Literary Chicago: Ernest Hemingway - "The Snows of Kilimanjaro And Other Stories"

Sigh. Some things never change.

"Listen," the detective said. "This isn't Chicago. You're not a gangster. You don't have to act like a moving picture. It's all right to tell who shot you. Anybody would tell who shot them. That's all right to do. Suppose you don't tell who he is and he shoots somebody else. Suppose he shoots a woman or a child. You can't let him get away with that. You tell him," he said to Mr. Frazer. "I don't trust that damn interpreter."

"I am very reliable," the interpreter said. Cayetano looked at Mr. Frazer.

"Listen, amigo," said Mr. Frazer. "The policieman says that we are not in Chicago but in Hailey, Montana. You are not a bandit and this has nothing to do with the cinema."

"I believe him," said Cayetano softly. "Ya lo creo."

 - from The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio

"What's he going to do?"
"Nothing."
"They'll kill him."
"I guess they will."
"He must have got mixed up in something in Chicago."
"I guess so," said Nick.

- from The Killers

This book was released in 1961, although The Killers was first published in 1927, and The Gambler... in 1938 at the latest. Apparently any of these years ring true for Chicago's darker side. "The code of the streets" is still as problematic in 2017 as it was in 1927. The Killers is supposed to take place in Summit, just outside of Chicago city limits on the Southwest Side; the story was written at time when Al Capone was the height of his power and Prohibition was in full force.

I don't want to say I found the collection bad. Describing books good vs. bad gets too close to moralizing. What would I mean by bad anyway? That the writing was poor? That I didn't find it interesting? That I didn't relate? Do I need to relate to a work to be good (short answer: no)? So I don't relate to stories about boxing and hunting, which doesn't necessarily mean I can't enjoy it, but why did this collection of stories fail to leave a stronger impression on me? Perhaps its because the first Hemingway books I read were A Farewell To Arms and The Sun Also Rises, arguably his best works, so it shouldn't be surprising the quality has gone downhill. Maybe it's because I read them in high school and hadn't been exposed to more interesting writers at that point. I may have to revisit them to see how well they still stand up.

Note to self: make it a point to finally get out to the Ernest Hemingway Foundation at some point.