I'd like to tap into the vast Campfire knowledge base with a question about Hemingway's book "Green Hills of Africa". I've read a couple of his books when I was underway,during my enlistment in the Navy. I think that I read every book that was in the small library,when I was assigned to my first ship (I couldn't finish War and Peace though). I don't particularly like the American Classics and really don't recall much about Hemingway's style of writing. This book isn't fiction so I wonder if it's worth my time. Thanks Gang...
If you hav to ask if Hemingway is worth reading, I'm sure it's not. Hems depiction of his surroundings in GHoA set the course for an entire genre of writing.
If you like Hemingway's writing style (and I do), then you'll like it. There are better hunting books, but it's a fun read and you'll enjoy it if you enjoy hunting.
Let me put it another way; Hems short, clipped depiction in GHoA created the writing style the next 100 years of Authors would emulate. JFC its the blueprint for all that came after. Is it worth reading. There's only a handful of people that could ask that with a straight face.
I have read all of Hemingway's fiction that has been published in book form. He is not my favorite author, but he is in the top ten percent. Many people pick up one or another of his books to read about hunting, but none of his books that I can remember are really about hunting. The hunts are just the fabric on which his tales are embroidered, so to speak.
I tried to read it in the 5th grade and even though it was a hunting book and I was nuts for hunting, I couldn't get into it. I tried it again a few years later and couldn't believe how much better the book had gotten.
It's not a "how to do it" and he's no Pondoro Taylor on African rifles and hunting, but keep in mind, he was hunting with the dean of the East African professional hunters and that's the way it went.
If you'd like to read a classic piece of non-fiction set in Africa, I'd start with "West With the Night" by Beryll Markuhm(sp?). A wonderfully written book about life in Colonial East Africa.
Easily one of my favorites.
Hemingway to a friend on the book and Beryll:
"Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? ...She has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book."
I hate being pidgin holed, but I'd say in this case a bit of a glib prick. Do you consider yourself more of a dumbass or stupidass?
I didn't put you in a category. You did that all by yourself. If you would avoid my posts in the future,I'd appreciate it... It's ironic that you misspelled "dumb ass" & "stupid ass". Two different words Einstein. Or are you a MENSA ? Never mind....
Selous "A Hunters Wanderings In Africa", that's the gold standard for me. Sure it lacks the prose of Hemingway, but what an adventure!
My favorite Hemingway will always be "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber". There's absolutely no redeeming value to the story whatsoever and all of the characters are of questionable moral repute...And still it's a magnificent read.
Gun Geek, Do you know the facts behind "Short and Happy Life......"? Based on an actual incident.
Most are suprised that it involved John Patterson.
On another note,,,,
Personally when I have a family member or friend tell me I drink too much, I often refer them to "Yhe Sun Also Rises". I'm a mere amateur compared to those lushes!
If you'd like to read a classic piece of non-fiction set in Africa, I'd start with "West With the Night" by Beryll Markuhm(sp?). A wonderfully written book about life in Colonial East Africa.
Easily one of my favorites.
Hemingway to a friend on the book and Beryll:
"Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? ...She has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book."
And Hemingway was spot on. I'd buy Beryl a drink anytime, were she still alive, of course.
She lived a remarkable life in the last century, and yes there is some flying & hunting involved. She was actually the first person to fly across the Atlantic from East to West. Not first woman, first person
Always liked one of the quotes from Hemingways sons. Apparently Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein babysat him in those days in Paris. He refered to the pair as "the gargoyles of his childhood!" LOL
I was hedging that should I write "dumb [bleep]", it may have required you to use your imagination, resulting in my having to then explain it to you. That consideration has of course been negated. About that sense of brevity Hem employees... see what you think.
Some things you just have to do for yourself to decide if they are worth it.
GREEN HILLS I enjoyed, more than once. TRUE AT FIRST LIGHT wandered so much it lost me. It now gathers dust. And posthumous doesn't bother me. ISLANDS is one of my favorites still.
But yeah, as an American big game hunter, you probably ought to open GREEN HILLS, and give it a go, since it's an opinion you wanted. That way you'll know for yourself.
