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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780684804446
ISBN: 0684804441
Label: Scribner
Manufacturer: Scribner
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 160
Publication Date: 1995-10-03
Publisher: Scribner
Studio: Scribner

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

Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great Stories
Review: This is a good collection of some of Hemmingway's short stories. They are all brilliant. It is Hemmingway though so you wouldn't expect any less. Excellent reading.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Hemingway at his best and otherwise
Review: There are two exceptional stories in this volume: The Snows of Kilimanjaro and The Short Happy Life of Francis Mccomber. Both of these stories satisfied my need for other places and experiences while exploring the familiar ground of long term, mildly satisfactory relationships. The other stories are hit and miss, but still they are Hemingway's and so, if you like his work as I do, they hit the mark more often than they fall short.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Papa's Life Shines through his Work
Review: If, ever, you have wanted to travel along with Papa (Hemingway) along his many travels and adventures, this collection of stories is the ideal way to rest your soles in his footsteps.

"Kilimanjaro" in particular, transports you to a bygone era of safaris not with telephoto lenses, but with long rifle barrels. Primarily, though, it is an introspective look at one's life and the worth that one ascribes to his experiences while he is ready to close his eyes for the final time.

Hemingway captures the moment when a dying man's recollections either turn into regrets or points of pride and self actualization.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Good Collection
Review: I read this book many, many years ago and it is still fresh in my mind. Hemingway is an essential writer. If you haven't read this book, you should do so as soon as possible.

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Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Sort stories - about as good as they can get!
Review: I am usually not a short story aficionado, but I love Ernest Hemingway, so I had to read these. Also, Hemingway thought that his story "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" was about as good as anything he had written. And he, of course was right. This story on its own has about everything anyone could ask for when reading a tale. The emotions and character portrayal are remarkable considering that Hemingway put them within the confines of a short story. The best thing about anything that Hemingway writes though is that his stories are based on his actual experiences. And his "bare bones" method of storytelling cuts through everything and gets right to the meat of any of his issues. The stories in this collection are a bit graphic because there are quite a few about big game hunting and also about rum running in the gulf between Cuba and Florida, but they are each masterpieces in their own right. I for one want to read everything Hemingway ever wrote. To my way of thinking he is one of the best English-speaking writers we have ever had.

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