CC BY
0СОЦИАЛЬНО-ГУМАНИТАРНЫЕ НАУКИ ЭЛЕУМ ЕТТ1 К- ГУМАН ИТАРЛЫК РЫЛЫ МДАР SOCIAL AND HUMAN SCIENCES
IRSTI 17.07.31
UDC 82.091 DOI:10.56032/2523-4684.2022.3.3.81
Gvantsa Narmania1 ]Sokhumi State University (Tbilisi, Georgia)
ENIGMA «THE SEA» IN ERNEST HEMINGWAY’S
SHORT-STORY «THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA»
Annotation
In this letter, it is discussed the enigma of the sea in the chrestomathy story of the American writer «The Old Man and the Sea».
In the text the sea transcends the function of a landscape and acquires the role of a character. Writers seem to use an artistic way of personification. We can assume that for the old man element of the sea is sacred, blessed, is an object of adoration and worship. We see harmonious coexistence of The Old Man and the Sea in the story.
The text also compares the story «The Old Man and the Sea» with the story of the outstanding Georgian writer Guram Rcheulishvili «Dumb Ahmed and Life», in which the sea is one of the main characters as well.
Key words: enigma, modernism, a short-story, the sea.
Гванца Нармания1 Сухум мемлекетт1куниверситетi (Тбилиси, Грузия)
ЭРНЕСТ ХЕМИНГУЭЙДЩ «КАРИЯ МЕН ТЕН1З» ЭНПМЕС1НДЕП «ТЕН1З» К¥ПИЯСЫ
Аннотация
Бул макалада американдык жазушынын «Кария мен тен,'!з» атты хрестоматиялык энпмеандеп тенiз купиясы талкыланады.
Мэтнде тенiз ландшафттын функциясынан асып ту&п, кейiпкердiн рэлiн аныкталады. Жазушылар
персонализациянын кэркемдiк эдiсiн колданады. Карт адам Yшiн тенiз элемент касиеrri, берекелi, Fибадат пен Fибадат объекти деп болжауFа болады. Бул энпмеде кария мен тенiздiн Yйлесiмдi эм'!р сYPуiн кэремiз.
Макалада «Карт пен тенз» энпмеа кврнект грузин жазушысы Гурам Рчеулишвилид':н «YHci3 Ахмед жэне eMip» энпме&мен салыстырылып, TeHi3 де басты кейiпкерлердiн 6ipi болып табылады.
ТYЙiндi сездер: жумбак, модернизм, энпме, тенiз.
Гванца Нармания1
Сухумского государственного университета (Тбилиси, Грузия)
ЗАГАДКА «МОРЕ» В РАССКАЗЕ ЭРНЕСТА ХЕМИНГУЭЯ «СТАРИК И МОРЕ»
Аннотация
В этой статье расматривается загадка моря в хрестоматийном рассказе американского писателя «Старик и море».
В тексте море выходит за рамки функции пейзажа и приобретает роль персонажа. Писатели, по-видимому, используют художественный способ персонификации. Можно предположить, что для старика стихия моря священна, благословенна, является объектом обожания и поклонения. В этой истории мы видим гармоничное сосуществование Старика и Моря.
В статье также сравнивается рассказ «Старик и море» с рассказом выдающегося грузинского писателя Гурама Рчеулишвили «Немой Ахмед и жизнь», в котором море также является одним из главных героев.
Ключевые слова: загадка, модернизм, рассказ, море.
Introduction. According to Georgian literary critics, the story of Guram Rcheulishvili, an outstanding writer who worked in the transitional period from modernism to postmodernism, «Dumb Akhmed and Life» was inspired by Ernest Hemingway's text «The Old Man and the Sea». Rcheulishvili's story is considered to be the best work of the writer.
Guro Davitlidze, a contemporary Georgian critic, considers the outstanding literary text to be a reflection of «man's inner crisis and ruthlessness of life» and believes that the work was created under the influence of Hemingway's two texts - «A Farewell to Arms! « And «The Old Man and the Sea» [1, p.60]. It is noteworthy that the researcher calls Rcheulishvili «Georgian
Hemingway», and « Dumb Akhmed and Life « - in accordance with previous critics - the best work of the writer.
In the critical letter is also mentioned the fact that Rcheulishvili writes in correspondence with Hemingway's artistic principle («iceberg principle») and this determines the stylistic coincidence of Georgian and American writers.