I'm almost through the first chapter and am already hooked. Passing the whiskey,in a tin cup,up to one of the trackers so he could add water from the canteen is the style I remember from Hemingway.
Gun Geek, Do you know the facts behind "Short and Happy Life......"? Based on an actual incident.
Most are suprised that it involved John Patterson.
On another note,,,,
Personally when I have a family member or friend tell me I drink too much, I often refer them to "Yhe Sun Also Rises". I'm a mere amateur compared to those lushes!
Never heard that...which character was Patterson supposed to be, the White Hunter?
My favorite Hemingway will always be "The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber". There's absolutely no redeeming value to the story whatsoever and all of the characters are of questionable moral repute...And still it's a magnificent read.
That's what's great about it. Just like real life.
I know, Wikipedia, but factual. Read down to game warden and Blyth. Quite the scandal. Even John Hunter alludes to the incident, briefly in his book "Hunter".
I was hedging that should I write "dumb [bleep]", it may have required you to use your imagination, resulting in my having to then explain it to you. That consideration has of course been negated. About that sense of brevity Hem employees... see what you think.
I was wrong about you being a prick because that's a part on a man. You are something smaller and less masculine.
"I did not mind killing anything, any animal, if I killed it cleanly, they all had to die and my interference with the nightly and the seasonal killing that went on all the time was very minute and I had no guilty feeling at all. We ate the meat and kept the hides and horns." —Green Hills of Africa -
Was that because you didn't have time to finish it or because you couldn't dig your way through it? WP has been translated many times and each one is different. A good translation makes all the difference. The big problem is Russian names. A Russian will have a half dozen names or more. Which is used depends on who is talking to him. It gets completely confused for a non-Russian speaker. A good translation will use the same name for the person all the way through and it makes the reading far less confusing and much more enjoyable.
Hard to finish The Sun Also Rises without feeling your life has been changed.
Very true! I have a first edition "For Whom The Bell Tolls" in my library. A friend once described it to me as "as a young guy I learned everything about love reading that book."
Hemingway is the Remington 870 of writers, his writings are for just about anyone capable of reading the written word.For whom the bell tolls is a good enough read to make any one a fan.
Now is you want to step up to the fine doubles of writers, look at Ruark, "Something of value" is top shelf, his words make you want believe that you are there, where as Hemingway's writing tells you what it would of been like, had you been there.
Both were great writers who's styles are far from the same.
I'd like to tap into the vast Campfire knowledge base with a question about Hemingway's book "Green Hills of Africa".
This book isn't fiction so I wonder if it's worth my time. Thanks Gang...
It is well worth your read, and it is especially valuable to read it before you read Ruark's Horn of the Hunter.
Hemingway set up the safari with Phillip Percival, who is arguably the Dean of the East African professional hunters. He was Harry Selby's mentor and passed his native staff on to Selby when he retired. Some of these same staff members were on Ruark's first safari some 20 years later.
Percival, given the nickname POP had to deal with EH's hyper competitiveness and moodiness. "Momma" was EH's 2nd wife Pauline Pfiffer. Charles Thompson (Karl) was Hemingway's companion, and close friend from Key West. Thompson owned the cannery there.
Hemingway always weaves the themes of bravery, cowardice, jealously, etc., into his stuff, and there is plenty of it here. He got a good lecture from Percival when he started to brood and steam about the fact that Thompson was getting the better trophies.
The story is more or less very factual with little made up. It is a DEFINITE read for all those into Africa and safari. I'd tell anyone to read this as the first and Horn of the Hunter next. After that, you'll book your own safari. I did!
Thanks abunch Mr.H... That's what I was looking for. I grudgingly put it down last night right in the middle of chapter 5. I have work to do this morning and it's all I can do not to pick it up.
I honestly enjoy reading Ruark more than Hemingway, and enjoy reading about EH.
He was near sighted and had confidence issues for which he compensated with a hyper macho persona. That's what all the hard drinking, womanizing, let's box behavior was all about.
