In Our Time

"There's something immortal about these short pieces. They are absolute miracles of prose, of description, of evocation." Edna O'Brien Succinct and lucid in his prose style, American novelist and short story writer Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) had an enormous influence over authors in the twentieth century. A member of the expatriate circle called the Lost Generation, Hemingway cultivated a larger-than-life image of vigorous masculinity complemented by an intense sensitivity. Hemingway made his North American literary debut in 1925 with In Our Time, his first collection of short stories and vignettes. The stories were widely praised for what later would be considered the author's hallmark style: uncomplicated, precise language with an eye for realism. Their themes of alienation, loss, and grief continue the work Hemingway began earlier in his career. The collection includes two of his best-known Nick Adams stories: "Indian Camp" and "Big Two-Hearted River."