Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea (first published by Charles Scribner’s & Sons 1952)
Many thanks to 21. Század Kiadó for sending me the book!
Ernest Hemingway – one of my favorite writers – was born July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, the city of “wide lawns and narrow minds”. During his adventurous life, he participated as a war correspondent in both World Wars, the Spanish Civil War, and lived in Paris, Spain, Florida, and Cuba. He hunted German submarines in the Caribbean, and for everything in Africa. In 1950, he began writing The Old Man and the Sea, which was finally published in 1952. He was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in 1954.
Santiago, the fisherman had not caught anything for eighty-four days. But today, he finally gets a marlin on his hook. He has no idea how hard a fight is waiting for him while he can kill the fish. The most important lesson of the story is that man can be destroyed but can never be defeated.
Hemingway had a boat built in Cuba, which he named Pilar, and asked Gregorio Fuentes, an elderly Cuban fisherman, to be his captain. He was also with the writer when they met the lone old fisherman who had inspired Santiago’s figure. Gregorio died in 2002 at the age of 105.
The Old Man and the Sea published by the 21. Század Kiadó, in a beautiful edition as the first piece of the life series, translated by Géza Ottlik. Since then, Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Fiesta are also available.
