Anthony McGowan, Guest Editor June 2015 chose The Old Man and the Sea as one of his favourite short novels...."This is an adventure story, of a kind, about an old fisherman who, accompanied by a young boy, goes out in a tiny fishing boat and catches a giant marlin. The fish drags them out in to the Gulf of Mexico, and for three days the old man and the boy struggle, first to kill the fish, and then to protect the valuable carcass from the sharks. It’s a story of quiet courage and human endurance, as exciting as it is moving."
Set in the Gulf Stream off the coast of Havana, Hemingway's magnificent fable is the tale of an old man, a young boy and a giant fish. This story of heroic endeavour won Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature. It stands as a unique and timeless vision of the beauty and grief of man's challenge to the elements.
A favourite chosen by Michael Morpurgo: "A classic tale of man versus nature. I wish I'd written this."
'The best story Hemingway has written...No page of this beautiful master-work could have been done better or differently' - Sunday Times
'Without a word misplaced Hemingway sets down the dignity and frailty of a time-worn fisherman whose strength is failing him but who nevertheless honours a bargain long ago struck with the ocean. This fable won Hemingway the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.' Kirkus UK
Author
About Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His distinctive writing style is characterized by terse minimalism and understatement and had a significant influence on the development of twentieth century fiction. Hemingway's protagonists are typically stoics, often seen as projections of his own character — men who must show "grace under pressure". Many of his works are considered classics in the canon of American literature. Hemingway was part of the 1920s expatriate community in Paris, as described in his novel A Moveable Feast. Known as part of "The Lost Generation," a name coined and popularized by Gertrude Stein, he led a turbulent social life, was married four times, and allegedly had various romantic relationships during his lifetime. Hemingway received the Pulitzer Prize (1953) for The Old Man and the Sea. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954, and 1961, at age 61, he committed suicide.
