The Old Man And The Sea

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The Old Man And The Sea

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The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal -- a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.

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Here, for a change, is a fish tale that actually does honor to the author. In fact The Old Man and the Sea revived Ernest Hemingway's career, which was foundering under the weight of such postwar stinkers as Across the River and into the Trees. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954 (an award Hemingway gladly accepted, despite his earlier observation that "no son of a bitch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards"). A half century later, it's still easy to see why. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge. Yet Santiago is too old and infirm to partake of the gun-toting machismo that disfigured much of the author's later work: "The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords." Hemingway's style, too, reverts to those superb snapshots of perception that won him his initial fame:

Just before it was dark, as they passed a great island of Sargasso weed that heaved and swung in the light sea as though the ocean were making love with something under a yellow blanket, his small line was taken by a dolphin. He saw it first when it jumped in the air, true gold in the last of the sun and bending and flapping wildly in the air.

If a younger Hemingway had written this novella, Santiago most likely would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph--just as the author delighted in doing, circa 1935. Instead his prize gets devoured by a school of sharks. Returning with little more than a skeleton, he takes to his bed and, in the very last line, cements his identification with his creator: "The old man was dreaming about the lions." Perhaps there's some allegory of art and experience floating around in there somewhere--but The Old Man and the Sea was, in any case, the last great catch of Hemingway's career. --James Marcus

Customer Reviews:

Rating:
Date: 2008-09-01
might as well add to your must read list
i halfheartedly read HEMINGWAY's "TORTILLA FLAT" when i was in my late teens . but this book certainly must be among the top two writes by the author . keep it simple and direct . teriffic film as well . not a classic write by accident . read it .

Rating:
Date: 2008-08-04
Great transaction
I was very surprised at how fast this order was received. The book was in excellent shape. I have made a note oif this vender for future book purchases.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-26
You call this a masterpiece?
For barely 100 pages long, this thing that enjoyed worldwide claim is hardly a page-turner. It is so dry and uninteresting, full of repetation, boring description. The author does lack of the ability of using dialogue to tell a story. The dialogue or monologue is, at best, pretty weak. The book is certainly over-rated. The reason that it won the Nobel Literature Prize is what it claimed politically.

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-24
Excellent Novel, Okay publication
This is an amazing (and short) novel, written by one of America's greatest authors. Recieving the Pulitzer prize, The Old Man and The Sea is similar in theme to some of Hemmingway's other well known novels (The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms) and as such will probably leave you in a morose, contemplative mood

Describing the relationship between an old man and a young boy, both of them fishers, the story takes place over a couple of days, describing a harrowing fishing adventure by the old man in his small skiff. After 84 days of not catching a single fish, Santiago sets out, alone, once more to do what he was born to do - fish. What's left to describe of the story is better done by Hemingway, and at under 100 pages the novella is accesible to almost anyone, at least on some level.

Short and terse, Hemingway's style is in full swing - writing only the so called "tip of the iceberg" it is many times what Hemingway understates or doesn't say at all that is most moving and important. Dealing with issues common to the 'lost generation' Hemingway considers a the role of man in relation to nature, presenting a very different yet relatable understanding to previous generations of American writers. Human accomplishment, missfortune, and aging are all dealt with in this deeply critical novel. Indeed, one could even imagine the themes and ideas represented in this work to be as the Marlin, swimming, powerfully under the surface of the endless ocean.

The publication (for the Kindle) is acceptable, but interspersed are several poorly done, and hardly acceptably drawings. These interrupt a serious and engaging text, are little more than childish illustrations and - because of the Kindle display - they interrupt the text, offsetting it with their poorly recognizable 4 gray tone lines and coloring. I'd recommend getting a paperback version, or simply being prepared to skip over these. (This is the reason for the four star rating of an otherwise 5 star novel)

Rating:
Date: 2008-07-08
Classic for a reason
This book sums up the neverending challenge and struggle of the human condition in less pages than any other book. It may seem trite to read this beyond high school English but it has more impact as life progresses.

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