Splitting an Order
by Ted Kooser: "It was on this day in 1952 that Ernest Hemingway (books by this author) came out with his last novel, The Old Man and the Sea."
My grandmother subscribed to Life Magazine. Since she lived only a few blocks from us, we visited her several times a week, and I always read her copies of Life. Or looked at the pictures, since that's mostly what Life contained, or so it seemed to me. But one issue in 1952 was different. It had a really long story in it, "The Old Man and the Sea." I can still remember what some of the illustrations for the story looked like (and if it didn't have illustrations, don't tell me; I remember illustrations, so, by golly, there were illustrations). I was only eleven at the time, and I'm sure I didn't get all the important symbolism and stuff, but I read the story. I'd heard of Hemingway, but I'd never read anything by him. I thought it was pretty good. It was years before I read anything by him again, but the next thing was "Big Two-Hearted River." After that, I was a real fan.
3 comments:
I remember discovering many great writers through magazines. I doubt that happens much today. Even Readers Digest gave me fragments that sent me looking for them.
Magazines were my parents' way of introducing the world to me back in the 40s. Life, with its great photos, Time, with its engaging English, the New Yorker, American Heritage, Look, Readers Digest with its condensed books, and yes, they added Popular Mechanics and Popular Science.
My parents had the same magazine line-up, Richard, just add Saturday Evening Post. I remember reading fiction in SEP, none in Life or Look, but I couldn't tell you who wrote any of it.
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