He was great to be around, certainly never a dull moment. A long time White House staffer said that in 40 years of receiving Heads of State, diplomats, Royalty, etc, that the only personality that could command a room more than Hemingway was Winston Churchill. Strong company for that title.
I honestly enjoy reading Ruark more than Hemingway, and enjoy reading about EH.
Having read both, and I believe all of both book wise, I enjoyed Hem much more. I believe to some degree, Ruark was attempting to duplicate Hems experience, right down to the follow up book. No knock on Ruark, as I remember enjoying his work, but quite frankly that is all I remember. Hem influenced the next 100 years of writers and left a lasting memory of his work.
Hatari, my take on EH and Green Hills of Africa is much the same as yours. I loved the book when I first read it, oh, about 1976, and I've re-read is several times since. His account of the eland hunt was/is one that has stuck in my mind over the years, and is probably one of the reasons I have set eland as a high priority for my hunt in Zimbabwe this coming August.
Hemingway was incredibly popular/famous during his lifetime, the leading light among American novelists for many years. The feminist movement in literature in the 70's and 80's really slammed him hard, though, and his work is still much-derided even today... but there are still a surprising number of scholars who really enjoy Hem. My elder daughter, who graduated magna cum laude in English Literature, read Hemingway for the first time when I gave her a copy of The Sun Also Rises in her junior year. She loved it, and went on to write her senior seminar on Hemingway, successfully defending his work fiercely against the feminazi's who populated her college's English department.
I quite enjoyed Baker's biography of EH, and recently finished Mellow's 1992 biography. His life story was larger than many fictional characters!
Ruark's Horn of the Hunter may have been inspired by GHoA, but I think Ruark took the concept above and beyond Hemingway's effort. Ruark's account was much more personal and personable. Not many people were inspired by Hemingway to go on safari; a LOT of people were inspired by Ruark. I think Hemingway was more descriptive of the game and the country, whereas Ruark seemed to capture the excitement of the personal experience.
Certainly agree with you on Baker. IMO on of the few of Hem's biographers not tinted in professional jealousy. I also believe your comment correct in that RR helped launch Shelby's career, whereas Hem's account was met with some distaste; more professional jealousy imo. Funny, I can't remember any of Hemingway's critics of now or the period, but live with Hemingway's accounts.
I promise you will enjoy every page. The best snapshot of life with EH during the 1930's by a college kid who went to meet him and got invited to spend a year with him.
A recent publication, I think it's called "The Guns of Ernest Hemingway," is worth a look. The authors don't know as much about guns as they think they do, but it's an interesting read about Papa and his firearms.
All Hemingway's writing is pithy and "economical", totally unlike the flowery writing with complex sentence structures that had come before. I don't know that he thought he was a great writer -- he thought Flaubert was the best, and Flaubert's style is unlike his.
I think what made Hemingway popular was his "modernness". He wrote about sex, psychological issues, and heavy drinking which was quite the contrast to the Victorian writers.
My favorite of his has always been "The Sun Also Rises" which he wrote when only twenty-six. I'm not even sure he understood the underlying sexual and psychological issues which he portrayed there.
Hemingway was quoted more than once that the quality of work should be judged not by what it included by rather what edited, how much and what he was able to leave out.
... I'm not even sure he understood the underlying sexual and psychological issues which he portrayed there.
Which, of course, would never keep some literature teacher from expecting his/her students to be able to figure them out, even though Hemingway himself didn't.
Hemmingway's Green Hills of Africa is far easier for me to read than Teddy Roosevelt's African Game Trails.
I was impressed with their writing, not so much with their hunting prowess.
True for me too. I found TR's style laborious to read.
thank you two....im an African hunting literature fanatic and i gave up on African Game Trails half way through....rarely hear anyone else say they didnt care for it....
Hatari, my take on EH and Green Hills of Africa is much the same as yours. I loved the book when I first read it, oh, about 1976, and I've re-read is several times since. His account of the eland hunt was/is one that has stuck in my mind over the years, and is probably one of the reasons I have set eland as a high priority for my hunt in Zimbabwe this coming August.
