He surprised many of the critics when the novel, The Old Man and the Sea, was published.. ... Hemingway's years following these awards saw few works as successful as his novel or earlier writings. ... Another episode in 1940 may have also served as a source for the novel. Hemingway witnessed a man and a boy in a small boat being dragged by a fish that the man had hooked. ... Hemingway watched the struggle for half the day, finally pulling his own boat close enough to throw some provisions into the boat of the embattled fisherman and boy. ...

• Word Count: 3440
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

William Golding's own experiences with a devastated world led in part to the dark picture of humanity painted in his novel. ... "They were not enemies, they were not criminals, they were nothing but earthly now, nothing but black shadows of disease and starvation - This quote shows Conrad's sympathy for those who are being exploited for the benefit of others. ... The impressionist movement greatly inspired Conrad and led to the vivid language used to create the deeply disturbed tone of the novel. ...

• Word Count: 4223
• Approx Pages: 17
• Grade Level: High School

His novels, written between 1870 and 1895, made him the explorer of the transition of lives and minds from the age of traditional values and religious certainties to the age of godlessness and modern tragedy, a transition sometimes described as 'the clash of the modern'. After the hostile reception of his tragic and bitter novel Jude the Obscure in 1895, he devoted himself largely to poetry and poetic drama until his death in 1928. ...

• Word Count: 10566
• Approx Pages: 42