Winner Take Nothing
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''Winner Take Nothing'' is a 1933 collection of
short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
by
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
. Hemingway's third and final collection of stories, it was published four years after ''
A Farewell to Arms ''A Farewell to Arms'' is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant () in the am ...
'' (1929), and a year after his non-fiction book about bullfighting, ''
Death in the Afternoon ''Death in the Afternoon'' is a non-fiction book written by Ernest Hemingway about the ceremony and traditions of Spanish bullfighting, published in 1932. The book provides a look at the history and the Spanish traditions of bullfighting. It al ...
'' (1932).


Content

''Winner Take Nothing'' was published on 27 October 1933 by
Scribner's Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City, known for publishing American authors including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjorie Kinnan Rawli ...
with a
first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...
print-run of approximately 20,000 copies. The volume included the following stories:


"After the Storm"

The story is based on an account told to Ernest Hemingway in 1928 about the sinking off the
Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...
, in the late summer of 1919, of the Spanish steamer, the
SS Valbanera ''Valbanera'' was a steamship operated by the Pinillos Line of Spain from 1905 until 1919, when she sank in a hurricane with the loss of all 488 crew and passengers aboard. ''Valbanera'' was a steamer capable of carrying close to 1,200 passenger ...
. A Lacanian Reading Ben Stoltzfu
Retrieved 1/10/2022. "After the Storm" involves a treasure hunter who takes his ship out from the Florida Keys following a major storm, searching for boats which had been wrecked in the storm, in order to loot any valuables. The man eventually finds an untouched
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...
filled with valuables, as well as corpses, but he is unable to gain entry to the ship or collect anything of value. The treasure hunter returns to the site later, but by that time the cruise ship had already been looted by others.


"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place"


"The Light of the World"

"The Light of the World" is one of Hemingway's Nick Adams stories. It deals with Nick Adams who, along with a friend, enter a train station in
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
. At the station are various figures who converse with the narrator and his friend, including five prostitutes. The story includes references to Stanley Ketchel, a Michigan-born boxer who had been murdered.


"God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen"

"God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" takes place during
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
time, taking its name from the famous Christmas carol. The story centers around a hospital and its staff. A local boy comes to the hospital and indicates that he had been having feelings of
lust Lust is a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can ...
, which the boy believed was a sin; the boy asks the doctors at the hospital to
castrate Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...
him. The doctors refuse, indicating that there was nothing wrong with him. On Christmas Day, the boy is brought to the hospital after having attempted to castrate himself, though it is revealed the boy did not understand what castration was.


"The Sea Change"

"The Sea Change" deals with a married couple having an argument in a bar. While never explicitly stated, it is clear that the wife had an affair with another woman, and that the husband is wrestling with the idea of divorcing her.


"A Way You'll Never Be"


"The Mother of a Queen"

"The Mother of a Queen" is a story about a
bullfighter A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...
who is referred to as a "queen," and the narrator, who is both the bullfighter's friend and his manager. The bullfighter is a miser to the point he stops paying upkeep on his mother's grave, leading to her bones being thrown in the local communal grave. The narrator ending his friendship with the bullfighter because the bullfighter refuses to pay a debt to the narrator.


"One Reader Writes"

"One Reader Writes" is written in the form of a letter to an advice column. The reader writes that her husband had contracted
syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...
while stationed in
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
, and she asks the columnist whether the "malady" could be cured.


"Homage to Switzerland"

"Homage to Switzerland" is a story in three parts, each part telling the story of a different man in the same
Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...
train station. The beginning of each story follows an identical story line: the character is sitting in a train station cafe when he discovers that the train is running an hour late; the waitress asks if he wants coffee, and each man asks the waitress whether she will sit and drink with them. Then, each story goes in a different direction. The first man propositions the waitress, offering her money to have sex with him; it is then revealed that the man had never intended to have sex with the waitress and understood that she would refuse. The second man is revealed to be facing an impending divorce from his wife, and is depicted buying expensive champagne for himself and the train station attendants. The final man is shown speaking to an older man sitting at the cafe and discussing the
National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and ...
. The older man is revealed to be a member of the society, while the other man's father had been prior to his death; it is then revealed that the man's father had recently committed suicide.


"A Day's Wait"


"A Natural History of the Dead"


"Wine of Wyoming"

"Wine of Wyoming" takes place in
Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
during the Prohibition Era. The story follows the narrator, who is visiting Wyoming for the summer and befriends a French immigrant couple who sell bootlegged beer and wine out of their home. The story discusses the couple's attempts to make a living in America with their young son, against a backdrop of American patrons who drink to excess and trouble with the law from bootlegging. The story makes use of a mixture of
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
and
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
dialogue, often switching back and forth within the same conversation.


"The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio"


"Fathers and Sons"


1977 Reissue

Reissued in 1977, the collection included three additional stories: *"
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. Set in Africa, it was published in the September 1936 issue of ''Cosmopolitan'' magazine concurrently with " The Snows of Kilimanjaro". The story was eventually adap ...
" *" The Capital of the World " *"
Old Man at the Bridge "Old Man at the Bridge" is a short story by American writer Ernest Hemingway, written in 1938 and first published in ''Ken'' magazine

References


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Further reading

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External links

* {{Authority control
1933 short story collections Short story collections by Ernest Hemingway Charles Scribner's Sons books