Hemingway was incredibly popular/famous during his lifetime, the leading light among American novelists for many years. The feminist movement in literature in the 70's and 80's really slammed him hard, though, and his work is still much-derided even today... but there are still a surprising number of scholars who really enjoy Hem. My elder daughter, who graduated magna cum laude in English Literature, read Hemingway for the first time when I gave her a copy of The Sun Also Rises in her junior year. She loved it, and went on to write her senior seminar on Hemingway, successfully defending his work fiercely against the feminazi's who populated her college's English department.
I quite enjoyed Baker's biography of EH, and recently finished Mellow's 1992 biography. His life story was larger than many fictional characters!
Ruark's Horn of the Hunter may have been inspired by GHoA, but I think Ruark took the concept above and beyond Hemingway's effort. Ruark's account was much more personal and personable. Not many people were inspired by Hemingway to go on safari; a LOT of people were inspired by Ruark. I think Hemingway was more descriptive of the game and the country, whereas Ruark seemed to capture the excitement of the personal experience.
Just my dos centavos.
Excellent post, Doc and mirrors my views, even given my family's connection to Hemingway, I never did warm up to his style, and I'll descend even deeper into blasphemy by saying I enjoy Capstick much better than Ruark OR Hemingway!
Jorge... I really, really enjoy Capstick as well. As far as writing about Africa in particular and dangerous game hunting in general goes, I think PHC set the bar and no one has matched him yet.
postoak... There is no question that Hemingway thought of himself as a great writer, perhaps "the greatest" writer of his generation. He was to 20th century fiction writing what Muhammed Ali was to boxing in his prime, and he knew it.
I have to disagree that Hemingway's content was all that revolutionary... if you read his contemporaries, Joyce and Fitzgerald, they're equally frank about sex and conflict and drinking. His style and disciplined writing technique was what set him apart, and he drew that from both his journalist background as well as his tutelage by Gertrude Stein.
As for his understanding of the "underlying issues" in The Sun Also Rises, EH was very much aware of what he was writing about. Reading his letters and his biographers makes that abundantly clear.
As Richard Austin points out, EH's style was much more poetical than most prose writers of his--or most any other--day, in that he said almost as much by what he didn't write as by what he did write.
Jorge... I really, really enjoy Capstick as well. As far as writing about Africa in particular and dangerous game hunting in general goes, I think PHC set the bar and no one has matched him yet.
I don't know if you've read Stein, but it is not what I would call disciplined, and I'm not certain she always used actual words. Hem attributed his style more to writing for news papers, or just news as a correspondent, than what he got from Stein. He did attribute the repetitive content to Stein, and they may have both been influenced by James more than each other.
Jorge... I really, really enjoy Capstick as well. As far as writing about Africa in particular and dangerous game hunting in general goes, I think PHC set the bar and no one has matched him yet.
Yea that was a chuckle; at the tim I was pre-occupied with the inaccrochable Doc. I was unable to recall the person I wanted to name.
The name I couldn't think of previously, Ring Laudner (sp?), a journalist with one of the papers of the day, was the author Hemingway said he most tried to style himself after.
I don't know if you've read Stein, but it is not what I would call disciplined, and I'm not certain she always used actual words. Hem attributed his style more to writing for news papers, or just news as a correspondent, than what he got from Stein. He did attribute the repetitive content to Stein, and they may have both been influenced by James more than each other.
Early (very early) in his career he worked as a reporter for The Kansas City Star. He said it was the early foundation for his "style," giving credit to his editors.
If one wants to see tight writing, read his short stories. There are numerous collections of them.
toltecgriz, thanks. Some of his best work was as a WW II correspondent; his trans Atlantic cables were a study in brevity. I have read - I think - all of his articles, published letters, articles he wrote under pen names (to avoid breeching contracts), all his short stories and books at least twice, sometimes more than twice. I quite like Hemingway's writing. I think it time to re-read either one of his works or something written about him. Thee only thing I haven't read that I know of is Gelhorn's book.
