SOURCE: "'The Snows of Kilimanjaro': A Revaluation," in PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association, Vol. LXXVI, No. IV, December, 1961, pp. 601-07.

In the following essay, Evans delineates the differing critical interpretations of various symbols in "The Snows of Kilimanjaro, " in addition to offering an alternative reading of his own.

When "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" first appeared in Esquire (August 1936), it attracted immediate attention. It was promptly reprinted (in Best American Short Stories of 1937) by Edward J. O'Brien, who, praising it in his preface, remarked: "Nothing is irrelevant. The artist's energy is rigidly controlled for his purpose." Since then it has been anthologized many times, and now it is probably safe to say that, with the possible exception of "The Killers," none of Hemingway's stories has enjoyed greater popularity than this one. Hemingway's own opinion was that it was "about as good as any" of his shorter works...