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A novel set in Cuba and off its coastline in the late 1940s or early 1950s; written and published in 1952.
by Ernest Hemingway
Synopsis
Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, spends three days fighting a giant marlin before he catches it. Despite his noble victory, by the time Santiago drags the fish back to his village, sharks have eaten the entire fish, leaving only the skeleton.
The Novel in Focus
Events in History at the Time of the Novel
Ernest Hemingway spent more than twenty years of his life living in Cuba. From his home in San Francisco de Paulo, Hemingway often visited Cojimar, the village featured in the novel The Old Man and the Sea. An avid fisherman, Hemingway spent a great deal of his time in Cuba fishing for shark and marlin. His respect for the tireless fishermen of Cuba and their daily struggle for survival upon the sea prompted him to write this novel, which extols the spirit of the individual as well as the virtues of determination and courage.
For More Information
Brenner, Gerry. The Old Man and the Sea: Story of a Common Man. New York: Twayne, 1991.
Fuentes, Norberto. Hemingway in Cuba. Secaucus, N.J.: Lyle Stuart, 1984.
Hays, Peter L. Ernest Hemingway. New York: Continuum, 1990.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995.
MacGaffey, Wyatt, and Clifford R. Barnett. Cuba: Its People, Its Society, Its Culture. New Haven, Conn.: Hraf Press, 1962.
Pérez, Louis A., Jr. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Literature and Its Times © 1997 Joyce Moss and George Wilson © 2007 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
