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paul_hammersten
Member
Post Number: 9
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Monday, March 22, 2004 - 9:38 am: | 
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On the old forum some of the longest and most interesting threads had to do with books and the topic of wilderness/wildness.
I thought I might try to get the discussions and contributions going again.
IN WILDNESS IS THE PRESERVATION OF THE WORLD
--- Henry David Thoreau ---
James Oliver Curwood was the most well known and highest paid American writer in his time. His stories set in the North American Wilderness filled volumes of books and magazines and where written for or adapted to the silver screen of the silent era and early talkies.
www.sdi.lib.mi.us/curwood.htm
Even more popular than Jack London, who took the idea for his famous story " To Build A Fire " from one of Curwood's tales { "...all a writer of fiction is really is a congenital liar who invents from his own knowledge or that of other men." Ernest Hemingway TRUE AT FIRST LIGHT page 94.}, James Oliver Curwood is perhaps best known in our time as the author of THE GRIZZLY KING from which the wonderful movie THE BEAR was adapted.
www.nahee.org/favorite_flicks-bear.asp
National Association For Humane and Environmental Education
Michigan author Curwood dedicated his story THE GRIZZLY KING to his son.
The young Hemingway's active imagination was fired by Curwood's tale written in 1916.
Just as THE SILENT PLACES by another Michigan writer Stewart Edward White would inspire Hemingway throughout his life, THE GRIZZLY KING would influence the writing of Ernest Hemingway, especially his great story of American Wildness - The Big Two Hearted River.
Both stories about one who enters the Wilderness " a boy " and returns " a man " teach the most difficult lesson to learn.
Rick Ridgeway's IN THE SHADOW OF KILIMANJARO: On Foot Across East Africa shows the most important distinction between ' wildness ' and ' wilderness '.
www.henryholt.com/98-2hh/...anjaro.htm
" Some jokes are all right in Africa but they don't travel because people don't realize what the country and the animals are like where it is all the world of the animals and they have predators. People who have never known predators don't know what you are talking about...." Ernest Hemingway TRUE AT FIRST LIGHT page 94.
A topic posted on another board about Wilderness Short Stories posted while I was in Florida a soom time ago got me thinking! Altough more about the " red " and the " white " than the " red, white and blue American Wilderness " your might find interesting a chapter from my new book. The capter is called "Ernest Papa Hemingway and James Oliver Curwood: Nick and the Grizzly on The Big Two Hearted River". In rough draft now - I could post the heart of the chapter.
My all time favorite story is " The Labrador Fiasco " by Margaret Atwood.
Whenever I take a trip, I always bring along books to read that will re-kindle my Voyageur Days of yore and prepare me to endure my present voyage.
wa-sha-quan-asin.compucan.com
First in my pack goes one of " the lure " books - beginning with THE LURE OF THE LABRADOR WILD,the followed by THE LONG LABRADOR TRAIL, followed by A WOMANS WAY THROUGH UNKNOWN LABRADOR, GREAT HEART, and CHALLENGE THE WILDERNESS, LOST LANDS AND FORGOTTON STORIES and of course Atwood's THE LABRADOR FIASCO.
These books [ and there are more and some interesting journals of modern era trips into ' things Hubbard ' available on-line ] that began with the " ill fated " L.Hubbard canoe expedition in Labrador in 1903 are the best series in the long list of excellent books on wilderness travel.
www.k12.nf.ca/janecollins/teacher/jheadge/lure_of_ the_labrador_wild.htm
The Lure Of The Labrador Wild An Analysis Page by Thematic Literature 3201,Jane Collins Academy
Magaret Atwood also wrote a piece about 'white' writers who " crossover " and take on the identity of the North American 'red' Indian. In her article?book?story? she uses the best selling Canadian author of his time , Grey Owl { Archie Belaney } as an example of the 'white' red man.
wa-sha-quan-asin.compucan.com
Ernest Hemingway identified with the 'vanished Indian' in his short stories - most notably in his final ' Nick Adams ' story THE LAST GOOD COUNTRY. And in life Hemingway's identity as a 1/8th Northern Cheyenne was important to him.
STRANGE THINGS : The Malevolent North In Canadian Literature.
The section of interest is " The Grey Owl Syndrome " of white writers going native.
Strange thing - not only was S.E.White and James Oliver Curwood from Michigan, but Hubbard grew up on the Upper Peninsular!
