All of us here enjoy reading about Africa (or I'm pretty sure you would not be reading this.)


My favorite writer is Hemingway, be he writing about Africa or whatever. I think he wrote his best in the mini-classic The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Here is a free PDF file of the great short story.

I'm lucky enough to have a copy of the old film with Gregory Peck as the white hunter. It is one of the few films that matches the prose upon which it is based. I have looked on line for another copy, unsuccessfully, but if you know where to get a copy, you'd do well to put it in your collection. Even my non-hunting daughter was spell-bound watching it. While a bit changed for the big screen, the genius of Hemingway is still there and in spades.

If you haven't read the story of the .505 Gibbs vs. the .30/06... all to be decided by a 6.5x54 Mannlicher, you should take 15 minutes to take yourself to Narobi and a few decades ago. It is a classic! It includes all the thrill of a safari with the elements of loss of courage and redemption, husband/wife conflict, adultry, race relations.. all the time creating in our minds what it must be to live the live of a professional hunter pre-war East Africa... Hemingway was an amazing author.

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber

I have Hemmingway's book of short stories and that's in the book....what a story and without a doubt....Hemmingway is as good at writing as anyone ever.

It's a story one never forgets!!!!

Saw the movie and read the story to many years ago to count...

Mike

I also have Hemingway's book of short stories...

Great story one of my favorites...

Now there you go again, giving PH's ideas!
Peter.

It is one of my all time favorites. Right up there with "To Build a Fire."

I had an English Proffesor in college that was niave enough to think that "The Short Happy Life of Francis McComber" was a short story about American women. Sheez.

JPK

No doubt that is Hemginway at his finest! That story is special to me because I actually got to shoot a 505 Gibbs once. Was a freshman in college (I think) and was down at the local trap/skeet/rifle range with a frat brother shooting a round of trap. A man on the rifle range was shooting several rifles when we heard the big boom of the 505. We had finished our round and walked down that way to see what it was he was shooting. We watched him shoot a couple rounds thru it when he saw us and said hello. I asked him what that rifle was and he said a Mauser 505 Gibbs. I said I had never heard of one of those and he asked if I would like to shoot it. I must say I was hesitant because I saw the thumping he took, but manned up and said sure. Gave me a nice little push. I thanked the man and told him how much I admired all his pretty rifles and let him get on with his shooting.
A few weeks later, might have been the next quarter, I can't remember, I was taking American Literature and we read 'The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber". It flashed me back to that day at the range when I read about Robert Wilson and his 505.

Guess it kind of stuck with me more than most classics do because of my experience. That and being a damn good tale.

I have never seen the movie, but would love to. I have searched all over for a copy of the video as well, but no luck.

Sorry Your Honor, I did not mean to hijack your thread with my ramblings.

Adam

Always a good read before taking your wife on safari.

I enjoy Hemingway and that story is one of my favorites.

Good to see that you left out the comma this time, Judge.

No Comma!

This is Hemingway's best short story, IMHO. Misogynism notwithstanding.

Mrlexma wrote, regarding the comma:
"By leaving out the comma, Hemingway tells us the meaning of his story before we even read it. Without the comma, the adjective "short" modifies both the following adjective and noun. Hemingway's meaning is that Macomber's happy life was short. In fact, it was limited to just a few hours, the brief time after he grew some balls and stood up first to his wife and then to the buff."

This is the correct interpretation.

JPK

Sometimes an old dog can learn new tricks. I appreciated the correction before, and still do, now.

Got to get me a Mannlicher in 6.5x54 come day, though.

I agree that this may be the finest African fiction ever written, and something all of us can relate to. I also know those damned Mannlichers have gotten very expensive. I'll probably end up owning one for no other reason than this story!!

Adam,

www.movie-classics.com

I obtained a copy from them for my husband years ago. The movie is almost as good as the story.

One of the, if not the, greatest short stories ever written.

TerryR

Thanks Kathi!! I could spend a lot of money at that place!!

One of Hemingway's finest. I believe he got the inspiration for the story from a true incident in Kenya that was covered up; maybe it was during the infamous "Happy Valley" days.

When I met my the father of my wife's supervisor at their house warming he told me he was from Peek a Boo Idaho and had been a neighbor of Hemingway's. He told me that Hemingway had given him the 6.5x54 that was written about in The Snows of Kilomanjaro and that his widow gave him the 12 ga.that he used to commit suicide with.Said both guns were still in the family.

