The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was an American journalist and novelist whose clipped, direct writing style heavily influenced 20th-century authors, and whose works are widely considered among the greatest ever published. His novels, including The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and A Farewell to Arms, joined The Old Man and the Sea in helping to win him the 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.

A man of great passions and intensities, Hemingway loved adventure, obsessed over bullfighting, visited multiple war zones, and married four women. Wounded as a volunteer during World War I, he covered the Spanish Civil War and, later, the D-Day Invasion and liberation of Paris in World War II. He lived for many years in Paris, Cuba, Key West, and, finally, Idaho.

During his final years, Hemingway’s body was wracked by the pains of multiple injuries and medical conditions. Pain, and tolerating it, figure importantly in The Old Man and the Sea. Finally unable to endure more, Hemingway died by suicide in Idaho in 1961.

Hemingway said, “It is always a mistake to know an author” (Lee, Alexander. “For Whom the Bull Tolls.” History Today, Vol. 70, Issue 4, 4 April 2020). He understood instinctively that successful writers, like all famous people, are imperfect, and that their flaws get magnified with success. Though still widely celebrated for his groundbreaking novels, Hemingway has in recent years become a controversial figure for his callous treatment of his wives, his love of bullfighting, his anti-gay beliefs, and his obsession with masculinity.

To be sure, the first half of the 20th century was an age when macho behavior, sexism, and anti-gay beliefs were the norm. But Hemingway made almost a fetish of some of these traits with his frequent adventures in distant countries, on warfronts, at bullfights, and in his many extramarital affairs. Hemingway was wounded as a volunteer soldier during the First World War, and as a journalist he covered warfronts, including the D-Day Invasion and the liberation of Paris during World War II; in those respects, his courage is beyond repute.

In any event, he was very serious about his beliefs concerning the challenges of life and how a man should rise to those occasions. Although he is fixated on masculinity, his admiration for those who persevere, get up when they’re down, and keep fighting in the face of defeat—as Santiago does in The Old Man and the Sea—can appeal to anyone. His heroes issue a timeless challenge to all readers: that they look to their own courage and endurance during difficult times. Hemingway’s writings changed literature, especially in America, in interesting and productive ways. In this respect, for many readers, it may be wiser to read Hemingway than to know him.