Vakhtang Chelidze, one of Hemingway's prominent Georgian translators, also pointed to the above principle in the conclusion of the four volumes of short stories translated in the sixties of the twentieth century: «No writer in our century has probably had as many followers and imitators as Ernest Hemingway. The term «Hemingway style» and «Hemingway writing» were coined... Almost every novice writer has tried to adapt this style to his writing talent and ability ... Hemingway compares icebergs to the literature - only one-eighth is visible above the iceberg, the rest is covered in water. The same is true in literature - the eighth part should be written about what the writer knows and what is meant by the work... Fiction is architecture and not the art of the decorator» [2, p.331-341].
Critics of both the Soviet and post-Soviet eras emphasize Hemingway's laconicism and frugality. Neither Hemingway nor Rcheulishvili perceive the word as jewelry. Despite the above, a tasteful, intelligent reader delves into the hidden layers of the iceberg and comprehends and tastes the implicit fluxes.
The famous Georgian writer (himself a master of the laconic phrase) Revaz Inanishvili offers an original idea about the mentioned text of Hemingway. The whole passage from the «desk notebooks» in the arc of the essay records devotes a considerable issue - William Faulkner's attitude to the main text of Ernest Hemingway (It is interesting and important that the great American writer Faulkner also emphasized the conciseness of Hemingway's style.): «This is his best story. Time may even show us that this is the best thing we have ever written -to him and to all our contemporaries. Hemingway found God here - the reconciler of essences... Hemingway wrote about mercy - about what created everyone: The old
man who was supposed to catch the fish and then lost it, the fish who was supposed to be the old man's victim and then disappeared, and the shark who was supposed to take the fish from the old man... he created them all... he loved, he he felt sorry for them ... everything is right, exact, and, thank God, he is a creator who loves Hemingway and me, who pities us, did not allow Ernest to say more than this «(our line - G. N.) [3, p.146].
The original text of the story (published by The Cinema Bookshop, 2001) is accompanied by excerpts from the views of American critics / publishers. Here are some quotes:
— «The Old Man and the Sea - not only the finest short story that Hemingway has ever written, but one of the finest written by anyone anywhere» («The Listener»);
— «Every word tells and there is not a word too many» (Anthony Burgess);
— «No page of this beautiful master-work could have been done better or differently» («Sunday Times»);
— «A quite wonderful example of narrative art. The writing is as tautand, at the same time, as lithe and cunningly played out, as the line on which the old man plays the fish» («The Guardian»);
— «Hemingway brings to the old man's tragic fishing trip all his real, deep, intuitive understanding of simple man who face primitive ill-revarded fates» («The Standard»);
— «There is power here and feeling - not only for people, but for all living things» («Daily Telegraph») [4, p.114].
Main Discussion. In this letter, we will discuss the enigma of the sea in the chrestomathy story of the American writer «The Old Man and the Sea».
The conceptual enigma is featured in the title of Hemingway's text (while the central character in Rcheulishvili's story (whose name appears in the title) is a fisherman).
In both Hemingway and Rcheulishvili's texts, the sea transcends the function of a landscape and acquires the role of a character. Both writers seem to use an artistic way of personification.
The translator of the story «The Old Man and the Sea» is Ana Ratiani, who, in fact, made Georgian readers feel the beauty of the original text without loss.
The rays of the sun reflected on the surface of the tropical sea make rust-colored crusts of cancer appear on old Santiago's hands, all over his body, with this information, the sea enters the text, and there follows the most important passage that «the old man had everything aged, except the sea-colored eyes» - here the character seems to carry the element of the sea in himself - the sea is in his eyes. («His eyes were the same colour as the sea» [4, p.5]). The character and the element seem to unite, merge into each other - the person - in the element, the element - in the person (in the eyes), the macrocosm - in the microcosm, the microcosm - in the macrocosm.
It was Santiago who took the boy Manolin, the important protagonist of the text, to the sea for the first time for fishing.
The writer compares the faith and hope in the old fisherman's soul to the breeze blown from the sea (In the passage, the main human virtues - hope, faith appear precisely in connection with the enigma of the sea). -«The old man's hope and confidence were freeshing as when the breeze rises» [4, p.8].
The old man does not seem to need anything material - he has neither cold-boiled yellow rice nor a net (although the boy and the old man pretend they have), but he has the September sea (it is also emphasized that «everyone can fish in May» - It seems that the old man's age is also highlighted and that «not everyone can fish at this age»).
