Now I Lay Me

"Now I Lay Me"
Author	Ernest Hemingway
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	short story
Published in	Men Without Women
Publication type	short story collection
Publication date	1927

"Now I Lay Me" is a short story by American author Ernest Hemingway. The short story, "Now I Lay Me" is a part of Ernest Hemingway's collection of short stories entitled Men Without Women, which was published in 1927. "Now I Lay Me" takes place in war torn Europe, specifically in Italy. Many of Ernest Hemingway's stories take place in Italy due to his extensive experiences there. "Now I Lay Me" is a short story about two men sleeping in a tent. However simple a story it may be, it reveals the psyche of military men. Although it is never completely affirmed, the context of the story makes the reader assume that the two men are injured and in some sort of a hospital or hospital tent. The main character, Signor Tenente, does not have trouble sleeping; however, refuses to sleep while it is dark outside for fear of losing his soul. This short story goes deep into the man's mind and shows the reader what he does to make it through the night. The second character, John, cannot sleep either. The discussion between the two men concludes the rest of the story.

The story is about Nick Adams, one of Hemingway's recurring characters, forcing himself to stay awake at night in an army tent during World War I. He is afraid that if he goes to sleep in the dark his soul will escape him. Nick is experiencing shell-shock from when he was bombed during a night raid. During the raid Nick severely injured his head. From then on he was afraid to go to sleep at night.

"Indian Camp" (1925)
"The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" (1925)
"The End of Something" (1925)
"The Three-Day Blow" (1925)
"The Battler" (1925)
"A Very Short Story" (1925)
"Soldier's Home" (1925)
"The Revolutionist" (1925)
"Cat in the Rain" (1925)
"Out of Season" (1925)
"Cross Country Snow" (1925)
"My Old Man" (1925)
"Big Two-Hearted River" (1925)
"A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" (1926)
"Fifty Grand" (1927)
"Hills Like White Elephants" (1927)
"The Killers" (1927)
"The Undefeated" (1927)
"Che Ti Dice La Patria?" (1927)
"In Another Country" (1927)
"Fathers and Sons" (1932)
"A Day's Wait" (1933)
"The Gambler, the Nun, and the Radio" (1933)
"A Way You'll Never Be" (1933)
"The Snows of Kilimanjaro" (1936)
"The Capital of the World" (1936)
"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" (1936)

Short story
collections

Three Stories and Ten Poems (1923)
In Our Time (1925)
Men Without Women (1927)
Winner Take Nothing (1933)
The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (1938)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1961)
The Fifth Column and Four Stories of the Spanish Civil War (1969)
The Nick Adams Stories (1972)
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (1987)
Ernest Hemingway: The Collected Stories (1995)

Poetry

88 Poems (1979)
Complete Poems

Letters and
journalism

Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917–1961 (1981)
Dateline: Toronto (1985)
The Cambridge Edition of the Letters of Ernest Hemingway (2011)

Adaptations

The Sun Also Rises	1957 film 1984 film Opera The Select (The Sun Also Rises) Ballet

"The Killers"	1946 film 1956 film 1964 film Bukowski short story

A Farewell to Arms	1932 film 1957 film 1966 TV series

To Have and Have Not	1944 film The Breaking Point, 1950 film The Gun Runners, 1958 film Captain Khorshid, 1987 film

For Whom the Bell Tolls	1943 film 1965 TV series Metallica song

The Old Man and the Sea	1958 film 1990 miniseries 1999 film

Other film adaptations	The Macomber Affair (1947) The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) Islands in the Stream (1977)

Now I Lay Me

See also