Ernest Hemingway – one of the key American literary legends of the 20th century – is the next author to fall victim to content warnings, with classic titles like “The Old Man and the Sea” and “The Sun Also Rises” getting a second look from publisher Penguin Random House as well as one Scottish university.
According to a 2022 report from the British the Daily Mail, updated on June 25, 2023, Inverness, Scotland’s University of the Highlands and Islands flagged the 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning novella for allegedly “graphic” fishing scenes, according to documents obtained by The Daily Mail.
Others have criticized the decision, including Mary Dearborn, the author of “Ernest Hemingway, A Biography,” who, according to the outlet, called it “nonsense.”
“It blows my mind to think students might be encouraged to steer clear of the book. The world is a violent place and it is counterproductive to pretend otherwise. Much of the violence in the story is rooted in the natural world. It is the law of nature,” she told the newspaper.
The novella, in brief, focuses on fisherman protagonist Santiago’s massive catch of a giant marlin that he exhaustedly struggles to keep it on the line for days before eventually killing it with a harpoon.
The University of the Highlands responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment with the following statement:
“This novel is explored as part of a module which deals with scenes of gory violence in a number of epic texts. We believe that content warnings enable students to make informed choices. We started providing them at the request of several of our students who told us they would appreciate being informed about these topics in advance.”
Publisher Penguin Random House recently added trigger warnings to “The Old Man and the Sea,” as well as other Hemingway works over concerns about the author’s “language” and “attitudes.”
The change will alert readers of the outdated cultural depictions contained in the writings.
The Daily Mail also reported last month that the popular Hemingway title “The Sun Also Rises” features a disclaimer stating that publishers opted not to censor the content, but instead stated that they do not endorse it as originally written.
The disclaimer reads, “The publisher’s decision to present it as it was originally published is not intended as an endorsement of cultural representations or language contained herein.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Publisher Penguin Random House for comment. This article will be updated with any reply.
Similar actions were taken to accommodate modern sensitivities in other literary classics, including Roald Dahl’s works, Ian Fleming’s James Bond series and, some written more recently, such as R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” tales.
Many have been edited to erase or rephrase passages deemed racially insensitive or insensitive to certain genders, adopt more “inclusive language” or, in some instances, eliminate unflattering descriptions of weight and ethnicity of references to mental health.
