True at First Light
Language: English
Published by William Heinemann Ltd, 1999
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: De Boeken van Wouter, Amsterdam, Nederland, NetherlandsDe Boeken van Wouter
AbeBooks seller since March 26, 2025
Condition: Used - Good
US$ 12.65
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Please note: below is a general description of how we classify our condition types. If you would like a closer look or have any specific questions, please feel free to send us a message, and we will gladly check it for you. Condition descriptions: UsedlikeNew: Barely any signs of use, almost like new. UsedGood: May show some light signs of use, such as slight discoloration or a name written on the front endpaper, but generally no markings or notes in the text. UsedAcceptable: Book in acceptable condition. May show signs of use, such as some discoloration, reading creases in the spine, underlining, notes, slight dirt on edges, dog-eared pages, or a bent spine. New: Book is new. ON 36-6 290422.
Seller Inventory # 9780434007813
- Title
- True at First Light
- Author
- Hemingway, Ernest
- Publisher
- William Heinemann Ltd
- Publication year
- 1999
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0434007811
- ISBN 13
- 9780434007813
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
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
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
De Boeken van Wouter
Amsterdam, Nederland, Netherlands
AbeBooks seller since March 26, 2025
Shipping rates from Netherlands to U.S.A.
| Item | 7 to 45 business days | 5 to 25 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | US$ 50.48 | US$ 71.79 |
Payment methods
- Paypal
Store description
We are a professional second-hand bookstore from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. We believe in the second-life of books. In our wide range we have both rare and less rare books. However, for us, every book is equally special.
Specialty
All kinds of second hand booksSeller's business information
Wolk Media en Entertainment
Maasstraat, 81A
Amsterdam, Netherlands 1078HG
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