Like others have mentioned, I have enjoyed reading about EH even more than reading his works. My 2nd cousin's father-in-law went to high school with H and they were buds (they had nicknames for each other but I don't recall what they were.) H wrote to him many times during adulthood, and my cousin's wife had the letters. I remember one story she told me about H and her father canoeing on the Illinois river, and H writing something on a town's welcome sign. I can't remember exactly, but the sign had something like, family first, Illinois second. Hemingway wrote, "and God third."
Dave I feel certain Hemingway wrote about that adventure, although it could have been one of his biographers, or both. He was Hemstein I believe, a joke about the local pawn brokers.
hmmm...lots of those writers & artists in that day were a lusty lot.
Beryl Markham, who was mentioned earlier, was the mistress of Baron von Blixen, the husband of Karen von Blixen, who write Out of Africa. Without discussing the affair, she wrote about elephant hunting with the Baron, and it was a pretty funny chapter.
Imagination or not, Capstick could write. At some point in Florida he acquired a Freon-powered, fully automatic bb gun. He fantasized being a WWI gunner shooting at biplanes, while he was actually shooting at dragonflies. I hurt my ribs laughing at that story.
I always enjoy reading Capstick. He was very gracious about acknowledging newspaper articles that I sent him regarding animal attacks. While the primary motivation for 99.99% of writers is to make money (even though Mrs. Mefferd would never accept that as an answer to "What was the writer's purpose?"), for some reason it is held against PHC while not against others.
I always enjoy reading Capstick. He was very gracious about acknowledging newspaper articles that I sent him regarding animal attacks. While the primary motivation for 99.99% of writers is to make money (even though Mrs. Mefferd would never accept that as an answer to "What was the writer's purpose?"), for some reason it is held against PHC while not against others.
have a book by the guy that did PHC's half dozen African hunting videos and it has a few chapters about PHC including personal communication between them....shows pretty well that PHC liked to poke fun at himself and didnt take himself to damn seriously....he is one hell of a story teller, love reading his stories....
Close, I think it was Hemingstein, a nickname he carried for a long time.
Any of the Michigan short stories would probably work for you.
That sounds right. Seems they later also shortened it to just Stein or Stien. I think you right about the short stories as well. I enjoyed those immensely as I think he wrote about his childhood with a certain passion.
Hatari, his son (Bumby? maybe) wrote an account of walking in to the kitchen for breakfast and he (Hem) had Mary in what he described as an athletic round of morning sex.
Like others have mentioned, I have enjoyed reading about EH even more than reading his works. My 2nd cousin's father-in-law went to high school with H and they were buds (they had nicknames for each other but I don't recall what they were.) H wrote to him many times during adulthood, and my cousin's wife had the letters. I remember one story she told me about H and her father canoeing on the Illinois river, and H writing something on a town's welcome sign. I can't remember exactly, but the sign had something like, family first, Illinois second. Hemingway wrote, "and God third."
And Dave, just noticed your post count. Pardon the lack of manners; welcome, and thank you for adding to a topic of interest.
Hatari, his son (Bumby? maybe) wrote an account of walking in to the kitchen for breakfast and he (Hem) had Mary in what he described as an athletic round of morning sex.
The incident is from Misadventures of a Fly Fisherman by Jack Hemingway. Jack walked by Hemingway's bedromm midday while he was engaged with Gelhorn. It happened in Cuba.
Jack was Bumby, his childhood nick name. I could have swore it was on the kitchen table, but I wouldn't bet a little finger or anything. Didn't he say something about cereal being everywhere? Wasn't Mary? My memory may not be worth crap; it's been quite awhile since reading that.
Another story about Papa was a Literary agent approaching him to write a short novel of his (E.H.'s) choosing and told E.H. that he could, in fact, get 50k$ upfront with just a simple nod from E.H. to do so.
E.H. allegedly told the agent to proceed immediately and when he got the 50k$ in hand to covert the $ to nickels and shove'em up his big nosed Jew ass.
And on one occasion, IIRC he was speaking to the New York City Press Club when this little old lady walked up to Hemingway and asked him what motivated him to write such wonderful novels? His reply was "I write novels so I can hunt!"
