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In True at First Light the glory days of the "great white hunters" are over and the Mau Mau rebellion is violently dislodging European farmers from Kenya's arable lands. But to the African gun bearers, drivers, and game scouts who run his safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, Hemingway remains a lordly figure--almost a god. Two parallel quests propel the narrative: Mary, Hemingway's fourth and last wife, doggedly stalks an enormous black-maned lion that she is determined to kill by Christmas, while Hemingway becomes increasingly obsessed with Debba, a beautiful young African woman. What makes the novel especially strange and compelling is that Mary knows all about Debba and accepts her as a "supplementary wife," even as she loses no opportunity to rake her husband over the coals for his drinking, lack of discipline in camp, and condescending protectiveness.
As usual with Hemingway, atmosphere and attitude are far more important than plot. Mary at one point berates her husband as a "conscience-ridden murderer", but this is precisely the moral stance that gives the hunting scenes their tension and beauty. "I was happy that before he died he had lain on the high yellow rounded mound with his tail down", Hemingway writes of "Mary's lion", "and his great paws comfortable before him and looked off across his country to the blue forest and the high white snows of the big Mountain."
Passages like these--and there are many of them-- redeem the book's rambling structure and occasional lapses into self- indulgent posturing. Joan Didion dismissed True at First Light in The New Yorker as "words set down but not yet written", but this fails to acknowledge the power of these words. The value of True at First Light lies in its candour, its nakedness: it provides a rare opportunity to watch a master working his way toward art. --David Laskin
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Book Description Hardback. Condition: Fair. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. Seller Inventory # GOR004869879
Book Description Condition: Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # GRP96952823
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Used; Very Good. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine. Seller Inventory # CHL9599014
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Pages unmarked. Dust jacket glossy. Binding square & firm. Book. Seller Inventory # 117579
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. His last book, edited with an introduction by Patrick Hemingway Seemingly unread Fine copy. Head page edges a little darkened. Seller Inventory # 003637
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Dustwrapper, pp.320. Introduction and edited by Patrick Hemingway. The last novel, written when he returned from a 1953 safari in Africa but only edited by his son and released some 46 years later. A little but very minor bumping to cover leading edge. Small split to rear lower corner of dustwrapper. Text a little browned. Overall VG in wrapper. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Seller Inventory # 005044
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Edited with an Introduction by Patrick Hemingway. Frist UK edition. Heavy book may require extra postage unless posted within South Africa. Publication of 319 pages. The dust jacket is a little shelf rubbed. The boards are in good condition. Internally the pages are clean and complete. The text is legible. Tightly bound and presented in cellophane. The binding is excellent. GK. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services. Seller Inventory # 6qizq
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. AIR MAIL POSTAGE TO THE USA UNAVAILABLE ON THIS BOOK. Seller Inventory # 000386
Book Description Condition: Near fine. Hardback. Seller Inventory # AH00464
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good +. Revised Edition. - With an introduction by Patrick Hemingway. Black boards with gold lettering to the spine. Glazed pictorial unclipped dust jacket. Now in a new removable protective clear sleeve. No inscriptions, 320pp. Although tanned, pages are clean throughout. (Any digital image available on request). Seller Inventory # 020985