Hubbry Logo
In Another CountryIn Another CountryMain
Open search
In Another Country
Community hub
In Another Country
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
In Another Country
In Another Country
In Another Country
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

"In Another Country"
Short story by Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway in Italy, 1918
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genreshort story
Publication
Published inMen Without Women
Publication typeshort story collection
Publication date1927
Chronology
 
The Undefeated 		 
Hills Like White Elephants

"In Another Country" is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway.[1] It was published in Hemingway's 1927 short story collection, Men Without Women. The story deals with WWI soldiers receiving treatment in Italy during the war.

Summary

[edit]

The short story is about an ambulance corps member in Milan during World War I.[2] Although unnamed, he is assumed to be Nick Adams, a character Hemingway made to represent himself. He has an injured knee and visits a hospital daily for rehabilitation. Machines are used to speed the healing with the doctors making much of the miraculous new technology.[3] They show pictures to the wounded of injuries like theirs healed by the machines, but the war-hardened soldiers are portrayed as skeptical, perhaps justifiably so.

As the narrator walks through the streets with fellow soldiers, the townspeople hate them openly because they are officers. Their oasis is Café Cova, where the waitresses are very patriotic.[4]

When the fellow soldiers admire the protagonist's medal, they learn that he is American, and therefore view him as an outsider. The protagonist accepts this since he feels that they have done far more to earn their medals than he has.

The story then shifts to the friendship between the narrator and an Italian major, who was once a champion fencer but now has a withered hand that has not been cured by the machines. The major becomes grief stricken when he learns that his wife has suddenly and unexpectedly died of pneumonia.[5]

The American writer Andre Dubus, who cites this story as an influence on his own writing, sees "In Another Country" as a story about healing and the desire to survive despite suffering. Dubus writes, "The major keeps going to the machines. And he doesn't believe in them. But he gets out of his bed in the morning. He brushes his teeth. He shaves. He combs his hair. He puts on his uniform. He leaves the place where he lives. He walks to the hospital, and sits at the machines. Every one of those actions is a movement away from suicide. Away from despair."[6]

References

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

In Another Country

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
"In Another Country" is a by American author , written between September and November 1926 and first published in the April 1927 issue of . It was later included in his 1927 collection Men Without Women. Set in a military hospital in Milan, Italy, during , the narrative follows an unnamed American narrator and other wounded soldiers as they undergo experimental using machines designed to restore mobility to their injured limbs. The story depicts the daily routines of the soldiers, who bond over their shared experiences of and recovery while feeling like outsiders in the Italian city, especially during the cold fall season when the war's presence lingers in the background. A central figure is the Italian major, a skilled fencer who has permanently lost the use of his hand; he interacts with the narrator, teaching him Italian phrases and revealing the profound grief over his young wife's recent death from , underscoring the inescapable nature of loss even beyond the . The therapy machines, symbolizing modern progress, ultimately prove ineffective for many of the men, highlighting the futility of their efforts to return to their pre-war lives. Hemingway drew from his own experiences as an ambulance driver in during , where he was wounded by mortar fire in 1918, to craft the story's authentic portrayal of physical and emotional trauma. Key themes include the isolation of expatriates and veterans, the psychological scars of war, resilience in the face of irreversible injury, and the tension between hope for healing and the reality of death. The work exemplifies Hemingway's concise prose style and his "," in which surface-level details imply deeper emotional undercurrents, contributing to its enduring place in .

Background and Publication

Publication History

"In Another Country" first appeared in the April 1927 issue of , a leading American literary periodical edited by , where it was presented as a standalone without additional editorial commentary beyond standard formatting for the magazine's section. The story was subsequently included in Hemingway's second collection of short fiction, Men Without Women, published by in October 1927, which compiled fourteen stories including this one and marked a significant milestone in Hemingway's early career with the publisher. Key reprints of "In Another Country" appeared in The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (, 1938), a volume that gathered nearly all of Hemingway's short fiction up to that point alongside his play The Fifth Column, and later in comprehensive editions such as The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigía Edition (, 1987), which preserved the text in its original form across multiple printings.

