The Killers (short story)

Infobox short story |
name = The Killers
title_orig =
translator =
author = Ernest Hemingway
country = flag|USA
language = English
series = The Nick Adams Stories
genre = short story
published_in = "Scribner's Magazine"
publisher =
media_type = magazine
pub_date = 1927
english_pub_date =
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Killers" is a short story by Ernest Hemingway. It first appeared to the public in 1927 in "Scribner's Magazine". How much Hemingway received for the literary piece is unknown, but some sources state it was $200. [ [http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-killers/intro.html The Killers Study Guide by Ernest Hemingway: Introduction ] ] Historians have some documents showing that the working title of the piece was "The Matadors."fact|date=June 2007 After its appearance in "Scribner's", the story was published in "Men Without Women," "Snows of Kilimanjaro" and "The Nick Adams Stories". The writer's depiction of the human experience, his use of satire, and the everlasting themes of death, friendship, and the purpose of life have contributed to make "The Killers" one of Hemingway's most famous and frequently anthologized short stories.

The story features Nick Adams, a famous Hemingway character from his short stories. In this story, Hemingway shows Adams crossing over from teenager to adult. The basic plot of the story involves a pair of criminals that enter a restaurant seeking to kill a boxer who is hiding out for reasons unknown (probably for not cooperating with the proposed rigging of a fight).

Adaptations

The short story has been the basis for six movies:
*"The Killers" (1946), starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner
*"The Killers" (1956), a short film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
*"The Killers" (1964), starring Lee Marvin, Ronald Reagan, and Angie Dickinson
* [http://www.nyfilmvideo.com/la04schedule.htm "The Killers" (1998)] , a short film directed by Todd Huskisson
* [http://www.youare.tv/watch.php?id=6085 "The Killers (2001)] , a short-film directed by Jae Yu
*"The Killers" (2008), A short film directed by J.P. Russell and Peter Murphy, which is being produced by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh [http://www.uwosh.edu/film_society/ Film Society]

The first three films were released on a Criterion Collection DVD.

References

External links

* [http://www.geocities.com/cyber_explorer99/hemingwaykillers.html Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers"] Full Text
* [http://caxton.stockton.edu/FEL08LITT2143/ Ernest Hemingway's "The Killers"] A close reading of the classic short story and more
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0403/is_1_45/ai_54895476/print "Vaudeville philosophers: "The Killers." by Ron Berman analyzes the roots of the story's dialogue in vaudeville.]