SOURCE: "The Old Man and the Sea: Vision/Revision," in Twentieth-Century Interpretations of "The Old Man and the Sea," Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968, pp. 18-26.

In the following two-part essay, the first part of which appeared in 1952 and the second of which is a 1966 commentary on the earlier reaction, Young first praises The Old Man and the Sea's perfect construction, exciting story, and tight action, and regards the tale as one about life: that struggle against natural forces that cannot be overcome but which can be met with dignity. In the second part of the essay, Young recants some of his earlier praise of the work, pointing out its "affectation of simplicity," and likens Hemingway's book to a fish he had hooked as his great prize and that was later devoured by the critics.

I

This book has many roots in the rest of Hemingway's work. Much of it...