W. H. HudsonBesprekingen

This book of essays by a noted Naturalist didn't thrill me, but I did read it through and found some interest in his descriptives of the sound of bird song. It contains a set of questions for the teacher to use plus some reprints of several poems mentioned in the essays. It also lists, in the back, the selection of titles of the Kings Treasuries of Literature (from series number 39 to 115).½

Short Victorian utopian novel (so much more engaging than William Morris' New From Nowhere), with elements of Alice in Wonderland ("Drink Me"). Although very little happens in the story (a stranger wakes in a strange land, is taken in by a large family, falls in love, and learns their unusual customs, through trial and error, before settling into learning mostly from observation). The thing that make the story good are the contemplative paragraphs, especially towards the end of the novel. I found it amusing that protagonist admitted he never liked reading; and his musings on melancholy rang so true as to make one wonder how much of the author's own experiences were being described. I loved the descriptions of the architecture and decorations of the house; his references to art (Guide), music (popular music of the author's time; older classical music, and the invented tunes in the story), famous authors, mythology, and poetry (Tennyson). Of course Hudson also describes the wildlife, and indeed his monologue with the dog, contemplating his situation at the end of the book, summarises the differences between our world and the one he has found himself in, asking which is better? It was Margaret Atwood who introduced me to this story, and I can see why it has fallen by the way-side against the more well known utopian novels; but like More's utopia, it contained a very refreshing look at women's role in society.

Los abuelos de Hudson eran ingleses; sus padres, americanos, se casaron en Boston y en 1833 emigraron a la Argentina. Se instalaron en “Los veinticinco ombúes”, donde criaron ganado vacuno y lanar. Allí nació el 4 de agosto de 1841, William Henry Hudson.
Se enamoró del paisaje y lo recorrió sin parar. Le gustaba cabalgar, observar los árboles y los pájaros. Exploró ese paisaje pampeano soñando con el campo inglés. Joven, visitó nuestro país, al que guardo en su corazón y describió en la antes mencionada novela.
Tras la muerte de sus padres, en 1874, se marchó; no volvió más. En Londres se casó con Emily Wingrave, dueña de la pensión donde vivía, de quien cuentan que cantaba con bella voz.Sus famosas memorias, aparecieron en 1918. Se trata de un clásico libro, que se ha reeditado, varias veces, llamado Far Away and Long Ago-A History of My Early Life, conocido en estas tierras como ALLÁ LEJOS Y HACE TIEMPO.
Es un libro de evocaciones, muy bien redactado, que invita a adentrarte en el paisaje y soñar junto con el autor. Hudson murió en Inglaterra, en 1922, a los 81 años. Su epitafio, reza: “Amó los pájaros y los lugares verdes y el viento en el brezal, y vio el resplandor de la aureola de Dios”.

A unique memoir of youth on the pampas. Hudson's gift for deep appreciation of wildlife is a unique record in English. Now the wild Argentina that he reveals is definitely far away and disappeared.

I loved WH Hudson's "Purple Land." This flight of fancy , though, was unutterably turgid rubbish.
When 23 year old Abel is involved in a political coup, he flees retribution to the most distant parts of southern Venezuela.
Living with Indians, exploring the local forests, he encounters the girl/ wood nymph Rima....a magical, saintly, otherworldly creature of an unpleasingly fey, irrational and unknowable demeanour.
Oof...by golly it dragged on...

The strangeness of the world is never-ending, particularly in the memoirs of those who have long ago left us. Hudson evokes a bird-world in South America that even he laments as lost, from his burrow in the smokey London of his exile. He knew what was happening in his homeland, the spread of efficient agriculture that doomed wetlands and their denizens. And this was over a century ago. The beauty and oddity of this memoir just absolves it of the terrible pain it causes. That seemed to have been Hudson's case as well.

One of those wonderfully quirky fictions that would never, ever be printed today. Worse luck. From the experience, years ago, of reading slush piles, I know that such books are around-- just not in print. Maybe the rise of ebooks will make them once again available, these eccentric and magic imaginings.