Hemmingway was no stranger to booze and I'm dearly impressed how he can spin such a clever story and do it so smoothly and in such a manner as to keep one on the edge of his reading chair during a time when his life was consumed by alcohol.

Sometimes I've thought such a twisted mind was a "result of" and not a "despite of".....

Makes no difference......a great writer all the same.

While PHC was also a fine writer he was no match for Hemmingway.....and again the alcohol factor was at play......it just makes one wonder.

Adam,

Was that Dr. Slay's class? I thought a lot of him in school.
I always thought of the .505 as a little more than a push. But, mercury recoil rods and a muzzle break can work wonders.

Thanks, JudgeG. I'd never read it and hadn't been much of a Hemingway fan. I enjoyed that one, though.

Hey Jim,
No, it was Jack William's class. I was being sarcastic about the nice little push. It kicked pretty good, but I think I told the gent and my buddy that it was no worse than a load of 12 ga buckshot from a single barrel shotgun. I know it didnt have a muzzle break, but dont know about a mercury recoil reducer. As best I remember it was a beautiful rifle but very heavy. The man had several very nice custom Mausers that he showed us while we talked.

quote:

Originally posted by Cazador humilde:
One of Hemingway's finest. I believe he got the inspiration for the story from a true incident in Kenya that was covered up; maybe it was during the infamous "Happy Valley" days.

I believe that the story came from the life of J.H. Patterson of "Lions of Tsavo" fame. He became a PH, and married the widow of one of his clients who expired during the "Honeymoon" Hunt. Someone will correct me if this is incorrect.

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
Mrlexma wrote, regarding the comma:
"By leaving out the comma, Hemingway tells us the meaning of his story before we even read it. Without the comma, the adjective "short" modifies both the following adjective and noun. Hemingway's meaning is that Macomber's happy life was short. In fact, it was limited to just a few hours, the brief time after he grew some balls and stood up first to his wife and then to the buff."

This is the correct interpretation.

JPK

That's good!

Patterson did not marry the woman.

quote:

Originally posted by Dagga Boy:
Thanks, JudgeG. I'd never read it and hadn't been much of a Hemingway fan. I enjoyed that one, though.

Daggaboy,
I am with you. I have read several of Hemmingway's books and stories. He was a talented writer, but, much Poe, too depressing to enjoy. I have Green Hills of Africa twice and did not enjoy it either time, I read Old Man and the Sea and came away feeling beat. Same for The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Great talent, radically different world view than mine. I have a hard time admiring the man but do admire his talent.

To a lesser extent, I feel the same way about Ruark. He seemed to be a Hemmingway "wannabe" in life and in his writing. Great skill but a wasted life in pursuit of joy, pleasure, whatever. He never seemed to find it and brought down the people with him. I found Harry Selby's recent remarks about Ruark interesting as well (interview in Sports Afield).

From 1907 until 1909, Patterson was Chief Game Warden in the East Africa Protectorate, an experience he recounts in his second book, In the Grip of Nyika (1909). Unfortunately, while on a hunting safari with a fellow British Army officer, Corporal Audley Blyth and his wife Ethel, his reputation was tarnished by the mysterious death of Corporal Blyth due to a gunshot wound (possible suicide – exact circumstances unknown). Witnesses confirmed that Patterson was not in Blyth’s tent when the shooting took place, and that it was in fact Blyth’s wife who was with him at the time, as she was reported as running (screaming) from the tent immediately after the shooting. Patterson had Blyth buried in the wilderness and then to the surprise of everyone, insisted on continuing the expedition instead of returning to the nearest post to report the incident. Shortly afterward, Patterson returned to England with Mrs. Blyth amid rumours of murder and an affair, and although he was never officially charged or censured, this incident would follow him for years afterward, most notably in the film The Macomber Affair (1947) which was based on an Ernest Hemingway adaptation of the story.

quote:

My favorite writer is Hemingway, be he writing about Africa or whatever. I think he wrote his best in the mini-classic The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.

Mine too, on both.

Thanks Judge. Great story. This makes the point that you want to teach your wife to shoot well if you teach her at all. I'd hate to be gut shot!

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
From 1907 until 1909, Patterson was Chief Game Warden in the East Africa Protectorate, an experience he recounts in his second book, In the Grip of Nyika (1909). Unfortunately, while on a hunting safari with a fellow British Army officer, Corporal Audley Blyth and his wife Ethel, his reputation was tarnished by the mysterious death of Corporal Blyth due to a gunshot wound (possible suicide – exact circumstances unknown).

