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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,133
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,133 |
Truthfully, when it comes to Hemingway I prefer his Nick Adams short stories more than any of the novels.
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,448
Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 3,448 |
Would have to be Ruark. Green Hills of Africa is the only hunting book I could not bring myself to finish reading and gave away. Something about "Papa" does not jive with me.
And it would have been a hoot to see Ruark's blond fall in love with Africa.
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Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,558
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,558 |
Definitely with Ruark, Selby, the memsaab, Juma, Kidogo and company.... I love Horn of the Hunter, even more each time I read it.
But it would've been fantastic to have witnessed Africa in the old days with Roosevelt, or better yet, Bell.
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 754
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 754 |
We never talked about Hemingway's 1956 safari. True at First Light didn't do much for me. Seemed he worked to hard to make a story out of that trip, but I wished he'd made it a narrative.
Well, as a fellow Hemingway aficionado, I have to say that I don't consider TAFL a Hemingway book. It was partially written shortly after the 1953-54 safari, then put aside while he wrote The Old Man and the Sea, then permanently put away shortly after that. Hem's health problems ruined him, from a writing standpoint, at that time and he never picked the manuscript up again. His son Patrick, who was neither a writer nor a professional editor, then "edited" the manuscript and published it. It was a mess. I bought the book when it was first published it and read it several times over. It seemed to me at the time that the passages/parts that were true to Hemingway's writing style and manner were very good, but they were mixed up willy-nilly with the nonsense that Patrick thought made a good tale. If you excerpt out that junk, you come up with a short but pretty good novella. God save us from the well-intentioned editorial efforts of great writers' offspring... I was going to make this exact point - Hemingway never finished True at First Light. He would be horrified (I was going to write 'mortified' but he is already dead) I am sure, that it was ever published. It is like the ancient tapes of some John Lennon's half finished songs that Yoko Ono had in a bottom drawer for years. In TAFL you can read passages that sound spot on and then others that need to be cut or tidied, or where he takes three goes at saying the same thing, and it really does read like a first draft that his son got ahold of and I don't think you can judge the man for it. I would hazard a guess, that Hemingway may never have even read back what he had written.
"A person that carries a cat home by the tail will receive information that will always be useful to him." Mark Twain
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Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 950
Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
Joined: Oct 2002
Posts: 950 |
For some reason I was never able to enjoy and admire Hemingway's writings. I guess it just goes to prove that no two eyes see things the same way. and no two brains interpret things the same. OTOH I have enjoyed most all of Ruark's prose immensely. Peter Capstick was a friend, and I likewise enjoyed his writings a great deal, particularly his earlier works. I learned early on to take Peter's writings with a handful of salt. His early mentor in Africa once told me that everything that Peter wrote in his books actually happened, but not necessarily exactly as Peter related it.
I suspect that accompanying Ruark or Capstick on a safari would have been a hoot - Hemingway not so much.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 411
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Campfire Member
Joined: Aug 2004
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I'd go with Ruark in a heart beat
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 13,234
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 13,234 |
Okay, I cheated by bringing Teddy Roosevelt into it, but then somebody added Capstick!
Nobody else likes the idea of sharing an African safari with Teddy Roosevelt, Frederick Selous and R.J. Cunninghame? (Pugs, you of all people!)
There was a book, too, like the other guys: "African Game Trails" by Theodore Roosevelt.
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Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,133
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 17,133 |
Nobody else likes the idea of sharing an African safari with Teddy Roosevelt, Frederick Selous and R.J. Cunninghame? (Pugs, you of all people!)
TR would have been interesting on safari, or pretty much any other time. He was so well read and such a wide range of experience that he would have been fascinating to talk with. He wasn't a good shot but he was much more the naturalist than any of the others and I'll bet his observations about the country and critters and itself would have been interesting. He was a light drinker so at least we would have gotten up and on our way in the am in like Ruark and Hemingway at times. I suppose that wasn't such a big deal when your safari was months though!
If something on the internet makes you angry the odds are you're being manipulated
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 13,234
Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
Joined: Jun 2005
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Selous himself, would have been worth the price of the hunt, even if he wasn't there every day. Really, now. Frederick Selous. And R.J. Cuninghame. Although ... hell, I just thought of a potential deal killer. Selous, IIRC, was a virtual non-drinker. Practically tea-total. Don't know about Cuninghame. Yeah, I guess it would have been pretty dull at night, around that campfire. 
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 18,005
Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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They debated with Percival whether or not it was big enough, when it was pointed out "I 'd still have three on license" if he took it. Imaine that in today's world!
Great point, I hadn't considered that. With respect to rhino, that is a game species I had no desire to hunt until recently. I had only seen rhino in the zoo and on TV. But on my safari last September--during which I saw 7 black rhino in the wild--I was surprised to see how agile and graceful these creatures are in their own element. I would happily hunt rhino if I could, now! And the thought of having 3 or more on license? Holy schneikies!! However, I still wouldn't care for the danger of sharing the bush with a large, belligerent, prehistoric-mannered beast that could turn on me without provocation... like Ernest Hemingway.
"I'm gonna have to science the schit out of this." Mark Watney, Sol 59, Mars
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Joined: Sep 2012
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Campfire Member
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Ruark and Selby hands down.
Recovering Yankee
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