
Title
"You Know the Name is No Accident": Hemingway and the Matter of Santiago
Document Type
Book Chapter
Annotation
Analyzes the underlying meaning of Santiago’s name in The Old Man and the Sea, arguing that his origin in the Canary Islands, the Isles of the Blessed, indicates his symbolic immortality. Using Hemingway’s personal relationship with the Catholic pilgrimage site of the same name, Stoneback draws attention to qualities of St. James of Compostela found in Santiago’s character and places the novella within the tradition of pilgrimage narrative. Calls The Old Man and the Sea a “complex study of saintliness” that aims to reconstruct a version of the historical saint as a pilgrim and undefeated fisherman rather than as an apostle.
Published in
Date
2013
Pages
165-179
Citation
Grimes, Larry and Bickford Sylvester, eds. Hemingway, Cuba, and the Cuban Works. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2013.