In the middle of the text, September-October is again outlined (as an indication of age), and also to the fact that in these months «big fish» comes. [4, p.200]. At the anagogical (according to Dante's contemporary, Can Grande della Scala, fourth [5, p.483]) level of text perception, the paradigm of the big fish is a reference to the summation of personal life.
The old man's shirt is also tattered like a rag, but material hardship cannot destroy him, it cannot defeat him, because he is the owner of a spiritual treasure - he
has seen the lions on the long, golden coast of Africa, he can hear the birds singing on the shore in his sleep, and he also knows that his idol - the great baseball player, Dee Majoy's father was also a fisherman...
The enigma-paradigms of «shore», «eels» and «fisherman» also return/leave the reader to the space of the sea - no matter what nuances Hemingway offers us, the sea always remains as a starting point or a paradigm of the ultimate goal.
By depicting the flying fishes of the sea and the weak, black swallows of the sea, the writer makes it clear that the sea is not a desert space, the ocean is kind and beautiful, but sometimes it swells up suddenly. The old man is awakened by the «smell of the seashore», never takes breakfast to the sea - only a bottle of water, he leaves behind the «smell of land» (as the antithesis of the smell of the sea) and enters the phosphorescent glow of seaweed, the so-called «Great Well».
Here is a conceptual quote from the story in full: «He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her. Sometimes they who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman. Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motor-boats, bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as el mar which is masculine. They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy, but the old man always thought of the sea as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The Moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought» (The line is ours - G. N) [4, p.13]. «In his heart, the old man always called the sea «la mar», as it is called by people who love the sea. Sometimes people fascinated by the sea also say bad things about the sea, but they always refer to it as a woman. The sea is called «el mar», by younger fishermen who, use expensive fishing floats instead of simple floats, use expensive fishing rods and go with motor boats. They purchased these boats when shark liver was expensive. They treat the sea like space, like a rival, sometimes like an enemy. And the old man
always thought of the sea as a woman who either feels sorry for you or completely rejects you, but if she sometimes behaves mean or mischievously, it is because such is her nature. The moon stirs the sea like a woman» the old man thought» [4, p.195].
According to Hemingway's concept, for the young fisherman the sea is only a space, only a rival, even an enemy - while for the old man it is personified and he loves the departed, personified element as tenderly as the deceased spouse, whose picture used to be next to the icons of the Savior and the Virgin Mary of Cobren, and now he found a place for the photo under a clean shirt.
We can assume that the old man has placed the personified element of the sea in his soul next to the icons - for him this element is also sacred, blessed, an object of adoration and worship.
The sea also responds with love - the old man follows the flow, but without effort (to paraphrase - does not force) - the old man used the sea stream as the third part of his work, we read in the text - this is a parable of harmonious coexistence.
The blueness of the sea water is especially emphasized (like the sea-colored eyes of the old man - in the exposition of the story).
The sun rises from the sea - this detail is especially emphasized, as well as the gradation of colors - the blue water («dark depth», «darkness of the sea» [4, p.197]) is gleaming. («The glare came on the water» [4, p.25]), And when the clouds rise like great mountains, «The coast was only a long green line with the grey-blue hills behind it. The water was a dark blue now, so dark that it was almost purple» [4, p.28].
The writer offers us masterful sketches of the artist -the reddish colors of the plankton and the spectacular reflection of the sun's rays in the dark blue space, then the bright flash of the rays stops and nothing is visible on the surface, except for the sun-faded algaes.
A magnificent seascape, equal to the canvases of Aivazovsky.
An important detail is that «It was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea» [4, p.31] - (From this point of view, Guram Rcheulishvili's dumb Akhmed
should not have experienced any discomfort either -silence is a natural state for him, in fact, it is a way of being - G.N.).
It is emphasized with a detail that the natural space excludes verbiage, verbosity - it is self-sufficient and encourages people to be self-sufficient.
Hemingway will also write/paint another landscape of the sunset sea with the skill of the artist: «The sea was very dark and the light made prisms in the water. The myriad flecks of the plankton were annulled now by the Sun» [4, p.32]. «The sea became very dark, the rays of the sun made their way through the water, the sun extinguished many sparks of plankton» [6, p.202].
The following phrases are conceptual: «I could just drift» [4, p.33]. «I could follow the course of the sea» [6, p.202], «I went out too far» [4, p.104] - The old man knows this far out, he must be huge in this month» [4, p.33].
The parable indicates that if a person does not overcome the «guide of fate» (as Baratashvili would say), does not move away from the comfort of the shore and does not test himself in a foreign/unknown space -element (metaphorically - in the sea), he will never find his essence, destiny, divine duty.
