Ernest Hemingway
31 stories
A Canary for OneOn a train to Paris, a proudly controlling mother carries a caged bird home while unknowingly passing the wreckage of her daughter’s love.A Divine GestureIn a garden cluttered with bathtubs and boot jacks, a very busy God tries to keep order.A Pursuit RaceA failing advance man hides beneath a hotel sheet while alcohol and drugs turn his last escape into a grotesque pursuit he cannot outrun.A Simple EnquiryIn a snowbound military hut, a major’s seemingly casual questions expose the dangerous private anxieties beneath his authority.A Very Short StoryA wounded soldier and a nurse fall in love in wartime Milan, trying to make a future together before the front and the armistice pull them apart.An Alpine IdyllAfter the thaw, a peasant brings his wife’s body down from the mountains—and the villagers reveal the grotesque ritual he performed while waiting.Banal StoryA writer reads a magazine’s promises of Romance while, far away, a famous bullfighter dies and is reduced to souvenir pictures.Big Two-Hearted RiverNick Adams walks away from a burned town into the Michigan wilderness, building a camp and fishing the river one careful act at a time.Cat in the RainIn a rainy Italian hotel, an American wife goes after a stray cat and discovers how many other things she wants.Che Ti Dice La Patria?A road trip through Italy becomes a tour of suspicious officials, theatrical hospitality, and the small absurdities of a country under Fascism.Cross Country SnowTwo young friends race down an Alpine mountain, then linger over wine as marriage, school, and the end of freedom wait for them below.Fifty GrandA veteran boxer plans to lose the fight that will end his career—but keeping the money may demand one last act of courage.Hills Like White ElephantsWhile waiting for a train through Spain, a couple circles the life-changing decision neither can name directly.In Another CountryIn a Milan hospital after the fighting, wounded soldiers submit their bodies to machines while trying to imagine who they will be afterward.In Our Time: InterchaptersWar, revolution, bullfights, and executions flash past in hard-edged scenes where courage and brutality become nearly indistinguishable.Indian CampA boy accompanies his doctor father across a dark lake to help a woman in labor, entering a night of pain, birth, and adult mystery.Mr. and Mrs. ElliotA young Harvard poet and his older bride cross the Atlantic determined to begin a perfect marriage, but Europe has other distractions.My Old ManA boy follows his jockey father through the racecourses of Italy and France, learning to love the horses, the crowds, and the man who rides them.Now I Lay MeA wounded lieutenant keeps vigil against sleep, replaying memory, prayer, and imagined trout streams to hold his soul together after the war.Out of SeasonA young couple follows a drunken local guide out of Cortina for an illegal trout-fishing trip that keeps slipping further out of reach.Soldier’s HomeA veteran returns to his Oklahoma home after the war and finds that the town, his family, and the future they expect no longer fit him.Ten IndiansA boy’s holiday glow collapses when his father reveals that the girl he loves has chosen someone else.The BattlerAfter being thrown from a freight train, Nick Adams finds food and company beside a campfire—but the prizefighter waiting there is not safe.The Doctor and the Doctor’s WifeA doctor’s claim to some driftwood is challenged by the lumberman who knows exactly where the logs came from.The End of SomethingOn a moonlit fishing trip, Nick and Marjorie circle the quiet truth that their relationship has stopped being what it was.The KillersTwo strangers take over a small-town lunchroom and wait for a former prizefighter who knows exactly why they have come.The RevolutionistA young Hungarian revolutionary crosses postwar Italy with no money, a party credential, and an unwavering faith in the world revolution.The Three Day BlowAs an autumn storm lashes Michigan, Nick Adams and Bill drink by the fire and talk around the breakup Nick cannot quite explain.The UndefeatedAn aging bullfighter takes a cheap night fight in Madrid, determined to prove that the old skill and courage are still in him.Today Is FridayAfter the crucifixion, three Roman soldiers drink, joke, and circle the question of what it means to endure suffering.Up in MichiganIn a small Michigan town, Liz Coates builds a private romance around the blacksmith whose return from a hunting trip changes everything.