A man is knocked unconscious and wakes up to find everything has changed. Utopian fiction, the civilization might be compared with the Eloi from the Time Machine but i think this story is better written and has a more haunting atmosphere.
There are hints that the civilization might not be as perfect as it appears but then the story ends before you can get any answers. I don't even know whether my ideas about the dark elements of the civilization were actually implied or merely inferred. A frustrating but interesting read.

Well that was disappointing. This is a sort of supernatural romance, kinda, maybe preternatural would be more apt. Anyway its about a man who finds a forest in Guyana said by locals to be haunted. I can't say much more about it without spoiling the story, especially since there is so little plot.
I was really into it at first burning quickly through the first 9 or so chapters. It seemed really compelling, but after a while i realized the reason i was reading so quickly, was because of the thin plot. I felt compelled to read a lot because that was the only way to get any sense of accomplishment story-wise as so little was actually happening.
Overall its well written but far too verbose and i was disappointed with it after a good start.
Also the romance in it became a little uncomfortable for me at times. Modern sci-fi often points out the dubious morality of Kirk's romances in the 70's Star-Trek show and those opinions came into my mind several times during this read.

Listed as a proto - science fiction novel; A Crystal Age published in 1887 has all the charm of a Victorian fantasy novel tinged with an echo of erotism that permeates the tale. William Henry Hudson was an Argentinian author, naturalist and Ornithologist who emigrated to London in 1874 and became a British citizen some time later. He was the author of nearly fifty books a mixture of novels, ornithological works and books about the English countryside. He was an acquaintance of George Gissing. His most famous novel was Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest.

Told in the first person Smith; a keen English amateur naturalist exploring rough terrain falls some 40 feet into a deep hollow and loses consciousness. He awakes to find himself in a different country. Exploring he comes across a curious burial party and after witnessing a short service he is invited by a father figure back to the house for refreshment. He discovers a small community living in a large old house who are in tune with their natural surroundings. They know nothing of England or modern civilisation and are easily upset by Smiths rough city ways. Their clothing fits like the skin of a snake in sumptuous colours and Smith falls in love with one of the bright young girls. Their written language is different and Smith finds himself on a steep learning curve if he wants to stay in the community. He makes a contract with the father figure for a years work in exchange for bed and board and a suit of their wonderful attire.

Smith finds a self contained community perfectly in tune with each other and with their natural surroundings, they have an intense relationship with the fauna and flora and of course are vegetarian. Yoletta the girl of his dreams pays some attention to Smith and when he declares his love for her, she says she loves him too as she does all the bright young things in the community. Their relationship develops, but when Smith says he wants to possess her body and soul, she has no understanding of his meaning. Smiths need for physical love is something beyond the groups comprehension:

Ah, no! that was a vain dream, I could not be deceived by it; for who can say to the demon of passion in him, thus far shalt thou go and no further?

Some time later Smith learns that it is a matriarchal society and there is a Mother figure whom he has not met. The community have been deeply offended that Smith has not asked for an audience with Chastel. This has only been because of his ignorance and when he meets Chastel a sick woman he must undertake a whole new learning experience.

Hudson's main character is the natural world, the beauty of the countryside the gentleness of the communities existence, there seems no clouds on their horizon and the idyllic surroundings are almost worshipped by the group. It seems to be almost a fairy land, but there is a twist to the tale and Hudson cleverly builds up his story to a satisfying conclusion. I enjoyed the atmosphere created by the author, slow moving at first, but the mystery and the wonder expressed in the natural world held my interest. Of its kind this story has its own little notes of pleasure and so a four star read.

"¿Qué deseaba entonces? ¿Qué quería yo tener? Si hubiera sido capaz de expresar lo que sentía, habría replicado: solo quiero conservar lo que poseo. Levantarme cada mañana y mirar el cielo y la tiera verde toda mojada de rocío, día tras días, año tras año".