He enjoyed building a big fire when in Africa and he'd sit with his choice whiskey and when the hyena showed their glaring eyes....he'd shoot them in the gut and get a big laugh out of hearing the pack eat the wounded beast!
Hemingway admired Ring Lardner's writings as a teenager and he actually used his Lardner's name while writing articles at times for his school's newspaper.
Lardner wrote some pretty good short stories.
Originally Posted by RichardAustin
Yea that was a chuckle; at the tim I was pre-occupied with the inaccrochable Doc. I was unable to recall the person I wanted to name.
The name I couldn't think of previously, Ring Laudner (sp?), a journalist with one of the papers of the day, was the author Hemingway said he most tried to style himself after.
He enjoyed building a big fire when in Africa and he'd sit with his choice whiskey and when the hyena showed their glaring eyes....he'd shoot them in the gut and get a big laugh out of hearing the pack eat the wounded beast!
Thanks for the update BRYMoore. I really appreciate everyone that contributes to a Hemingway thread.
Did you look up the passage?
No. I thought you edited your post to reflect sourcing it. In any event your word on it is good enough for me. I really appreciate having such a fine group willing to discuss a topic of interest.
He enjoyed building a big fire when in Africa and he'd sit with his choice whiskey and when the hyena showed their glaring eyes....he'd shoot them in the gut and get a big laugh out of hearing the pack eat the wounded beast!
Chapter and verse?
"With ducks thick in neighboring creeks and canals, and out on Tom Gooding's ranch pheasants fat with grain, Hemingway could not have been happier. Hunting frequently with Gary Cooper, who was more a Montana cowboy than a Hollywood movie star, Ernest posed for countless pictures, holding the day's bag. Cooper, he found, was a better rifle shot; Ernest was best wing-shooting with his over-and-under shotgun. Both men had come of age in an America so abundant with game that bag limits seemed onerous, and predators were to be eliminated. On his 1933-34 African safari, Hemingway had amused himself shooting hyenas; Cooper did the same with hawks on telephone poles and coyotes in the field. The two were both artists and outdoorsmen, fitting comfortably together in the field and at supper. Hemingway complained that Martha was so impressed with Cooper that she wanted Ernest to dress better, but nothing, he said, was going to make his face any better. Both men knew and admired each other's work: Cooper had portrayed Frederic Henry in the 1932 film version of A Farewell to Arms. Already there was talk between them that Cooper might become Robert Jordan for the movie version of For Whom the Bell Tolls."
NOTE:
Another info source I can't recall went into the 'firelight shooting' but it's been 50 years since I read that info and I can't recall the source!
I remember reading someone's account the Hemingway would deliberately gut shoot hyenas to watch them eat their own intestines. Not much of a stretch to think the other hyenas would eat them as well.
He enjoyed building a big fire when in Africa and he'd sit with his choice whiskey and when the hyena showed their glaring eyes....he'd shoot them in the gut and get a big laugh out of hearing the pack eat the wounded beast!
Chapter and verse?
"With ducks thick in neighboring creeks and canals, and out on Tom Gooding's ranch pheasants fat with grain, Hemingway could not have been happier. Hunting frequently with Gary Cooper, who was more a Montana cowboy than a Hollywood movie star, Ernest posed for countless pictures, holding the day's bag. Cooper, he found, was a better rifle shot; Ernest was best wing-shooting with his over-and-under shotgun. Both men had come of age in an America so abundant with game that bag limits seemed onerous, and predators were to be eliminated. On his 1933-34 African safari, Hemingway had amused himself shooting hyenas; Cooper did the same with hawks on telephone poles and coyotes in the field. The two were both artists and outdoorsmen, fitting comfortably together in the field and at supper. Hemingway complained that Martha was so impressed with Cooper that she wanted Ernest to dress better, but nothing, he said, was going to make his face any better. Both men knew and admired each other's work: Cooper had portrayed Frederic Henry in the 1932 film version of A Farewell to Arms. Already there was talk between them that Cooper might become Robert Jordan for the movie version of For Whom the Bell Tolls."
