The Old Man and the Sea

Author: Ernest Hemingway

Pages: 104

The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of Santiago, an aged fisherman, who has been unable to catch any fish lately. Called Santiago El Campeon in his heyday, he is now considered “salao”, the worst kind of bad luck. Even his only apprentice has been advised by his parents to stay away from the old man. And then comes the day when he ventures out into the sea and fights the most unlikely battle of his life with it and all the horrors it epitomizes. The Old Man and the Sea first appeared in Life magazine in September 1952, which sold 5 million copies in first 2 days. It was published in book form in the same year and won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953. It is said that owing to this masterpiece of the 20th century literature Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.