What do you think Hemingway's Best Fiction is?

Ha, ha, thank you dear Mono. I've been reading a few of his short stories from Men Without Women and the blurb on the back says:

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Heminway's men are bullfighters and boxers, hired hands and hard drinkers, gangsters and gunmen. Each of their stories deals with masculine toughness unsoftened by woman's hand. Incisive, hard-edged, pared down to the bare minimum, they are classic Hemingway territory.

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Which is fine to a degree, but it also does him a discredit I think. It somewhat reduces his writing to only that, which is unfair. Take the short story "Fifty Grand" from that collection, yes it deals with a boxer, but it is a boxer who deeply misses his wife and kids and shows a very touching, sensitive and thoughtful side to his character - he's not some square-faced thug.

I'm becoming more and more interested in Hemingway these days and I might just have to order that complete short stories, which will be another book I don't have room for. :)

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Originally Posted by Neely

Ha, ha, thank you dear Mono. I've been reading a few of his short stories from Men Without Women and the blurb on the back says:



Which is fine to a degree, but it also does him a discredit I think. It somewhat reduces his writing to only that, which is unfair. Take the short story "Fifty Grand" from that collection, yes it deals with a boxer, but it is a boxer who deeply misses his wife and kids and shows a very touching, sensitive and thoughtful side to his character - he's not some square-faced thug.

I'm becoming more and more interested in Hemingway these days and I might just have to order that complete short stories, which will be another book I don't have room for. :)

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Neely that blurb is just a sales pitch. It does not reflect Hemingway, in my opinion. That comlete short stories is well worth it. It's magnificent, the very best of Hemingway.

Oh yeah I know it's just a sales pitch but I feel it sort of sums up what some people think Hemingway only is - and thanks for the tip on the book, I think I'll order it now actually. Just finished that "Fifty Grant" very much enjoyed it.

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Originally Posted by Neely

Oh yeah I know it's just a sales pitch but I feel it sort of sums up what some people think Hemingway only is - and thanks for the tip on the book, I think I'll order it now actually. Just finished that "Fifty Grant" very much enjoyed it.

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For a complete list of Hemingway's short stories, try The Vinca Figia edition, which includes all the stories, including ones published posthumously.

Thanks for the tip, I've checked and that is the one I was going to get, cheers.

Two of my favorites are: The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and After the Storm.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

To Have and Have Not

The Old Man and the Sea

he wrote some great short stories also

I agree that his short fiction is his strong suit but I think "The Sun Also Rises" is my favorite of his novels. "The Old Man and the Sea" seems a little too self-aware for my taste, "A Farewell to Arms" was a little sentimental and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is great but not quite as good as Sun.

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Originally Posted by onioneater

I think Hemingway is WOEFULLY overrated. As is Virginia Woolf, Henry James and Anthony Trollope.

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Just out of curiosity how are they overrated? Also who would you call a "good" writer if you think those four are overrated?

And my pick for Hemingway's best is The Garden of Eden or The Sun Also Rises.

Actually I think I was being a bit to polite in that earlier line, what I really mean to ask you "Onioneater" is
are you a ****ing idiot or something?

So far from what of him I have read, I enjoyed The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, A Moveable Feast, and For Whom the Bell Tolls the most, with A Moveable Feast coming in first. But I have not yet read To Have and Not Have, which I have heard from oh so many that it is his best work.

The Sun Also Rises is near to perfect and definitely my favorite Hemingway. For Whom the Bell Tolls is very good and moving but I don't think it is quite so streamlined and maybe he could have cut some bits out so that, like in TSAR, not a word would be wasted. A Farewell to Arms , similarly, is a tremendous book but could have done with being shorter in my opinion. As for his short stories, I find 'A Clean Well Lighted Place' sticks in my mind very clearly and encapsulates Hemingway's ideal of dignity and general outlook.

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Originally Posted by johnw1

I find 'A Clean Well Lighted Place' sticks in my mind very clearly and encapsulates Hemingway's ideal of dignity and general outlook.

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His best short story - and one of the best short stories I have ever read

I haven't read all of the posts so may be this has already been stated but Pilar (a female character from FWTBT) is in my opinion one of the strongest (emotionally) and well adjusted characters in the book. He also describes in a very respectable way and certainly aside from possibly Robert Jordan she's the most intelligent person in the book. Even Maria who certainly is not physically strong is characterized as being one of the more level headed characters despite the some what machismo love story. I've only read A Farewell To Arms and FWTBT's at this point but I have the Finca Vigia Edition of Complete Short Stories that I plan on getting to some day. For what it's worth though FWTBT's is in my top ten easily.

I can't say he is overrated, but there is something with Hemingway that I just don't get. I read The Old Man and the Sea, but the dumbass version I read had a small intro that gave away the whole damn plot, so maybe if I didn't know the sharks were going to show up I would have liked it better. It's funny how subjective taste is, because I would rate him at the bottom of The Lost Generation.

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Originally Posted by Mutatis-Mutandi

I can't say he is overrated, but there is something with Hemingway that I just don't get. I read The Old Man and the Sea, but the dumbass version I read had a small intro that gave away the whole damn plot, so maybe if I didn't know the sharks were going to show up I would have liked it better. It's funny how subjective taste is, because I would rate him at the bottom of The Lost Generation.

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try For Whom the Bell Tolls or A Movable Feast. I was introduced to him through A Sun Also Rises - didn't care for it and it turned me off of Hemingway for 10+ years before I gave him another fair try