Historical and Autobiographical Context

Ernest Hemingway volunteered as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross in Italy during World War I, arriving in the country in June 1918 to support the Italian front. On July 8, 1918, while delivering supplies near Fossalta di Piave, he was severely wounded by an Austrian mortar shell that exploded nearby, embedding shrapnel in his legs and causing significant injury to his right foot and knee. He was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Military Valor for attempting to carry a wounded comrade to safety amid the blast. Following the incident, Hemingway was transported to the American Red Cross Hospital in Milan, where he spent several months recovering under medical treatment that included physical therapy and surgeries. During his hospitalization in , Hemingway interacted closely with Italian soldiers and officers who were also receiving care for war wounds, gaining insights into their experiences of and recovery. These encounters exposed him to the physical and psychological impacts of the conflict on Italian troops, including the use of early machines for rehabilitation, which shaped the autobiographical elements of his writing about the period. Hemingway's time in Italy, marked by both the immediacy of frontline service and the isolation of life, provided a foundational backdrop for his depictions of war's aftermath in his fiction. In the early 1920s, Hemingway returned to Italy multiple times as a foreign correspondent for the Toronto Star, revisiting sites like Milan and the Piave River front to report on the nation's postwar reconstruction amid economic hardship and political upheaval. These trips allowed him to observe Italy's slow recovery from the war, including the challenges faced by veterans reintegrating into society and the growing influence of fascism under Benito Mussolini's rise in 1922. The American expatriate community in Europe, of which Hemingway was a prominent member based primarily in Paris, extended to Italy through journalistic and literary circles, fostering his engagement with themes of displacement in a changing continent. The story "In Another Country" embodies the "" ethos central to Hemingway's early oeuvre, reflecting the disillusionment and rootlessness of postwar youth who felt alienated from prewar ideals. Coined by and famously adopted by Hemingway as an epigraph in his 1926 novel , the term described the cohort of writers and veterans, including Hemingway, who grappled with the war's existential fallout while living abroad. This context of expatriation and veteran estrangement, drawn from Hemingway's Italian sojourns, underscores the narrative's exploration of life in a foreign land scarred by conflict.

Synopsis

Setting and Characters

The story "In Another Country" is set in , , in the fall and winter immediately following the armistice that ended Italy's involvement in in November 1918. The primary locations include an old, beautiful hospital entered through a gated courtyard—where wounded soldiers undergo experimental with machines in new brick pavilions—and the nearby Café Cova adjacent to the Scala opera house, a warm, smoky gathering spot for the characters. The narrative emphasizes the cold weather, with wind blowing from the mountains, early darkness, and snow powdering the fur on foxes in shop windows, contributing to an atmosphere of urban anonymity amid crowded sidewalks and wine shops in the communist quarter. The unnamed narrator is a young American wounded in the during the , resulting in a that drops straight without a calf muscle; he is a former receiving and holds medals awarded simply for being an American fighter. The major is an older officer and pre-war champion—once the greatest fencer in —with a war injury that has shrunk his right hand to the size of a baby's; he undergoes daily but remains disciplined and straight-backed in posture. The three Italian officers, all around the narrator's age and decorated for valor, represent varying degrees of distinction and intended post-war careers: a tall, pale of the elite who earned three s and plans to become a ; a machine-gunner wounded four times who received a and aspires to be a painter; and a serious youth with one who had always intended to pursue a career. Among the minor characters, the major's wife is a young woman he married only after being invalided out of the war due to his injury, highlighting his personal loss. The machine-gunner's wife, from a wealthy background, consults specialists for his facial reconstruction and sends him a of herself dressed in a with her hair styled in a Japanese manner. A separate boy patient, from an old family and a graduate, appears briefly as one wounded in his first hour of battle, having lost his nose and with his face severely damaged, with plans for .

Plot Summary

The story is set in during the fall of , where the narrator, an American soldier wounded by machine-gun fire, undergoes daily at a to recover the use of his knee. He joins other injured soldiers, including three young Italian officers who received medals for acts of bravery in —one an aspiring , another a painter, and the third intending a military career—and a major, a former champion whose right hand has been paralyzed by a war injury. The group uses experimental machines imported from America and , intended to restore muscle function through electrical stimulation and mechanical exercises, though the major remains skeptical of their efficacy, stating that they "will not work" for his injury. After their sessions, the soldiers walk together to a nearby café by the Cova, where they share aperitifs and discuss their war experiences, the significance of their medals, and personal aspirations. The narrator notes that his own medals, awarded simply for being wounded, feel less authentic compared to the citations for heroism, marking him as an outsider despite their camaraderie. The major, stoic and precise in his demeanor, often leads conversations on topics like hunting big game and maintains a rigorous routine, teaching the narrator proper during their time at the café. The doctor at encourages , showing charts of successful recoveries, but the major dismisses such hopes, emphasizing the irreversible nature of their wounds. One afternoon, an orderly informs the narrator that the major's young wife has suddenly died of pneumonia, despite the major's careful protections against illness during her visits to the hospital. The major misses the next therapy session and returns the following day wearing a black band on his sleeve, his face etched with profound grief. During their Italian lesson at the café, the major abruptly breaks down in tears, his hands trembling as he grips the table, revealing the depth of his vulnerability beneath his composed facade. In reflection, the narrator observes the isolation of their group amid the city's routines, feeling detached from the ' shared cultural bonds even as they treat him kindly. He contemplates the shared yet distinct burdens of , concluding that, despite surface similarities in their injuries and s, "we were in another country."

