One True Podcast artwork

Russ Pottle on "Hills Like White Elephants"

One True Podcast

English - March 20, 2023 10:00 - 59 minutes - 40.9 MB - ★★★★★ - 88 ratings
Books Arts Society & Culture ernest hemingway hemingway literature writing fiction 1920s lost generation paris key west the sun also rises Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed


Is “Hills Like White Elephants” Hemingway’s greatest short story ever, or only his most famous?  

Bolstering the case for “Hills Like White Elephants” as the G.O.A.T., esteemed scholar Russ Pottle joins us to explain the story’s composition, imagery, historical and biographical contexts, and unforgettable dialogue.

Pottle helps us read between the lines in the ways Hemingway characterizes Jig and the American through their dialogue and their silence, and through their actions. We figure out exactly how one can wait “reasonably” for a train, and what Hemingway means by the ambiguous ending when Jig says she “feels fine.” And would you please please please please please please please listen for a special guest appearance from old friend Miriam Mandel?