Hemingway at his drunk and macho finest. And I
mean it as a compliment. Yes, quite a lot of his writing is now dated, but
there is nothing wrong with enjoying a read from another era, despite the fact
that – like pretty much every remotely sensible person – I have serious doubts
about Hemingway’s character.
This is probably the most political Hemingway
novel that I’ve ever read (after all he was writing it during his period as a “fucking
tourist” in the Spanish Civil War – I am again quoting the comments of a
commander of the International Brigades during a Q&A session after a
lecture at my school). The reader likes Harry Morgan and doesn’t want him to
necessarily succeed, but at least s/he wants him to keep on finding ways to get
by.
And while maybe excessively blatant, the
metaphor of the rich American destroying Harry’s equipment and then running
away without paying is really quite powerful (and sadly painful).
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