Themes and Analysis

Major Themes

One of the central themes in Hemingway's "In Another Country" is expatriation and alienation, which manifests through the American narrator's emotional and cultural detachment from the Italian soldiers undergoing therapy in . The narrator perceives himself as an outsider, separated not only by nationality but also by the nature of his experiences, as the view his wound—sustained in but less valorous in their eyes—as warranting a "fake" , underscoring his isolation in a foreign environment. This sense of disconnection is heightened by the crowds' disdain for the wounded soldiers, who are treated as incomprehensible strangers, reinforcing the expatriate's psychological . The futility of and the hollowness of heroism form another key motif, illustrated by the contrast between the ' authentic medals for and the narrator's honorary one for athletic prowess, which exposes the arbitrary nature of wartime honors and the 's meaningless toll on human lives. The soldiers' shattered aspirations—aspiring and painter whose dreams are disrupted by , exemplified by their girlfriends leaving them—highlight how disrupts personal dreams without offering redemption, while the ineffective machines symbolize the broader impotence of recovery efforts. This theme critiques the of heroic glory, as the characters grapple with permanent disabilities that render their sacrifices futile. Stoicism versus vulnerability emerges prominently through the figure of the major, who embodies emotional repression as a survival mechanism, maintaining a controlled demeanor during despite his hand's irreversible damage from the . However, the major's facade cracks upon learning of his young wife's sudden death from , leading to an outburst of that reveals the limits of stoic endurance against personal tragedy. This rupture critiques the repression of , showing how war-hardened stoicism fails to shield against life's intimate losses, transforming the major into a figure of profound fragility. The theme of and its inevitability permeates the narrative, linking the hospital's clinical routine to the inescapability of mortality, as seen in the major's wife's unforeseen illness that defies medical intervention and underscores war's chaos extending into civilian life. The proximity of funerals to the sessions evokes death's constant shadow, while the major's resigned acceptance of his loss illustrates life's unpredictability, where even disciplined individuals cannot evade sudden bereavement. This motif emphasizes the randomness of , contrasting the controlled with the uncontrollable fragility of existence.

Narrative Style and Techniques

Hemingway employs his signature in "In Another Country," where much of the emotional and psychological depth remains submerged beneath a surface of sparse, objective description. As Hemingway himself articulated in Death in the Afternoon, the theory posits that "if a of knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader... will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of the movement of an is due to only one-eighth of it being above water." In the story, this manifests through understated depictions of the characters' injuries, such as the narrator's hand wound and the major's hand paralysis, which imply profound isolation and loss without explicit emotional exposition, allowing readers to infer the unspoken trauma of war. Scholar Alex Pennisi notes that this omissive technique in Men Without Women, the collection containing the story, relies on indirect dialogue and sparse to evoke deeper resonance, aligning the narrative with Hemingway's broader stylistic principles. The first-person , delivered through the perspective of an unnamed American soldier, fosters a sense of detachment and irony, underscoring the narrator's alienation in a foreign land. This observational voice limits insights to the present moment, avoiding or , which heightens the emotional distance from the events described, such as the mechanical therapy sessions. By confining the viewpoint to the narrator's immediate perceptions, the technique reveals subtle ironies, like the contrast between the ' decorated heroism and the American's volunteer status, without overt judgment. This approach not only immerses readers in the narrator's skeptical but also mirrors the story's exploration of disconnection. Hemingway's minimalist , characterized by short sentences and economical details, evokes the monotony and futility of the characters' routines, as seen in the repetitive descriptions of machines "going up and down with their steel handles." This sparseness strips away adornment, focusing on concrete actions to convey underlying despair without . Complementing this is the use of naturalistic , which serves as a primary for character revelation rather than direct exposition; for instance, the Italian officers' boasts about their medals and the major's terse exchange about expose vulnerabilities through and repetition. Literary critic Robert Paul Lamb highlights how such in the story captures the halting rhythm of real speech, using to imply emotional undercurrents that align with Hemingway's innovative approach to conversational realism.

