Fishing And Hemingway

Among tons of the Hemingway study, systematic discussions on Hemingway's fishing are seldom heard and a research on Hemingway's fishing from the dual perspective of cultural memory and of gender acts is more than a rarity.In western culture, "Great Fish" are by no means ordinary fish, but sea monsters like ketos and leviathan. From fish phobia to fish worship, we see that great fish are always an important phenomenon in western culture. In Motif-index of Folk-literature, Stith Thompson even lists "Great fish killed by hero and cut into sixteen pieces" as an eternal motif in story-telling. Stith Thompson's listing reminds us of the importance regarding the archetype of great fish and regarding the heroic image of fish-fighters.Therefore, fishing in the context of western culture doesn't mean the livelihood of fishermen, but a gender act that entails heroic masculinity. In the history of western literature, Beowulf, The Song of Hiawatha and Moby Dick are all very examples of "Great Fish" stories.Hemingway is no exception. In his life and works, "Great Fish" with fishing is always a recurring theme.This dissertation thus plans to examine Ernest Hemingway's life and works with the cultural background of fishing as part of cultural memory and with the theoretic framework of fishing as a gender act, systematically discussing the cultural factors of Hemingway's fishing and probing into Hemingway's life and works in which Hemingway employs fishing as a means of masculinity performance and identity recognition.Accordingly, this dissertation consists of the following five parts:Part One is an introduction. It introduces the origin of the study, presents the hypothesis and explains research methods, reviewing the current study worldwide and revealing the significance of the dissertation.Part Two is Chapter One. This chapter explains the factors of fishing as masculinity performance and identity recognition. Therefore, in the context of western culture, this chapter systematically elaborates "Great Fish" images, "Great Fish" phobia and heroic masculinity in fishing, analyzing "Dragon-like Fish" and "Worship of a Divine Fisher" and involving mythology, painting as well as literary works.Part Three is Chapter Two. On the basis of the previous one, this chapter probes into social backdrop and family background, analyzing Hemingway's masculinity crisis in real life. Then the chapter examines three Hemingway biographies, discussing the way Hemingway employs as a means of masculinity performance and identity recognition. In addition, this chapter examines some letters and essays by Hemingway, analyzing Hemingway's "Big Fish" complex and his worship for dragon slayers, revealing the relationship between fishing and Hemingway in the real world.Part Four is Chapter Three. This chapter is aimed at discussing fishing in Hemingway's works. Therefore, this chapter selected some major works by Hemingway as the target of close reading, exemplifying the cultural memory and gender acts in Hemingway's works.Part Five is a conclusion. It summarizes the entire dissertation, highlighting the characteristics and value of the research, presenting a blueprint for future study.In short, this dissertation employs the perspective of anthropology, probing into the cultural memory reflected from fishing in the context of western culture; it then employs the perspective of gender study, examining Hemingway's real life and characters in his works, systematically analyzing the gender implications of fishing. Against the backdrop of the current study on Hemingway's fishing, this study is a courageous and significant practice of innovation.