africa Was An Obsession For Hemingway Throughout His Life. Long Before He Wrote The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber, Green Hills Of Africa, Or His Posthumously Published Novel, True At First Light (based On His Final Safari In 1953), He Had Been Enthralled As A Ten-year-old By News Reports Of The African Expedition Undertaken In 1909 By His Boyhood Idol, Theodore Roosevelt.

In Writing Hemingway In Africa, Christopher Ondaatje, An Explorer And Adventurer Himself, Followed The Trail Of Hemingway's Two Major African Safaris Through Kenya, Tanzania, And Uganda, And Analyzed Hemingway's Writings To Uncover A Startling Amount Of New Material -- Documentary, Literary, And Photographic -- On This Rarely Discussed, Vitally Important Aspect Of Hemingway's Life And Work.

Hemingway In Africa Is Lavishly Illustrated With Rarely Seen Period Photos From Hemingway's Safaris, Including: A Photo Of The Actual Leopard That Inspired The Snows Of Kilimanjaro; Bror Blixen (isak Dinesen's Husband, Whom Hemingway Admired As A Hunter) Posing With A Slain Water Buffalo; Photos Of Mid-century Mombasa And Nairobi; And The Wreckage Of The 1954 Plane Crash Near Murchison Falls That Nearly Claimed Hemingway's Life. These Are Complemented By Ondaatje's Own Stunning Photos Of Masai, Chaga, And Hadza Tribe Members, African Wildlife, And The Awe-inspiring Landscape, Including Breathtaking Aerial Photos Of Kilimanjaro.

With Broad Insight Into One Of The Themes That Defined Hemingway's Career, Hemingway In Africa Provides A Compelling Look Into The Life Of The Author For Whom Dangerous Exploits Were, As Ondaatje Writes, In The Final Analysis An Effort To Relieve The Intensity Of Existing At The Edge.

the Gap Of Hemingway's African Excursions In Books About Papa Is Partly Filled By This Copiously Illustrated If Casually Written Work From British Explorer-biographer Ondaatje (journey To The Source Of The Nile). Hemingway Went On Only Two Safaris In A Lifetime Of Traveling (1933-1934 And 1953-1954), But Both Were Vivid, Pivotal Experiences. The First Inspired His Famous Stories The Snows Of Kilimanjaro And The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber And His Bestseller Green Hills Of Africa; The Latter Trip Inspired Two Posthumous Works, The Less Well-received The Garden Of Eden And True At First Light. Ondaatje Follows The Faded Trail Of Hemingway's Safaris In Kenya And Tanzania (then Tanganyika) And Puts Them In The Context Of His Works And Those Of Other African Writers, Such As Isak Dinesen And Beryl Markham (whose Work Hemingway Championed). Although Papa's Tracks Are Fainter In Contemporary Africa Than In Cuba And Paris, Ondaatje, An Old Hand On Sub-saharan Africa, Has As Observant An Eye As Hemingway's For The Land's Beauty And A Better One For Its Residents Which He Complements With His Photography. By The Time Of Hemingway's Second Visit, The Era Of The Traditional Colonial Safari Was Closing, Just As His Own Career Was. While The Opening Description In The Snows Of Kilimanjaro Of A Leopard Carcass On The Mountain's Highest Slopes Concluded, No One Has Explained What The Leopard Was Seeking At That Altitude, Ondaatje Possesses A Sympathetic Insight Into What Hemingway Was Without Falling Prey To The Myth. 98 Color Photos, 3 Maps Not Seen By Pw. (june 25) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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