Literary Landmark

Today marks the anniversary of the publication of Earnest Hemingway’s first book.

The collection, Three Stories and Ten Poems, was published in an edition of 300 on this date in 1923. The book was only 58 pages long but, according to The Literary Encylopedia, it “helped to establish Hemingway as one of the leading talents of the Modernist movement.”

When she reviewed the book for the Paris Tribune that November, Gertrude Stein was somewhat cryptic. “I should say that Hemingway should stick to poetry and intelligence,” wrote Stein, “and eschew the hotter emotions and the more turgid vision.”

Hat tip to Today in Literature.