In response to the thread discussing “The Green Hills of Africa†I would like to share a few thoughts on Hemingway’s writing on Africa.

To approach Hemingway’s writing as a “how to†on African hunting is to miss the point. By and large Hemingway uses his experiences and imaginings as fodder for examination of the human condition. Let me give an example.

From “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber†by Ernest Hemingway

Thirty-five yards into the grass the big lion lay flattened out along the ground. His ears were back and his only movement was a slight twitching up and down of his long, black-tufted tail. He had turned at bay as soon as he had reached this cover and he was sick with the wound through his full belly, and weakening with the wound through his lungs that brought a thin foamy red to his mouth each time he breathed. His flanks were wet and hot and flies were on the little openings the solid bullets had made in his tawny hide, and his big yellow eyes, narrowed with hate, looked straight ahead, only blinking when the pain came as he breathed, and his claws dug in the soft baked earth. All of him, pain, sickness, hatred and all of his remaining strength, was tightening into an absolute concentration for a rush. He could hear the men talking and he waited, gathering all of himself into this preparation for a charge as soon as the men would come into the grass. As he heard their voices his tail stiffened to twitch up and down, and, as they came into the edge of the grass, he made a coughing grunt and charged.

…That was the story of the lion. Macomber did not know how the lion had felt before he started his rush, nor during it when the unbelievable smash of the .505 with a muzzle velocity of two tons had hit him in the mouth, nor what kept him coming after that, when the second ripping crash had smashed his hind quarters and he had come crawling on toward the crashing, blasting thing that had destroyed him. Wilson knew something about it and only expressed it by saying, “Damned fine lion,†but Macomber did not know how Wilson felt about things either…

In this passage, Hemingway uses the lion as a literary device / symbol representing courage and nobility. The symbol is juxtaposed against the character of Francis Macomber (the Safari client) who is neither courageous or noble, Wilson (the PH) who is hardly noble but certainly brave and Macomber’s wife who is, well, you should read the story.

Although Hemingway may have only intended to use the lion as a device in the story, his brief two paragraphs distal the very essence of why the lion has always been a symbol of courage and nobility. It is his vivid, original narrative voice that makes this possible. In short, his genius.

This short story and a few others were among the reasons for my burning desire to see Africa. Hemingway speaks to me of the immediacy of the beauty, brutality and challenge that is Africa.

Good reading;
Brett

Bravo!

Just re-reade the other thread. Sure hope Mrlexma isn't going to grade my essay...

Brett

That short story represents to me what is best about Hemingway's writing. However, it is fair to say that the quality is not even across all of his published work. However, I am not sure we should judge him harshly for True at First Light which he did not publish or arguably even finish.

I think Hemingway's work also illustrates what is often misguided about African hunters. In my opinion, NO animal should die because some idiot feels the need to elevate himself above someone else or nature. Of course, Hemingway was no stranger to this need himself so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that it comes out in his work.
My favorite bit of Hemingway lore in this regard pertains to him coming in from a long day of fishing aboard El Pilar and, his ego fully bloated, offering a financial reward to any "black man" who could knock him out. Hem, of course, then proceeded to kick a few asses on the docks. What a guy.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

P.S. Yes, I still enjoy his writing but only with a bit of a critical eye.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett:
Just re-reade the other thread. Sure hope Mrlexma isn't going to grade my essay...

Brett

Just for reference, this is the other thread:
"The Green Hills of Africa"

(So when someone is reading this thread 2 years from now they will be able to find the other thread that was referenced. )

-Bob F.

Brett

Well done.

Hemingway wrote many brilliant passages. Also many mundane ones.

Overall a Nobel winning A +.

The only time I can say that I have been to Africa was in a Hemingway novel or short story. Good stuff, Brett.

I believe Charles Helm makes a good point. Hemingway did not have anything to do with the publishing of the works after his death. In fact, if you have read enough of his work, it could be perceived that he felt some of his own work was not worthy of publishing. His inability to create the quality of his earlier work, may in fact have something to do with that 12 gauge barrel ending up in his mouth!

As for the dock incident: consider the times. But, had it occurred in the 70's, we could have had Jimmy "The Greek" present to give odds on the outcome!

The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber is one of my favorite Ernest Hemingway short stories, but if it had been written by Stephen King, I can just as easily envision ole Francis sparing the lion, really testing the guides courage and driving back to town, while the guide and the unfaithful wife explained their new age morality to Mr. Lion! Meanwhile, Francis gets back to town for a very rewarding snort after a successful hunt!

quote:

Originally posted by KLN357:
As for the dock incident: consider the times. But, had it occurred in the 70's, we could have had Jimmy "The Greek" present to give odds on the outcome!