The old man, left alone with the elements of the sea, with the marlin fish, and the sharks, got into an existential thought: «Perhaps, I should not have been a fisherman?!» [4, p.42].
Remaining alone with the boundless elements, the protagonist comprehends the essence of providence on the one hand and personal freedom on the other:
«His (fish's) choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and trapsand treacheries. My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people in the world» [4, p.41] - (It should also be mentioned here that the translator Ana Ratiani translates The Choice into Georgian as «fate» and not «choice», which, we think, creates a conceptual difference with the original - «fate» is providence, fate and in «choice» - there is freedom, voluntariness.
An old man (in general, a person) has contradictory feelings in the depths of the sea: sometimes he imagines himself as lonely, sometimes as part of harmony. Let's
compare different sentences: «He looked across the sea and knew how alone he was now» [4, p.50] - «The old man looked at the sea and realized how alone he was» [5, p.215]
- loneliness is emphasized;
«The great sea with our friends and our enemies...» [4, p.104] - The coexistence of man with the universe, presence in the universe is emphasized.
Left in the face of the elements, he promises that he will pray as soon as he gets to the shore (but at this moment in the sea (the chaos of the world in metaphor)
- he cannot).
The author/protagonist offers us an interesting point of view, a conceptual question when looking from the boat of an airplane: - «I wonder what the sea looks like from that height» [4, p.60]. This time (from this point of view), the sea is somehow perceived as a routine space of existence, as opposed to the sky - the supernatural, the enigma of eternity - the reflection.
It is the confrontation between the eternal and the transient, choosing the wrong way of being, that is reflected in another conceptual passage of the text: «It is good that we do not have to try to kill the Sun or the Moon or the stars, it is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers» [6, p.64].
It is significant that the English construction «to live by the sea» in Georgian is translated as «to live with the sea», which gives the passage an additional nuance - the sea is represented by the nurse, the provider - the mother, Joyce ironically refers to the «snottycolored» sea of Ireland (Stephen's ironic and grotesque concept Daedalus - «Ulysses»). A rare, harmonious portrait/landscape of the universe is presented in the passage: «I am as clear as the stars that are my brothers. They sleep and the Sun and the Moon sleep and even the ocean sleeps sometimes on certain days when there is no current and a flat calm» [4, p.66].
Hemingway's concept of «brotherhood with the stars» reminds a literate Georgian reader Avtandili's «Space Choral» and Baratashvili's quote: «Only to the stars, fellow travelers, I will entrust the secret of my heart» [7, p.68].
The concept of «fellowship of stars», «brotherhood» with Hemingway continues with the phrase: « The stars he knew were gone, it looked now as though he were moving into a great canyon of clouds» [4, p.68] - «The familiar stars (the line is ours - G.N.) disappeared one after another, you thought the boat was entering a great valley of clouds» [4, p.227]. In addition to the parabolic meaning of the passage, a beautiful artistic canvas is created - literally «valley of clouds» - an unforgettable icon of the canyon.
It is significant that Hemingway constantly connects, paints the sea and the shore in a kind of parallel way- sometimes as opposite/contrary entities, sometimes - as an oxymoronic unity destined for wholeness (we find a similar oxymoron with Galalktion -«the sea craves a border like infinity»; - G.N.).
In the sea, in trial, the old man dreams of «a long yellow shore of the sea (we think, in this case, not of routine, but enigma of stability, solidity - G.N.) - «He began to dream of the long yellow beach and he saw the first of the lions come down onto in the early dark and the other lions came... He was happy» [4, p.69].
In the text, the gilding of the shore is repeatedly emphasized.
The oxymoron of sea and shore appears again: [6, p.233]. - «A man is never lost at sea and it is a long island» [4, p.77]. An old fisherman Santiago's island is Cuba, it is constantly highlighted by the «Lights of Havana», a lighthouse. In Virginia Woolf's classic novel «To the Lighthouse» the lighthouse is a metaphor for the coast of the Hebridean Islands. «A Lighthouse» in English, at the same time, means «lighthouse» and «house of light», and in general, light - G. N.)
In the final episodes of the text, the old man feels absolute harmony with the universe, so the appeal to the fish is not perceived as a paradox - «Come on and kill me, I do not care, who kills who» [4, p.77] (It would be interesting, from this point of view, to analyze Goderdzi Chokheli's «Fish Letters» dialogue between a person and a «fish» (a second person transformed into a fish) - G.N.).
