SOURCE: Harrow, Kenneth W. “Gordimer contre Hemingway: Crossing Back Through the Mirror That Subtends All Speculation.” In (Un)Writing Empire, edited by Theo D'haen, pp. 187-202. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1998.

In the following essay, Harrow considers the relationship between Ernest Hemingway's “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” and Gordimer's “A Hunting Accident.”

“the Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” is quintessential Hemingway. The restrained, tough voice of the narrator, a narrator who sees and describes the events as though he were a big-game hunter, is counterpoised by the voices of the three main characters, Francis Macomber and his wife Margaret, and their hired professional hunter, Robert Wilson. The story is famous and has been widely anthologized, probably because it embodies the characteristic elements of Hemingway's style while successfully conveying the values he perceives in manliness: courage, verbal restraint, a sense of nobility...