There is a certain rugged pathos to stories about an aging bullfighter (“The Undefeated”), a boxer who decides to throw a fight (“Fifty Grand”), soldiers maimed in WW1 (“In Another Country”), a drug addict (“A Pursuit Race”), and hitmen terrorizing a diner while waiting for their target (“The Killers”, my overall favorite). These 14 short stories from Ernest Hemingway, first published collectively in 1927, are not entirely devoid of women, but they certainly are bent towards the masculine. Pared down, gritty, and subtly expressive, these stories show the young Hemingway emerging as America's finest short story writer. And "Hills Like White Elephants" is a young couple's subtle, heartwrenching discussion of abortion. Nick Adams makes an appearance in "Ten Indians," in which he is presumably betrayed by his Indian girlfriend, Prudence. "The Killers" is the hard-edged story about two Chicago gunmen and their potential victim. "In Another Country" tells of an Italian major recovering from war wounds as he mourns the untimely death of his wife. In "Banal Story," Hemingway offers a lasting tribute to the famed matador Maera. In these fourteen stories, Hemingway begins to examine the themes that would occupy his later works: the casualties of war, the often uneasy relationship between men and women, sport and sportsmanship. CLASSIC SHORT STORIES FROM THE MASTER OF AMERICAN FICTION First published in 1927, Men Without Women represents some of Hemingway's most important and compelling early writing.
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