Tenía una idea previa sobre este libro, pensaba que era algo así como un [b:Martín Fierro|845331|Martín Fierro|José Hernández|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328836261s/845331.jpg|830857] en prosa y escrito por un inglés. Pero, ¡oh cielos!, qué equivocado estaba. La enorme influencia que ejercieron sobre el autor la naturaleza y el paisaje autóctono, difícilmente puedan encontrarse en otra obra. Seguramente para las personas criadas en la ciudad, será difícil de comprender, a menos que se lo ubique en alguna corriente panteísta. Pero para alguien con algún contacto con el campo (sobretodo en la región de la Pampa Húmeda), supone un viaje interno, una introspección que llama constantemente a la nostalgia, al recuerdo de una belleza que se va extinguiendo, que se va marchitando en pos del autoproclamado "progreso".

De todas formas, el libro no termina allí, hay mucho mas. Resaltan las descripciones de personajes rurales de la época, en la figura de vecinos de otras estancias, con sus particularidades y costumbres; todo inserto en el turbulento mapa político de aquella época. Sobre el final incluso se trata el tema del misticismo, el debate entre la muerte material y la vida eterna, que afecta a cada uno de nosotros. Este libro me ha resultado sumamente conmovedor, y no puedo dejar de recomendarlo. 5 estrellas totalmente merecidas.

Perhaps Green Mansions provides more promise than it delivers, especially towards the end, where it grasps for a philosophy that it never adequately expresses or attains. It's an enchanting book, nevertheless, that leads you to think that an idyllic state with nature might offer salvation. Yet serpents are afoot in this Eden. It cannot survive unspoiled. Bleakness dominates; sorrow pervades the land. But as its hero, Abel, nears the end of his journey, his delirium leads him to a transmogrification of spirit and soul. All made possible through his encounter with the mysterious Rima, a woodland nymph whose spirit Abel literally carries with him for the rest of his life.

The writing style of Green Mansions is surprisingly fresh. It has a modern feel to it, although composed at the turn of the last century. This goes hand in hand, however, with a storyline that is pure romance and fantasy, where reality intrudes just barely at the book's beginning. Its belief in the power of the "natural being," the person unsullied by contact with civilization, to live harmoniously with nature, provided the more carnivorous qualities of human nature can be diminished, was just plausible when the novel was written, in 1904. Today, it might be more likely regarded as an impossible illusion.

When it was released, 'The Purple Land' was a commercial and critical failure - but clearly it was underappreciated by those who read it back then, as it has aged extremely well, and is definitely worth taking a look at today. The story follows Richard Lamb, on the run from Argentina with his underage bridge; he leaves her with her aunt in Montevideo, Uruguay, and sets off in search of a living at an estancia. On his travels he falls into all sorts of adventures and romances, each one well-described, as is the scenery all about him. For me, the highlight came with a delightful little sketch, where a group of locals are sharing tall tales, each one convinced of the truth of their own story; when Lamb tells his, about the crystal palace outside London and all its attractions, not a soul believes a word he says.

A magical adventure book, all in all, and I'm very glad I read it.½

Very good children's book. I read a kindle version with none of the illustrations but the author painted such a great imaginative picture that I didn't feel the loss of those. According to the author's note, he was simply trying to convey how the imagination of a young child works in the perception of things such as mirages and the athropomorphization of the creatures the child encounters. The book works brilliantly on that level.

An absolutely beautiful memory of childhood, growing up in the Pampas of Argentina in the 19th century. Sort of a precursor to 'my Family and other Animals', as the author intersperses magical natural history (he was a noted ornithologist) with entertaining portraits of local characters. Though writing this back in 1917, it's already sad to hear him comment "I only know that the old place...where his cattle and horses grazed and the stream where they were watered was alive with herons and spoonbills, black-necked swans, glossy ibises in clouds, and great blue ibises with resounding voices, is now possessed by aliens, who destroy all wild bird life and grow corn on the land for the markets of Europe."
There's a further depth to it, though, as faced with bereavement, separation from the country, illness...he delves into the magic of Nature, concluding that the happiness of it "had a cumulative effect on the mind...so that in my worst times...I could always feel that it was infinitely better to be than not to be."
Superlative writing.½

This is an old book (originally published in 1910) which I picked up after reading James Rebanks' book of the same title, which references the Hudson work.