NOTE:
Another info source I can't recall went into the 'firelight shooting' but it's been 50 years since I read that info and I can't recall the source!
Close, but no cigar. Thanks for responding however. The bonfire story sounds a bit like part of the "legend," not the fact. But I wasn't there so I could be wrong.
I try to be very cautious about dealing with EH the legend. For every story about him being brave and fearless, another story pops up about him being a drunken wife beater.
Always, I carry with me something that Greg Boyington once said on the subject: "Show me a hero and I'll show you a bum."
Boyington might not have been 100% right about that, but like EH, he was an alcoholic, and he knew something about alcoholics.
Tom, most if not all of Hemingway's biographers are pretty frank about his heavy drinking, and the devastating effect his alcoholism had on his health and his career. And yes, he was not above striking his spouse, as evidenced by writings by Mary Hemingway, and letters from/to Pauline Hemingway.
I remember reading Hemingway's introduction to "The First Forty-Nine Stories", and being saddened that although he promised many more, hardly any were written. He was in his late 40's at the time of that writing. Boozing pretty much finished him over the next decade or so.
With my favorite writers, I try to concentrate on the best of their work, and not dwell too much on their private lives.
EH wrote some great stories about Africa, among other things. Because I have that, I don't feel like I have to convince myself that if I had ever been introduced to him, he would have lived up to his own fiction.
Yeah, I tend not to get too much into authors' bio's. EH is one of my exceptions because English Literature was one of my minors in college, and EH was the author I did the most research on. It's sort of stuck with me since then.
My favorite living author is Mark Helprin, who I know next to nothing about other than he was an Israeli infantryman and fighter pilot back in the day.
My favorite living author is Mark Helprin, who I know next to nothing about other than he was an Israeli infantryman and fighter pilot back in the day.
I just did a quickie Google search on Mark Helprin. I didn't find anything that said exactly what he did in the Israeli army and air force. Only that the served with them.
It's on the dust jacket of one or two of his books. In one of his earlier short stories he describes the experiences of a fictional Israeli soldier-turned-fighterjock that was apparently based on his own real life experience.
He enjoyed building a big fire when in Africa and he'd sit with his choice whiskey and when the hyena showed their glaring eyes....he'd shoot them in the gut and get a big laugh out of hearing the pack eat the wounded beast!
Chapter and verse?
"With ducks thick in neighboring creeks and canals, and out on Tom Gooding's ranch pheasants fat with grain, Hemingway could not have been happier. Hunting frequently with Gary Cooper, who was more a Montana cowboy than a Hollywood movie star, Ernest posed for countless pictures, holding the day's bag. Cooper, he found, was a better rifle shot; Ernest was best wing-shooting with his over-and-under shotgun. Both men had come of age in an America so abundant with game that bag limits seemed onerous, and predators were to be eliminated. On his 1933-34 African safari, Hemingway had amused himself shooting hyenas; Cooper did the same with hawks on telephone poles and coyotes in the field. The two were both artists and outdoorsmen, fitting comfortably together in the field and at supper. Hemingway complained that Martha was so impressed with Cooper that she wanted Ernest to dress better, but nothing, he said, was going to make his face any better. Both men knew and admired each other's work: Cooper had portrayed Frederic Henry in the 1932 film version of A Farewell to Arms. Already there was talk between them that Cooper might become Robert Jordan for the movie version of For Whom the Bell Tolls."
NOTE:
Another info source I can't recall went into the 'firelight shooting' but it's been 50 years since I read that info and I can't recall the source!
Close, but no cigar. Thanks for responding however. The bonfire story sounds a bit like part of the "legend," not the fact. But I wasn't there so I could be wrong.
If he really did that he was nothing more than a drunken idiot. To hunt and strive to kill cleanly is fine but to NEEDLESSLY cause pain and suffering to any animal just for some sense of pleasure is the height of cruelty and certainly not a trait to be admired. That is not the behavior of a hunter but one of a cruel heartless individual Anyone that would do that is a moronic idiot !
