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. It can typically be read in a single 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 old ...
by
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
. 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 a ...
'' (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 Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understat ...
'' (1932).


Content

''Winner Take Nothing'' was published on 27 October 1933 by Scribner's with a
first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is 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 book pr ...
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 island, coral cay archipelago 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 a ...
, 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 passengers ...
. A Lacanian Reading Ben Stoltzfu
Retrieved 1/10/2022. "After the Storm" involves a
treasure hunter Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with both ...
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 Tourism, tours k ...
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 peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. 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 Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
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 an intense desire for something. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality (see libido), money, or power. It can take such mundane forms as the lust for food (see gluttony) as distinct from the need for food or lust for red ...
, which the boy believed was a sin; the boy asks the doctors at the hospital to castrate 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 activ ...
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 A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions. Although the word is sometimes used loosely to characterise anyone ...
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 An advice column is a column in a question and answer format. Typically, a (usually anonymous) reader writes to the media outlet with a problem in the form of a question, and the media outlet provides an answer or response. The responses are w ...
. 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 depend on the stage it presents: primary, secondary, latent syphilis, latent or tertiary. The prim ...
while stationed in
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, 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 most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...
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, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...
. 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 landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...
during the
Prohibition Era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...
. 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 and English 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. The story was eventually adapted to the screen as the Zoltan Korda film '' ...
" *" The Capital of the World" *" Old Man at the Bridge"


References


Sources

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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