«The dark water of the true gulf is the greatest healer that there is» [4, p.85]. In this quote, Hemingway seems
to share and reproduce the concept of Homer and in general, of ancient authors.
The sea is the best space for thinking, according to the writer's concept...
It is during these reasonings, in the freest space - in the bowels of the sea - that the main knowledge of the old man comes/appears: «The man is not made for defeat a man can be destroyed but not defeated» [4, p.89].
In the text, parallel to the constant pedaling of the principle of free choice, the breath of providence is constantly felt: «You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish. San Pedro was a fisherman as was the father of the great DiMaggio [4, p.90].
Pedaling the name of the Lord's outstanding apostle, Simon-Peter, is expected - it was to him and his brother, Andrew the First-Called, that the Savior commanded the fishermen, follow me and I make you a breeder of men.
Along with the Gospel enigma, the image of the fisherman-king is associated with us, which will be transferred from medieval English folklore to Thomas Stearns Eliot's «The waste Land» [8, p.28].
Like virtually every passage highlighted above, the following is conceptual in nature: «He saw nothing but the sea and the sky... tired inside» [6, p.97] - In the Georgian translation, we find «the heart is also tired» [6, p.97], addresses himself.
Another allusion-reminiscence of Georgian literature: «The innermost secret of my heart is looking for a station behind yours» - Baratashvili refers to the visible sky in order to «strangle the vanity here ...» [7, p.46].
Old Santiago either talks to the fish, or to himself (this is the same thing in which the dialogue alternates with a monologue and vice versa (this principle: «I am you» is also emphasized by Borges in Rosa Paracelsus» -G. N.), he apologizes both to himself and to the fish that escaped too Far, beyond the «boundary» of fate: «I am sorry that I went too far out... You violated your luck when you went too far outside» [4, p.99] - Compare the quote: «Keep your head clear and know how to suffer like a man or a fish» [4, p.99].
The phrase «You violated your luck» is conceptual, which, it seems to us, leads us directly to the quote from the Gospel: «The kingdom of heaven compels» (the «curvature» of the Georgian translation is only a reflection of the construction of the original - «You forced your own luck»...).
«I wish I could see the glow from the light... That is the thing I wish for now» [4, p.101]
The old man only dreams of solidity, the golden light of the beach, tired of fighting, overcoming the limits of fate, he faced the supreme truth, «the intensity of passion» (G. Rcheulishvili).
we also consider the phrase as having a parabolic meaning: «The ocean is very big and a skiff is small and hard to see» [4, p.107].
The phrase reminded us of an extremely interesting perspective or concept of the Eastern worldview, which is particularly discussed by literary critic Irma Ratiani in the conceptual preface attached to her translation of 100 Japanese poems. Considers the canvas of a twelfth-century Japanese artist: «On the background of the wide, empty expanse of the sea, beyond the helplessness of the boat, one can feel the all-encompassing power of the absolute, directing the movement of a small boat in the sea and the movement of the world in general» [9, p.14].
Conclusion. As the analysis presented above confirms, the sea is the conceptual enigma and space of Ernest Hemingway's story «The Old Man and the Sea». Georgian writer Guram Rcheulishvili presents the same enigma-space in the story «Dumb Akhmed and Life».
References:
1. Davitlidze G. Georgian Hemingway (a few words about Guram Rcheulishvili). - Tbilisi: Tsiskari. - N1. - 2022. - P.57-60.
2. Chelidze V. Ernest Hemingway, Afterword to Ernest Hemingway's four-volume work. - Vol. 4. - Tbilisi: Literature and Art, 1965. - P.331-343.
3. Inanishvili R. From notebooks in the book «Little Boy on Golgotha». - Tbilisi: Merani, 1989. - P.133-172.
4. Hemingway E. The Old Man and the Sea. - Moscow: The cinema bookshop, 2001.
5. Eco U. Name of the Rose, Afterword. - Moscow, 1989. - P. 483-488.
6. Hemingway E. The Old Man and the Sea. Essays in Four Volumes, Vol.3. - Tbilisi: Literature and Art, 1965. - P.182-258.
7. Baratashvili N. Merani in the book. Poems. - Tbilisi: Palitra L, 2012.
8. Eliot T.S. The Waste Land. - Tbilisi: Our Writing, 2010.
9. Ratiani I. One Hundred Japanese Poems. Preface. - Tbilisi: Siesta, 2008.
