Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | The Hemingway Review

Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari.

Article Excerpt
Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari. By Christopher Ondaatje. Woodstock: The Overlook Press, 2003. 237pp. Cloth $37.50.

The publication in 1999 of Hemingway's last major manuscript, True at First Light, was a turning point in Hemingway studies. Although the popular press largely discredited the book as the work of an aging author with only flashes of the old brilliance, for Hemingway scholars and aficionados, True at First Light invited a reassessment of Hemingway's last decade and in particular of the role Africa played in his writing and imagination. Hemingway in Africa: The Last Safari is the first book-length study to emerge on the topic since the release of True.

Author Christopher Ondaatje has impressive credentials. He was a successful businessman (now retired in order to pursue his first love--writing), who also found time to be a member of the Canadian bobsled team, take numerous safaris, and develop a passion for photography (details we learn during the course of the narrative). Born in Sri Lanka and educated in England, Ondaatje is interested in stories of empire and cultural contact; his other books include [Leonard] Woolf in Ceylon, Journey to the Source of the Nile, and The Man-Eater of Punanai. Ondaatje's life is steeped in the vestiges of empire; he is a member of the Travellers' Club and the Royal Geographic Society, and in 2003 was knighted by the Queen. (1) My critical disposition is not so virulent that I was immune to the promises and prestige of this resume. All romance and readiness,...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!