The Old Man and the Sea was Hemingway's last book published in his lifetime. It is much different than his earlier works and details an old fisherman's three-day battle against a giant marlin. Hemingway's simple language and plot make this novella accessible. On the surface it's almost too simple, but after considering its ideas for a bit, themes of man vs. nature, humanity and compassion, allegories about the animals that live in the sea, and biblical imagery make this novel more complex.
After the old man hooks the giant marlin that is larger than his boat, it's a great struggle to bring the fish close enough to harpoon. The feat suggests the ability of man to overcome hardship and suffering in order to triumph. Hemingway also emphasizes the moral implications of killing or destroying nature, and whether or not the idea of the survival of the fittest holds it's weight:
You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?This isn't my favorite Hemingway, but I can appreciate the importance of the novel. Hemingway might be the only writer who can hold my interest through a chapter-less book about fishing.
The Old Man and the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1952. Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1954.
Publisher: Scribner, 1951
It's been a long while, but I did like this one :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with your review. I read a few other Hemingway's prior to this and I had been told it was his best and so I was disappointed. It is still a good book and only for Hemingway do I read about fishing, bull fights and game hunting, but I love his war-era writing the most.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Hemingway circa 1926 is my favorite.
ReplyDeleteSo is this thing some sort of Christian allegory? I haven't read this novel since high school and barely remember it, but supposedly it's teaming with Christian symbols and allusions. Any thoughts? (Oddly enough, I went to a Catholic high school, and no one mentioned anything about that when we read it...but maybe it's just a silly theory.)
ReplyDeleteGreat review. They get better and better. It's the first Hemingway I've ever read and I fell in love with the writing also. He makes the everyman lives complex and sophisticate emotions.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see what you think of DeLillo
I have to read this one...I am weirdly deficient when it comes to Hemingway, having read and reread and rereread a few of his novels and a lot of short stories, but never branching out into his other work.
ReplyDeletei too am excited to see what you think of delillo. falling man isn't my favorite but it reminds me that i've been planning to read "underworld" for a really, really long time now.
-- ellen
When I read Hemingway in high school and then again in college I didn't like him. I was kind of put off by his understated style. I suppose I haven't given him much thought due to the deeply implanted aversion that resulted all those years ago.
ReplyDeleteYour review makes me think that perhaps I should take another look at him. Particularly since both my reading tastes and habits are vastly different now than they were when I was younger.
This was the first Hemingway book I read and I fell in love with Hemingway after reading it. Glad to know that you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteI always read this as Hemingway's view on the critics. You can catch a huge fish—you can write that masterpiece—but they'll mercilessly tear you apart regardless. This is just my reading, of course, and since I don't know much of anything, I'm probably way off. Either way, great review.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a long time since I read this I did not realise it was quite so old either.
ReplyDeleteI love this book
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