Reception and Legacy

Initial Critical Response

Upon its publication in the April 1927 issue of , "In Another Country" received immediate acclaim for its understated portrayal of war's aftermath. , in a letter to Hemingway shortly after reading the story, described the opening paragraph as "one of the most beautiful prose I have ever read," highlighting its evocative simplicity in capturing the isolation of wounded soldiers in . The story's inclusion in the October 1927 collection Men Without Women amplified its reception, with contemporary critics praising Hemingway's concise style and unflinching realism in depicting the physical and emotional toll of . A review in lauded the volume as evidence of Hemingway's mastery in the form, noting how stories like "In Another Country" conveyed the stark authenticity of experiences through sparse, precise that avoided sentimentality. This approach to war realism distinguished the narrative from more ornate contemporary war literature, emphasizing the quiet despair of recovery and camaraderie among expatriates. Early critiques from literary figures such as underscored the innovative emotional restraint in Hemingway's prose, which she viewed as a strength that amplified underlying intensity. In a review of his work around this period, Stein advised Hemingway to "eschew the hotter s and the more turgid vision," favoring instead "intelligence and a great deal of with a restraint that makes the more effective," a technique evident in the story's subtle exploration of alienation. Comparisons to other tales in Men Without Women positioned "In Another Country" as a standout for its focus amid the collection's diverse subjects, including and . The New York Times review highlighted this variety, observing that while many stories centered on masculine pursuits, the war-themed offered a poignant contrast, deepening the anthology's thematic cohesion through its introspective lens on displacement. The story contributed significantly to the collection's commercial success, which saw an initial print run of approximately 7,600 copies and four additional printings within the first year, reflecting strong reader interest in Hemingway's emerging voice.

Modern Interpretations

Following , scholars increasingly interpreted "In Another Country" as a poignant expression of anti-war sentiment, highlighting the story's depiction of isolation, futile recovery, and the psychological scars of combat within Hemingway's broader exploration of human resilience amid destruction. Carlos Baker, in his seminal 1952 study, linked the narrative to Hemingway's oeuvre by emphasizing how the American narrator's alienation in mirrors the author's own wartime experiences, underscoring themes of disconnection and the illusion of progress in therapy machines as metaphors for war's enduring trauma. This reading gained traction in the and , as post-war critics viewed the story's understated despair as a critique of , contrasting the characters' shared yet solitary suffering across nationalities. In the and , feminist critiques focused on the marginalization of female figures, particularly the major's deceased wife, who serves as an absent of emotional in an otherwise male-dominated of war and . Scholars like those in Milan Dhakal's thesis "Marginalization of Women in Hemingway's Short Stories" argued that the wife's off-page reinforces Hemingway's of reducing women to catalysts for male , thereby critiquing the narrative's reinforcement of patriarchal norms where female agency is erased to heighten masculine loss. This perspective highlighted how the major's humanizes him but ultimately subordinates the wife's existence to his emotional arc, prompting debates on gender dynamics in Hemingway's "Men Without Women" collection. By the 2000s, postcolonial scholarship examined the cultural clashes between the American narrator and Italian characters, interpreting the setting as a site of imperial tension during , where encounters Italian resilience. Essays in "Hemingway and Italy: Twenty-First-Century Perspectives" analyzed the interactions—such as the major's prowess versus the narrator's medal—as subtle negotiations of and otherness, reflecting broader U.S.-European power dynamics in the era. These readings positioned the story as an early example of Hemingway's engagement with alienation, beyond mere . In the 21st century, "In Another Country" has been widely incorporated into academic curricula and adapted for educational media, solidifying its place in literary studies. It appears in anthologies like the Norton Anthology of American Literature, used in university courses to illustrate modernist themes of war and exile. Audio adaptations, such as recordings in the Audio Collection narrated by , have made the story accessible for classroom discussions and public broadcasts, enhancing its enduring pedagogical value.

References

  1. https://www.jfklibrary.org/hemingway/works/by-date-written
  2. https://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2024/07/in-another-country.html
  3. https://loa-shared.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/static/pdf/Hemingway-Another-Country.pdf
  4. https://www.supersummary.com/in-another-country/literary-devices/
  5. https://www.jfklibrary.org/hemingway/works/by-first-publication
  6. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/why-i-like-this-story/in-another-country-by-ernest-hemingway/2ACD6ACE57C23CCADFC8E799AB521E95
  7. https://www.jfklibrary.org/hemingway/works/short-stories
  8. https://www.academia.edu/80880928/A_Bibliography_of_Ernest_Hemingway
  9. http://www.loa.org/images/pdf/Hemingway-Another-Country.pdf
  10. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2de7/92611585eabdde0a3c42592eb5091b72ff3d.pdf
  11. https://ijels.com/upload_document/issue_files/16IJELS-101202422-Expatriation.pdf
  12. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/144509078.pdf
  13. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/204234-if-a-writer-of-prose-knows-enough-about-what-he
  14. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/in-another-country/literary-devices/style
  15. https://soar.suny.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12648/775/Pennisi_Thesis.pdf?sequence=1
  16. https://www.studocu.com/in/document/banaras-hindu-university/literary-criticism/an-analysis-of-ernest-hemingways-story-in-another-country/28891967
  17. https://www.jstor.org/stable/441877
  18. https://www.nytimes.com/1927/10/16/archives/mr-hemingway-shows-himself-a-master-craftsman-in-the-short-story.html
  19. https://www.turtlepointpress.com/traveltainted/gertrude-stein-book-reviewer/
  20. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2927074
  21. https://elibrary.tucl.edu.np/bitstreams/dd22c39a-528b-45cd-b2b6-135e88777ddc/download
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.