AGREED! Jimmy and Ernest would have got on famously. That said, I don't think the dock story is as significant here for its racist overtones as much as its consistently "hemingwayesque" themes of domination and ego.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

Hey, is it hot in Cairo? Smart question, huh!

Yeah, you're right, there is no shortage of bravado in Hemingway novels, but the man was something of an enigma. He was fascinated with pugelism and participated himself well beyond what some of us might consider a reasonable age. Especially considering the amount of imbibement he enjoyed.

Character flaws became popularized in fiction for some of the same reasons, some I could do without, but it would shorten the list of good reading material. Tom Clancy aged Jack Ryan a little too quickly and he was a bit too squeeky clean for a CIA man. Now Mr. Clark on the other hand.....

JTG & KLN,

Respectfully, what has any of this to do with his writing?

Best regards;
Brett

The H man was usually a good read, but he was no Peter Hathaway Capstick.

quote:

Originally posted by Brett:
JTG & KLN,

Respectfully, what has any of this to do with his writing?

Brett,

Quite a lot. It seems to me that Hemingway had a tendency to endow his hunters with some of the distasteful personality traits that he himself possesed. As a result, a good portion of the general public, having read "Maccomber" or other work by Hemingway, perceive hunters (particularly those traveling to Africa with any regularity) as "having something to prove" or as people driven by an overpowering ego. This is, of course, unfortunate since the vast majority of us just like hunting and being out in the woods. Now, were he alive today, I think Hemingway's attitudes would have a made him a fabulous poster boy for SCI.

KLN,

Unfortunately, it has been 110 degrees and humid for most of July. I am, forunately, going to miss the real heat which comes in August!

Best,

JohnTheGreek

KLN,

Unfortunately, it has been 110 degrees and humid for most of July. I am, forunately, going to miss the real heat which comes in August!

Best,

JohnTheGreek[/QUOTE]

Interesting, very interesting! Should one be a psychiatrist or psychologist – which I most emphatically am not! – one could have no small amount of work with you. You are in a country with 100 plus temps and yet your avatar is one “Hatchet Jack†who was, if memory serves here, injured by a bear and then froze to death. “Hit ar a good gun - hit cilled the bar what cilled me!†was the note he held when Jeremiah Johnson found his body, I think. Care to expound on this, JTG?

I think I envy Hatchet Jack at this point! Fortunately, as I said, my August will be spent outside of Egypt. What's funny is that guys from Saeed's neck of the woods come to Cairo to ESCAPE the heat in July and August! To illustrate my distaste for extreme heat, the Girlfriend and I are actually thinking about buying a place in the Yukon to escape Cairo summers.

Best,

JohnTheGreek

Being a literary critic over the internet is a thing to be taken pretty lightly..

I rather liked the green hills, and brought it along to read on my first hunting trip to RSA. I like the way Hemingway wrote, and the qualities in my opinion is to be found in his description of the relevance of hunting.
I´d like to quote Shane Mahoney of Outdoor Canada:
"Hunting is not simple. It is the generator of our human condition, the crucible of intellect, and the fire of creativity. It is our mirror of the world, the image maker of wild creation; it has defined how we see, literally and figuratively. It is the only absolute rediscovery mechanism available to human beings; the mind-body fusion of all meditative, spiritual experience is derived from its pasturage... The true hunter is both the alert and the meditative man. Thought and action combined in purpose; a hymn for the unity of world and self. Hunting is a search for all."

I had not read that before Hemingway but somehow I think something like that connects to what Hemingway, in the eyes of the meditative hunter, perhaps wanted to write - pursuit and failure, pursuit an happiness and all that.

A quote from the movie Snows of Kilimanjaro is my favourite, I have not checked if it is something Hemingway wrote, though. The PH talks about the thrill of hunting lion:
"This excitement, courage if you call it, the way he feels it, it´s a man´s feeling; it´s natural in a man, it grows in a man and makes him a man... not particularly to his credit if he has it but something missing if he hasn't."


Boha, literary critic

quote:

Quite a lot. It seems to me that Hemingway had a tendency to endow his hunters with some of the distasteful personality traits that he himself possesed. As a result, a good portion of the general public, having read "Maccomber" or other work by Hemingway, perceive hunters (particularly those traveling to Africa with any regularity) as "having something to prove" or as people driven by an overpowering ego.

Have you read the story?? I must say I have absolutely no idea what your talking about.

Best regards;
Brett

"Islands in the Stream"

Nothing to do with Africa, but "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a must read for the Hemingway fan.

"Green Hills of Africa" is as much about the characters and character as it is about hunting, or Africa itself.