Hemingway's African stories

[fanuzzir]

You might have already read "Snows of Kilamanjaro" in our previous discussion but equally compelling is "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." Here are two fine examples of Hemingway's fascination with African safaris and manly challenges.

[bemusedbard]

The Short Happy Life of Frances Macomber is one of my favorite short stories that I've ever had the pleasure of reading. It's a perfect representation of Hemingway's ability to convey so much with so little. I've always admired his ability to fill your imagination with the most minimal of words, but this story to me is his crowning achievement as far as that gift goes.

[fanuzzir]

I'm so excited to be reading it for the first time, and so glad that you've enjoyed it.

[holyboy]

Seems to me Hemingway was fascinated by death. In these two stories you mention, the man dies.

Even many of Hemingway's novel titles refer to death: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Death in the Afternoon, Across the River and into the Trees (Stonewall Jackson's dying words).

A Clean Well Lighted Place is about warding off death.

I suppose a Freudian analysis is in order!

We need to be aware of this theme in looking at his work.

Message Edited by holyboy on 02-05-200710:59 AM

[stargazer1]

If you like Snows Of Kilimanjaro then you should read his book under Kilmanjaro.
The book is about his final safari to Africa with his wife Mary.
.
He had hoped along with his wife Mary to recreate the experiences of his 1933-34 safari that he wrote about in the Green Hills of Africa, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and The Snows of kilmanjaro.

The book tells of the months they spend on safari in Kenya in later part of Nineteen Hundred Fifty Three and the early part of Nineteen Hundred fifty Four.

The safari ended when he had two near fatal plane crashes in January of Nineteen Hundred and Fifty Four during an plane tour of the Belgian Congo and Uganda and how they were along with pilot survived and taken to safety afterwards.

[ziki]

Thanks a lot, great.

ziki

[fanuzzir]

---

holyboy wrote:
Seems to me Hemingway was fascinated by death. In these two stories you mention, the man dies.

Even many of Hemingway's novel titles refer to death: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Death in the Afternoon, Across the River and into the Trees (Stonewall Jackson's dying words).

A Clean Well Lighted Place is about warding off death.

I suppose a Freudian analysis is in order!

We need to be aware of this theme in looking at his work.

Message Edited by holyboy on 02-05-200710:59 AM

---

I agree! Nothing fascinated Hemingway more than the "grace under pressure" exhibited by the dying man.

[zman]

These are two absolutely brilliant stories that I simply couldn't get enough of.

The wholly unexpected twists in the plot of "Short happy life..." were stunning, and the dream sequences in "...Kilimanjaro" were unreal. I can't imagine that the technique of dreaming in a story was anything new in literature when Hemingway went to use it, but his use of it has a wholly unique stamp.

One might also contrast the role of women in both of these stories: one is a conniving and cynical bitch, and the other is a loving, dedicated, and ultimately deeply grieved wife.

Message Edited by zman on 02-07-200711:33 AM

[fanuzzir]

I'm stunned by this story--how raw the emotions are, how transparent the savagery is, how fatal the combat it--and I'm not talking about big game hunting. I hope you enjoy the technique in narrating the undoing of a relationship here, and the sharply drawn characterization done with nothing at tall. It's quite an artistic accomplishment and a really open wound of a story.

[pmath]

That's from page 45: was EH a fan of Jane Austen's work?

[ziki]

It is a great story in my opinion, one of those I like. I read the discussion about it on the other forum.

The story is clearly about death and I liked how he melts the dying mind, it is really about the process (as often said about his writing). But the story it is also about relationship and the impossibility of it. Same theme, crafted in countless variations. I liked Heston's interpretation of the woman as nervous, so hampered by Harry.

Her care is made redundant. There's nothing wrong with her but still she's not enough. It's easier if her hope to be loved is crushed by his death than by his honesty about him being dishonest. Because if what he says to her is true, how could she ever restore her trust in herself? What could she offer? It is a dead end for her, for any woman.

"Love is a dunghill and I am the cock that gets on it to crow." He really despises himself. Were the animals pictures of himself? I can't get over the "big birds squatting obscenely". It's one of those lines that tells it all while nothing can be said about it.

I find the line "It's trying to kill to keep yourself alive" kind of decriptive about all things Hemingway. Perhaps including even his suicide IRL.


ziki
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780694524983&itm=1

Message Edited by ziki on 02-15-200708:12 PM

[fanuzzir]

This is a point I made elsewhere about Naipaul's In a Free State, a collection of African stories that contrast nicely with Hemingway's. I was wondering whether anyone wanted to take me up on the question of how much the author actually touches and engages with Africa and Africans.


"I hope you do enjoy that Naipaul collection. The inter-racial relationships are strained to the point of Baroque, which is a far cry from Hemingway, who goes through Africa and doesn't have any. I come away convinced that no one does modern deterioration of private life better than Hemingway, but he really did not open himself up to the African world the way he did to Spain and Michigan."
Bob

[jweiss]

I agree with you on that one Bob. I think that since Hemingway was such an avid hunter, trying to prove his manliness to others, he simply saw Africa as one big play ground. With all the safari hunts in Africa I would imagine that Hemingway would find it very difficult to explore the rich history of Africa. Let's face it he was a hunter, as the saying goes for fisherman "I would rather be fishing", Hemingway would just rather be hunting. As for how he could get closer to Africans, he once again probably just saw them as safari guides whose sole purpose was to know the land, or to go out and beat lions out of brush.

Do you think his views of Africa and Africans contributed to his writing style, for example when Francis Macomber says "Can't we send beaters?", even when he knows that they would most likely get killed?