True at First Light

I just finished the audio version of Ernest Hemingway’s last posthumous book “True at First Light”. I listened to it while I uncluttered my workshop and finished up putting things in the storage area of the shed. This was a good book to listen to while doing this mindless work. I’m close to being operational in the workshop. I know I’ve spent more than 11 hours in the shed this week because the 8-cassette book had 11 hours of audio read by Brian Dennehy. The book is billed as a fictional memoir and is written in the first person in a rambling almost stream-of-consciousness style. I don’t know if this is typical Hemingway since the only other book of his I’ve read is “Old Man and the Sea”. While the plot didn’t seem terribly important the author’s descriptions of lion and leopard hunts, African customs and everyday life were interesting and enlightening. I’ll have more on this later.


How the book got published is a story in itself. Here is its history from BookPage.com


BookPage: How did the publication of True at First Light come about?

Charles Scribner: Before Hemingway died, he boasted to my father that he had several unpublished manuscripts in a safe that would someday earn very good royalties for his heirs if he didn't live to complete them. When he died, Mary Hemingway went to their estate in Cuba, the Finca Vigia, and was able to retrieve those manuscripts and bring them home in exchange for deeding all of their Cuban property and possessions to the Cuban people. In other words, Castro's government wanted everything of Hemingway's left behind, but they were willing to let her bring the manuscripts home to the U.S. In all, not a bad trade. In the long run, the manuscripts were worth more and certainly were of more value to the world of book lovers.


The book was edited by Hemingway’s son Patrick (who accompanied him on the safari) and there was some controversy over publishing this work in the first place. I’m glad they did.


The book is a self-portrait and fictional chronicle of Hemingway’s final African safari. Early in the book you learn that there is no word for I’m sorry or I love you in the Swahili language. I enjoyed the descriptions of the African landscape, the protocol involved in hunting lion and leopard and the sometimes poignant descriptions of the killing of the animals. You come away from the lion hunt with respect for the animal and a sound understanding of the dangers and strategies used by both the hunters and the hunted. I enjoyed learning about a lions habits and hunting methods. There is great respect shown for the lion. A moral sense about the kill is demonstrated by Hemingway’s thoughts after the lion is killed: "I was happy that before he died he had lain on the high yellow rounded mound with his tail down 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." The book also explores personal relatioships and tribal customs.


The part of the book that got to me the most was a story that didn’t happen in Africa. It was a memory Hemingway had about putting down a horse he had ridden for a long time. The horse had a split hoof and they were going to kill it and use it as bear bait to shoot a bear and then any eagles that came to feast on the bear. As he is bringing the horse to the proper location to kill it he reminisces about how the horse was always very clever and fast at picking up on little games he would play with it. The horse was periodically giving him horse kisses and Hemingway saw that the horse was thinking that this was another game and trying to learn the new games rules and play correctly. They reach the spot and the horse gives him another kiss. Hemingway says, “I know you would do this for me, old friend” and he brings out his gun. He explains the horse knows what a gun is and describes the horses eyes upon recognizing what is going on. This story hit a little too close to home – I had memories of saying good-bye to Sunshine, but it illustrates how Hemmingway gets inside the minds and personalities of the people and the animals in the book.

I don’t think I would have gotten through the book if I tried to read the print version, but the way I read it was perfect. The 2 Hemingway books I have read now I enjoyed, so it also makes me interested in reading The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms.