the first time in Hemingway's career, to his father's suicide; "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," a "brilliant fusion of personal observation, hearsay and invention," wrote Hemingway's biographer, Carlos Baker; and the title story itself, of which Hemingway said: "I put all the true stuff in," with enough material, he boasted, to fill four novels. Beautiful in their simplicity, startling in their originality, and unsurpassed in their craftsmanship, the stories in this volume highlight one of America's master storytellers at the top of his form.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29673 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Amazon.com
Returning from a Kenyan safari in 1932, Ernest Hemingway quickly devised a literary trophy to add to his stash of buffalo hides and rhino horns. To this day, Green Hills of Africa seems an almost perverse paean to the thrills of bloodshed, in which the author cuts one notch after another in his gun barrel and declares, "I did not mind killing anything." Four years later, however, Hemingway came up with a more accomplished spin on his African experiences--a pair of them, in fact, which he collected with eight other tales in The Snows of Kilimanjaro. The title story is a meditation on corruption and mortality, two subjects that were already beginning to preoccupy the 37-year-old author. As the protagonist perishes of gangrene out in the bush, he recognizes his own failure of nerve as a writer:

Now he would never write the things that he had saved to write until he knew enough to write them well. Well, he would not have to fail at trying to write them either. Maybe you could never write them, and that was why you put them off and delayed the starting. Well he would never know, now.

In the story, at least, the hero gets some points for stoic acceptance, as well as an epiphanic vision of Kilimanjaro's summit, "wide as all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun." (The movie version is another matter: Gregory Peck makes it back to the hospital, loses a leg, and is a better person for it.) But Hemingway's other great white hunter, in "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber," is granted a less dignified exit. This time the issue is cowardice, another of Papa's bugaboos: poor Francis is too wimpy to face down a wounded lion, let alone satisfy his treacherous wife in bed. Yet he does manage a last-minute triumph before dying--an absolute assertion of courage--which makes the title a hair less ironic than it initially seems. No wonder these are two of the highest-caliber (so to speak) tales in the Hemingway canon. --Bob Brandeis

From Library Journal
It's not often that this column gets to cite something by a truly classic author, but here it is: Hemingway's last work, written after he returned from his 1953 safari and edited by his son, Patrick, in time for this July's centennial celebration. Hemingway even stars in this "fictional memoir," running the safari camp in the absence of friend and lead hunter Pop even as hostile tribes gather to attack. But he still has time to sneak in an affair with an African girl. Along with this work, Scribner will publish three new hardcover editions of Hemingway classics: The Snows of Kilimanjaro and Other Stories (ISBN 0-684-86221-2. $25), Death in the Afternoon (ISBN 0-684-85922-X. $35), and To Have and Have Not (ISBN 0-684-85923-8. $25).
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ingram
Ten stories include some of Hemingway's best and most mature work, exploring such trademark subjects as boxing, hunting, and war, as well as how men confront the fear of death and the emptiness of life. Reissue. 15,000 first printing.

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Customer Reviews

Death and Drink, War and lllness
The editors at Scribners have chosen ten of Hemingway's short stories for this Paperback edition. Set both in America and
abroad, the subjects of these tales deal with some of his favorite--albeit morbid--literary interests: death, drink, war and illness. Possibly influenced by Anderson's anthology, WINESBURG OHIO, the author actually chooses one character, Nick Adams, to appear in several unrelated stories. Ranging in length from 3 - 33 pages these stories are the offspring of the imagination and morality of a Man's author. His protagonists include a solider, boxer, gambler, game hunters--even simple waiters. Set in Africa, Italy, France and the Chicago environs, this collection will transport readers back to the era of the Lost Generation, when personal choices were often painfully wrong, resulting in social and moral disaster. Vintage Heminway, with subtle hints of his interest in suicide.

Beautiful, riveting short fiction from Mr. Hemingway!
This collection of short fiction is a reminder of Ernest Hemingway's place as one of the best authors of all time. The Snows of Kilimanjaro is full of Hemingway's wonderful, clear and timeless language and prose. "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place," "A Day's Wait," and "The Killers" possess profound sadness and sentimentality. My favorite story is the semiautobiographical "Fathers and Sons." Hemingway illustrates his feelings about his father's suicide with rich, albeit sharp, prose. The subject title is also a wonderful story. This isn't Hemingway's best work, not as powerful as The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms, but it's a memorable book nevertheless. His short stories have always touched me, and these aren't the exception.

Misleading
Yes of course, Hemingway is a good writer and some of the stories in the book are excellent. However, as a collection, the book is uninspiring and a bit depressing. Choose a different Hemingway book if you need something to read on safari.