# William Campbell — Short Fiction character guide

> William Campbell in Short Fiction by Ernest Hemingway.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Campbell, Billy, Billy Campbell

**First appearance:** 0061-fifty-grand

## Snapshot

A boxer holed up in a hotel room with a sheet and a bottle, sliding toward the nausea he knows will not break, talking about horses, women, and eagles.

## Who they are

William Campbell lies under a sheet he has decided he loves, telling 'Sliding Billy' Turner that he can't slide, that every time he tries it catches. He is deep in the grip of something—drugs, drink, or both—and Turner, who has seen it before, doesn't want to leave him but has to. Campbell's rambling monologue is a portrait of a man going under with his eyes open, and Turner's quiet decision not to wake him at noon is the story's whole verdict.

## In the story

### [A Pursuit Race](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/chapters/a-pursuit-race)

The protagonist, an advance man for a burlesque show, is in bed drunk and using drugs, hiding under sheets and speaking deliriously about his 'wolf.'

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/characters/william_campbell
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_15_se/characters