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For The Longest Silence, McGuane has trolled his inventory and assembled 33 essays written over three decades. Passionate, meditative, personal, and often very funny, they are filled with fellowship and connected by his love of angling. The title piece, a certified classic in the sporting genre, chronicles his quest for the elusive permit. Since permit is about the hardest fish to catch on a fly, the expected futility of not catching one hooks McGuane's introspection, and he weighs in with trophy prose: "What is emphatic in angling is made so by the long silences--the unproductive periods. For the ardent fisherman, progress is towards the kinds of fishing that are never productive in the sense of the blood riots of the hunting-and-fishing periodicals. Their illusions of continuous action evoke for him, finally, a condition of utter, mortuary boredom."
That's McGuane on angling in a nutshell; he knows the real action is internal. Whether he's casting for salmon in Russia ("Fly-Fishing the Evil Empire"), bonefish in the Florida Keys ("Close to the Bone"), or trout in Ireland ("Back in Ireland"), the catch is secondary to the pursuit, and the pursuit has as much to do with making sense of self and the universe as it does with anything aswim in a river. "When you get to the water you will be renewed," he assures. "Leave as much behind as possible. Those motives to screw your boss or employees, cheat on your spouse, rob the state, or humiliate your companions will not serve you well if you expect to be restored in the eyes of God, fish, and the river, which will reward you with hollow waste if you don't behave. You may be cursed. You may be shriven. You may be drowned. At the very least, you may snap off your fly in the bushes." McGuane clearly wades in with honest intentions; in The Longest Silence he casts cleanly to his target again and again. --Jeff Silverman
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. Widely hailed as one of the best fishing books ever to be published, The Longest Silence is a book that has firmly established a place for itself amongst the classics of the genre.Thomas McGuane's obsession with fish has taken him from the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the fly-fisher's world. As he travels the fish take him to many and various subjects ripe for random speculation- rods and reels, the classification of anglers according to the flies they prefer, family and memory - right down to why fishermen lie.The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water, and demonstrates what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life. From the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the fly-fisher's world, Thomas McGuane's obsession takes him to Ireland, Montana, Argentina, New Zealand and Russia. "The Longest Silence" shows what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780224061018
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780224061018
Book Description Condition: new. (Paperback, 2001). (1999) recent UK paperback reprint. Small 8vo paperback (130 x 198mm). Ppxvi,280. Not illustrated. Fine new copy. Thirty-three passionate essays about McGuane's devotion to angling: from trout to salmon, tarpon to permit. . Seller Inventory # 7286
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Book Description Condition: New. From the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the fly-fisher's world, Thomas McGuane's obsession takes him to Ireland, Montana, Argentina, New Zealand and Russia. "The Longest Silence" shows what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life. Num Pages: 304 pages. BIC Classification: WSXF. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 131 x 22. Weight in Grams: 222. Seller Inventory # 9780224061018