So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu
So long, farewell, au revoir, auf wiedersehen~ “So Long, Farewell” – from The Sound of Music
By now, you’ll know that we’ve come to the end of our time together. I wish I had more to say, but I’m just as devastated as you are. It’s my final article. It’s the final article of this column of clay in general, and I’m going to tell you about one of the greatest novellas of all time as a parting gift because I don’t know how else to deal with it. I am the book columnist, after all; books are what I have to bring to you even in such a dire situation. Bear with me (and maybe this is just a tactic to distract you from the upcoming pain – oh, did I just reveal my strategy? Sorry. If it helps, it’s as much for me to pretend that this isn’t an ending because good stories never truly end and if there ever was a good story, clay. itself is one).
Ernest Hemingway wrote this novella, The Old Man and the Sea, in 1951 as his final full-length publication, which catapulted him to international fame. It’s the story of an old fisherman with a streak of bad luck and the greatest catch of his life. The bulk of the story centers on the man at sea as the title implies, and it’s a story of resilience and tenacity on the high seas in dire situations – Hemingway was obsessed with the man versus nature conflict, and it shows in here.
Santiago is the name of the titular old man, a fisherman with a streak of 84 days without a catch. His young protegee, Manolin, has been forced by his parents to work on a ‘luckier’ boat, but Manolin still faithfully returns to Santiago to help him out around his shack and to talk about Santiago’s favorite baseball player, Joe DiMaggio.
On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago goes out into the Gulf Stream, confident his unlucky streak will end. There, he suddenly hooks his biggest catch ever, a giant marlin, but the marlin refuses to relent. The marlin and Santiago fight in the sea over the course of several long days, neither giving in to the other, the marlin slowly dragging Santiago further and further away from his home. Santiago’s admiration for the marlin increases over time as his own physical state degrades in the rough weather of the open seas, as other dangers approach – dehydration and sharks. Though eventually and unsurprisingly he defeats the marlin, sharks threaten his life out on the open sea, and I will say no more about the events that transpire.
It may sound slow, and really, it is. But it’s not stagnant – it’s demanding. Hemingway’s terse prose catches and holds the attention like a fish on a hook; the narrative feels like a wave coming in and going from shore, pulling and pushing with the struggle between man and beast. Raw physical feelings clash with the cruel ethereal nature of the sea; atmospherically, it is compelling and absolutely thrilling through the grueling fight between man and beast.
In the end, Santiago returns home and dreams of lions on a beach, of his long-gone memories. And just as Santiago dreams of his youth, I will dream of the glory days of clay. Farewell, old friends. Catch your fish.
Image Credit: https://bookstr.com/article/why-you-should-read-old-man-and-the-sea-today/