The Lounge 102

Ernest Hemingway -  Larger than life, Brash, Flamboyant, Womaniser, Bull runner. Drinker, Author, War Correspondent, Boor.  Following the success of his 1920s novels Hemingway profiled himself as the big game hunting, marlin landing he-man that he yearned to be.  Eight years after his last novel and on the receiving end of some less than complimentary reviews for his non fiction attempts, Hemingway appears a little irrelevant.  The Spanish Civil war changed that.  Hemingway loved Spain and its culture.  He saw the Nationalist coup as an assault on the country and its culture which he revered.  He also related easily to the young American volunteers.  He himself had been a Red Cross volunteer in WW1. The Civil War allowed him to relive his youth safe from the combat of the front lines.  In Madrid he appeared in a faux khaki uniform.  In Adam Hochschilds "Spain in our Hearts"  Lincoln Brigade Physician William Pike,...

For those not in the know, like me, this is the book on which Ridley Scott set his 1982 cult classic movie, Blade Runner .  The book is set in the post apocalyptic future of 1992.  The world is destroyed, covered in a toxic dust and Mars is a colony and emigration destination.  Most animal life has been wiped out and owning a live animal is the ultimate social status.  The production of androids is the tech industry of its day and fortunes are to be made by supplying the emigrants with the latest models.  Supplied with intelligence but not empathy androids repeatedly escape the colonies and servitude to mingle with the humans back on earth.   It is bounty hunter  Rick Deckard's  job to "retire" or kill the escapees. Rick is unsure of his place in the world and is angst ridden over his lowly status.  On the roof of his building he keeps an electric sheep as a substitute to owning a real one.  Stressed by his insecurities and ...