De Ernest Hemingway it continues and will continue to be said that it is one of the most great narrators of world literature of the twentieth century. Of life as intense as a tragic end, it was Nobel Prize in 1954. Today I would have fulfilled 119 years.
And if we have not read it, surely we have seen some of the (many) film adaptations that have been made of his works as The old man and the sea (I'm staying with Spencer Tracy), For whom the Bell Tolls o Farewell to arms (both with Gary Cooper). So to remind myself, I pick a few fragments of his most representative works.
Green hills of Africa
A continent ages rapidly once we invade it, and while the natives live in harmony with it, the foreigners destroy it; they cut down the trees, dry up the water and kill the animals. And the earth tires of being exploited, because the earth and its inhabitants are made to be left as we have found them.
The old man and the sea
The old man was skinny and gangly, with deep lines at the back of his neck. The brown spots of benign skin cancer that the sun produces with its reflections in the tropical sea were on his cheeks. Those freckles ran down the sides of his face all the way down, and his hands bore the deep scars caused by handling the ropes when holding large fish.
For whom the Bell Tolls
When the officer trotted closer, following the tracks left by the band's horses, he would pass within twenty yards of where Robert was. At that distance there was no problem. The officer was Lieutenant Pronghorn. He had arrived from La Granja, carrying out orders to approach the gorge, after having received notice of the attack on the post below. They had galloped at full speed, then had to retrace their steps as they reached the blown up bridge, to cross the gorge at a higher point and descend through the woods. The horses were sweaty and busted and had to be made to trot.
Paris was a party
When I woke up and looked at the open window and saw the moonlight on the roofs of the tall houses, there was the feeling. I hid my face in the shadows, avoiding the moon, but I couldn't fall asleep and I kept turning over that emotion. We both woke up twice that night, but at last my wife slept sweetly, with the moonlight on her face. I wanted to think about all this, but I was stunned. So simple that life had seemed to me that morning, when I woke up and saw the false spring, and heard the goat man's flute, and went out to buy the horse newspaper.
Have and have not
Got up. It was a beautiful clear afternoon, pleasant, it was not cold and a light north breeze was blowing. The tide was going out. At the edge of the canal there were two pelicans sitting on a pile. A fishing boat, painted dark green, passed the market. Sitting at the pole was a black fisherman. Above the water, smooth with the wind in the same direction as the tide, blue-gray in the afternoon sun. Harry looked at the sandy island formed when they dredged the channel where a clutch of sharks had been discovered. White seagulls were flying over the island.
Seafood
He had been getting something for nothing. This served to delay the presentation of the invoice. But those kinds of bills are always paid. It is one of those magnificent things that you always have to count on… I thought I had paid for everything at once, with no idea of the prize and the punishment. Just an exchange of values. One gave something and another received something in return. Or he worked for something. In one way or another, you always have to pay for everything that has some value ... Either you pay by learning from things, or with experience, or accepting risks, or with money. The world is a good place to go shopping ...
Farewell to arms
The nurse entered the room and closed the door. I sat down in the corridor. I felt empty. I wasn't thinking, I couldn't think. I knew he was going to die and I prayed that he did not die. Don't let her die. Oh my God, I beg you, don't let her die. I'll do whatever you want if you don't let her die. I beg you, I beg you, I beg you. My God, don't let her die ... My God, don't let her die ... I'm begging you, I'm begging you, I'm begging you, don't let her die ... My God, I'm begging you, don't let her die ... I'll do whatever you want if you don't let her die ... The child has died, but don't let her die. You were right, but don't let her die… I beg you, I beg you, my God, don't let her die… ».