Introduction to Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time
The short stories presented by Ernest Hemingway are from his first book In Our Time.
The following is background information about the book which will enhance students’ understanding of the short stories.
In Our Time
“In Our Time is the first collection of short stories written by Ernest Hemingway. It was published in New York in 1925… after a shorter edition of the book, titled In Our Time, had been published in Paris in 1924… and introduces readers to Hemingway’s distinctive style…
Sixteen of the 18 vignettes published in our time (Paris edition) were incorporated into In Our Time (New York edition) as inter-chapter pieces and renumbered; two were rewritten as short stories—one was rewritten as the short story The Revolutionist and the love story was rewritten as A Very Short Story. In Our Time includes 14 short stories, almost all written in 1924, and many are considered some of Hemingway’s best short fiction.The volume began with two stories linked thematically, set in Michigan, introducing young Nick Adams: “Indian Camp” and “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”. “The End of Something” is a story about Nick as a teenager breaking up with a girl; the next story, “Three-Day Blow”, has Nick and a friend Bill spending three days at a lake, drinking and talking. In The Battler, as he returns home from WWI, Nick meets a prize-fighter. This is followed by “A Very Short Story”, a WWI love story set in Italy; “Soldier’s Home” is set in Kansas; and “The Revolutionist” again is set in Italy. Three marriage stories follow: “Mr. and Mrs. Elliot”, “Cat in the Rain” and “Out of Season”. Nick reappears in Cross Country Snow, set in Switzerland. My Old Man is set in Paris. The volume ends with the two-part Nick Adams story Big Two-Hearted River, set in Michigan. Newer editions of the volume begin with On the Quai at Smyrna.”
Source: Wikipedia In Our Time
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