They all dreamed of taking trips of exploration.
The Young Hemingway poured over their books and the maps they contained, trading his hard soled schoolboy shoes for Indian mocassins to make imaginary journeys into undiscovered country where white men had never stepped foot.
There is a neat letter reproduced in HEMINGWAY IN CUBA by Norberto Fuentes written by Adriana Ivancich to Papa that reveals how close the quality of her relationship was to Hemingway.
"...I will be happy but a little sad, because I will not be seeing Africa with you, through you, as I would have wanted, YOUR AFRICA, with lions, good and bad, and your blacks and all the unexpolred regions wher ' white man has not yet set foot '."
I will also mention here Caputo's GHOSTS OF TSAVO.
There is much insight into Hemingway, Thoreau, wildness/wilderness included in this remarkable book.
Caputo asks thought provoking questions.
STORIES OF THE FAR NORTH edited by Jon Tuska [ ISBN 0-8032-9434-4 ] is noteworthy, not just for his selection of writers and theirs works - Jack London, Robert Service, Rex Beach, James Oliver Curwood, Max Brand, James B. Hendryx among others, but also for his revealing introduction which concludes -
" In fact, all mythologies{ ancient Near East, Greeks, Andean, Christendom...} no matter their geographical origin, seem to agree that northwest is the direction in which one must travel to have access to the land of the gods. In this collection of stories of the Far North it is no coincidence that northwest is, indeed, the direction in which these authors take us. Yet the land of the midnight sun can be more than a locus. It can be a metaphor for an odyssey of the human soul. " <<<Jon Tuska
My tribute To Ernest Hemingway, ASANTE PAPA! [ http://www.asantepapa.compucan.com ] is the first work to recognize the importance Hemingway placed on the " direction " N-NW in his life and work.
" In wildness is the preservation of the world " Thoreau famously said, not knowing the half of it ", begins Norman Rush in his NY Times Book Review - August 31, 2003 - of MONSTER OF GOD : The Man- Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind by David Quammen.
Why did Papa feel it was worth whatever the price to be in a state of true ' wildness ' ?
Why did Papa place the two man eating lions of Tsavo at the heart of his AFRICA BOOK?
And why did Papa, in the end, leave behind him trophy hunting and wish to 'let the lions be their own lions ' - much to the mystery of many present day Papa Wanna B's ?
MONSTER OF GOD has some answers.
This is just a start.
Best
Paul
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tess
Member
Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 2:38 pm: |
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Great List Paul! I went to buy Monster of God a few months ago and found the price of the hard copy too steep for me. I am waiting for it to come out on soft jacket. However, I read a quarter of the book while sitting in Chapters. I look forward to owning it!
I will only add one book to your list for now. I'm sure many of us Ottertoothians already own a yellowed copy of this classic:
The Monkey Wrench Gang, A novel by Edward Abbey (1975) Avon Books
Cheers!
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brian
Moderator
Post Number: 115
Registered: 02-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 23, 2004 - 6:53 pm: |
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Monkey Wrench is a great book.
Although not in the same class, but funny (Read on a plane recently and was laughing out. People kept ringing the flight attendent to complain.) is A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. It is about his failed attempt to thru-hike the Appalachian trail with a misfit friend. |
paul_hammersten
Member
Post Number: 15
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2004 - 8:57 am: |
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Yes Tess and Brian...neat reads.
Bill Bryson's book continues to have a big circulation at the library I work in here on Cape Cod.
I did some Long Trail hiking but switched back to canoe water trips. Too many mosquitoes and not enough water along the trail during the days and nites.
Tess...the last time I looked Amazon had used hardback 1st ed copies of MONSTER OF GOD for under $10.
As Bill Bryson correctly exclaimed - " David Quammen is a master! ".
Best
Paul |
canoebear
Member
Post Number: 146
Registered: 05-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 4:06 pm: |
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Hey Paul,
Heard on talk radio last night bout new book
cummen-out on "Journals of Crazy Horse".
Missed bulk of conversation. But jest of it
'twas bout Custer & weapons used at tha
Battle of tha Little Big Horn.
Be right ther in yer Mountain West backyard
of LameDeer, heya! |
paul_hammersten
Member
Post Number: 135
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Friday, November 19, 2004 - 10:20 am: |
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Thanks for the 'heads up ' on the book good buddy!
Best
Paul |
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