Given the time period, and Pattersons former rank and current standing as Chief Game Warden, I don't think he would have classed a junior NCO as a "fellow British Army officer"..

Again when considering the time period and the rather rigid class system then existing in British society, I find it very unusual that a junior NCO and his wife would be hunting with a Chief Game Warden in the first place especially on a Corporals pay...

Given the turn of events and Pattersons subsequent actions, I can quite understand the speculation and gossip that followed...

According to David Chandler, in his well researched and written book, Legends of the African Frontier, this is what happened.

The true life Macomber was named James Blyth. He was neither an officer nor an NCO nor even an enlisted man.

He was an aristocrat. The son of Lord Blyth.

And the party was not hunting. Patterson was surveying the northern border of BEA, in the Northern Frontier District, and had brought the Blyths along.

Patterson was acquitted of wrongdoing in the affair by an inquest in Nairobi and later, after another investigation, by the House of Lords.

Suspicion, however, never quite subsided.

Perhaps because, on the night before Blyth's death, Mrs. Blyth had slept in Patterson's tent, ostensibly because her husband was then very sick.

Early the next morning, after a gunshot had broken the silence of dawn, Patterson found Blyth dead in his tent with a gunshot wound in his head.

Suicide or accident? Or murder? It was called an accident.

Patterson buried Blyth on the spot, burned the Blyths' tent and continued his surveying work into Marsabit. And did so with Ethel, now the late Mr. Blyth's very recent widow, still in tow.

Don't know how much of this is true, but it makes for a hell of a story.

As Hemingway well knew!

quote:

Hemmingway was no stranger to booze

That's "Hemingway", BTW, and no, he was a drinker, but he was also a Nobel Prize winner. No one has ever written cleaner prose in American English. Hemingway was a writer, not an African writer like Capstick or Hunter or all the rest, although he occasionally wrote about Africa. He coined an entirely new writing style. Picking up one of his books, you know you're going to be thrilled and entertained, regardless of the subject. Some work was better than others.

Hemingway suffered two serious head injuries during his life. Those and alcohol contributed to the depression that eventually led to his death.

A bit off thread, but someone who reminds me very much of Hemmingway is Norman Maclean.

Depending on which printing you find, you may also read two short stories along with A River Runs Through It--Loging, Pimping, & your pal, Jim, and USFS 1919.

Maybe what I most enjoy about Maclean is that these three are autobiographical.

It would have been a hell of a time to live!

friar

I read most if not all of his books.The two that I liked and could remember most are The Sun Also Rises and For Whom The Bell Tolls.His rival, Fitzgerald is my favorite author and his book The Great Gatsby is by far the best book I've ever read.

Gatsby was portrayed as gay, did you know this?

JPK

Legend has it that when Hemingway tried the newly created Bellini cocktail in Harry's Bar in Venice, a very "fruity" looking drink, he said that it would probably suit Fitzgerald better. 'Gotta love that.

That's good!

I've tried that drink, the "Bellini" and thought about the same. Gave it to my wife and odered a beer instead (it was before noon.)

The Bellini, IIRC is essentially a peach in liue of orage juice mimoso. Way too fruity.

JPK

quote:

Originally posted by JPK:
Gatsby was portrayed as gay, did you know this?

JPK

No,what do you mean?

quote:

When I met my the father of my wife's supervisor at their house warming he told me he was from Peek a Boo Idaho and had been a neighbor of Hemingway's. He told me that Hemingway had given him the 6.5x54 that was written about in The Snows of Kilomanjaro and that his widow gave him the 12 ga.that he used to commit suicide with.Said both guns were still in the family.

1. It's Picabo
2. Hemingway lived in Ketchum, briefly. At the time he lived there, there were almost no neighboring houses to his. Picabo is 20 miles or more from Ketchum.
3. I believe the 6.5 was left in Cuba
4. The shotgun is supposed to have been chopped into many pieces and buried to avoid being an article of macabre collectivity. Unless this person was very, very close to them I would doubt the story. If you are talking about the Purdy's, that might make sense, but anyone else is doubtful. Still according to Carlos Baker the gun was cut up (I believe he stated by the sheriff).

I remember a few years ago I was at a local gun shop and they were selling some rather nice italian shotguns that had been made as "Hemingway commemorative" editions. They had very nice engraving proclaiming this fact and all. I thought it was a bit like selling John Kennedy commemorative Mannlicher-Carcanos or a Ted Kennedy edition Oldsmobile.

Hemingway shot himself with a Boss double twelve.

He is buried in Ketchum.