The Writer’s Endurance: The Old Man and the Sea

"He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish" (opening line). The Old Man and the Sea is a rich and deep novella about an old fisherman named Santiago and his Herculean effort to overcome a fishing dry-spell. … Continue reading The Writer’s Endurance: The Old Man and the Sea →

Love and War In For Whom The Bell Tolls

For Whom The Bell Tolls is the novel that was supposed to win Ernest Hemingway his first Pulitzer Prize in 1941. However, like Sinclair Lewis before him, Hemingway was denied the prize by the President of Columbia University. As the story goes, the 1941 Novel Jury recommended several books for the Pulitzer Prize including, but … Continue reading Love and War In For Whom The Bell Tolls →

Heroism and Tragedy in The Sun Also Rises

“Robert Cohn was once middleweight boxing champion of Princeton.” In Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, we encounter a series of vignettes that, together, tell the story of a group of expatriate Americans as they roam around postwar Europe. In a certain light, it is a tale of two cities: Paris and Pamplona, two cities of celebration … Continue reading Heroism and Tragedy in The Sun Also Rises →

A Farewell To Arms

A Farewell to Arms (1932) Director: Frank Borzage "The Greatest Love Story of the War" ★★★☆☆ This interpretation of Hemingway's famous novel stars Gary Cooper -who also starred in the 1943 version of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls- and Helen Hayes, and is directed by Frank Borzage. The film won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography … Continue reading A Farewell To Arms →