Men without Women

Men without Women, 14 short stories by Hemingway, published in 1927.

The Undefeated tells of the futile heroism of Manuel Garcia, a Spanish bullfighter just released from a hospital, who stubbornly refuses to retire, secures an ill‐paid “nocturnal” engagement, and gives an adequate performance before an unappreciative audience, but is seriously injured and returned to the hospital. The Killers describes the tense atmosphere in a small‐town lunchroom, when two Chicago gangsters enter to await Ole Andreson, whom they have been paid to murder. He fails to arrive, and they finally leave. Nick, the waiter, goes to Andreson's room, and finds the victim aware of his impending doom but paralyzed by fear and unwilling to attempt escape. Fifty Grand is the story of a champion prizefighter, Jack Brennan, and his bout with the contender Walcott. The middle‐aged champion, worried by his responsibilities, cannot train properly, decides he is bound to lose, and bets $50,000 on his own defeat. He fights well for several rounds, until brutally fouled by his opponent. Insisting that this was an accident, he continues with difficulty, then suddenly ends the matter by an obvious foul on Walcott. “‘It's funny how fast you can think when it means that much money,’” he says.