Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea is a great book, he was one of a goup of American writers living Europe during many of the tumultuous events of the last century. Seems a shame that such a great talent committed suicide. It seems that great genius is often accompanied by a great darkness. Winston Churchill suffered from depression, he called it his "Black dog". Hemingway seemed to need to push the macho envelope to it's limits, arm wrestling, drinking, being a man, that was part of his generation. We do not neccessarily think of writers in this mold these days. We are perhaps much too urbane and sophisticated. Maybe too sophisticated. Something of the hand made quality and the energy of the great changes of the last century, especially the period that Hemingway lived through, went a long way towards creating the man and the myth. Interesting too that he left enough impact that he is still celebrated, how many people can you say have received that honour from times gone by?
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