The writing style is a bit dated, but it's rather charming, and certainly heartfelt. Some of the latter chapters had some good ol' fashioned class and race prejudice, which was somewhat wince-inducing (I thought seriously of reducing my rating by a star, but the work is a product of its era as well as its "gentleman" author, and I took that into consideration). Hudson's observations of the natural world as well as his obvious admiration for Caleb, the subject of most of the book, were both the book's main attraction and its saving grace.

It took me a while to get into this book but once I started I managed to keep up the momentum. The story about the story was interesting but it is difficult to comprehend Hudson's lot until he deals with Darwinism and his own inclinations as a naturalist. Delivered as the story of one's boyhood, it is not until after finishing the book and reading the preface, one reflects and Hudson's genius comes to light.

This book is of interest to anyone looking into Utopian/dystopian Sci Fi works from the past. It reads as a book from the 1880s would read, but it is not a difficult read at all.

The main character perhaps reflects a common kind of young man from that era, thrust inexplicably into a very different future. The book focuses on his attempts to fit in to a future society.

There's no real science at all in this fiction. That might make this work somewhat unique for its time period. It is considered an early example of Utopian eco-mysticism. Whether it is Utopian or dystopian is debatable.

The characters range from likable to unlikable, and from fleshed out to hardly touched upon. The author spends a great deal of time describing landscapes and pastoral scenes, and excruciatingly redundant monologues are given the fullest of airings very much against this reader's wishes.

I found the protagonist difficult to like, and with the end of the book I was just as well happy to be done with it and him as I was somewhat disappointed in the choice of persons that served as our eyes and ears, and voices, in this future world.

If you want a glimpse into the minds of our not so distant ancestors, a chance to see what their hopes and fears for the world looked like, I think a look at their Utopian and Dystopian Sci Fi (or in this case not-so-Sci Fi) is worth the time. Another reason to read this book, or others now like it, is to see how these genres evolved and how themes and ideas spread over time across other authors. This book serves those purposes. I didn't think it was a great book, but I didn't think it bad or lacking really, so the 3 stars from me means good enough to read but nothing to celebrate. (other 3 stars from me might mean other things, like great or very enjoyable but flawed for some reason)

Mr. Abel, a socially prominent figure in Georgetown, Guyana, tells his best friend, a recent American? British? Canadian? arrival, the secret of certain events in his life before his own arrival in Georgetown from Venezuela.

I spent the whole book waiting for some big reveal to occur and for the REAL story to get started. It didn't.½

A second classic from W.H.Hudson – who was born to British parents in Argentina, but left and settled in the UK at relatively young age, never went back, and wrote all his books in English, yet is celebrated in Argentina as the great Argentine author, Guillermo Enrique Hudson – is the account of his travels to Patagonia, “Idle Days in Patagonia” (1893)

See for more: http://theonearmedcrab.com/a-reading-list-for-argentina

A classic is “Far away and long ago” (1918), the childhood memories of W.H.Hudson, of life in and around Buenos Aires in the middle of the 19th century. Hudson is, occasionally, a little heavy on description of nature and birds, but is at his best painting the Argentine society, the immigrants, the gauchos, the dictator Rosas, and all other things related to the people (or perhaps that is a personal preference). A great read for those who seek an accompaniment to the standard history fare that is available about Argentina.

See for more: http://theonearmedcrab.com/a-reading-list-for-argentina

Great story, wonderfully told. Simply a classic. Action, adventure, romance - it has it all.

Abel leaves the city in Venezuela to live in the forest with a native tribe. They refuse to enter a nearby wood because of a mysterious girl who lives there. Able gives no heed to their superstitions, and spends a lot of time in the wood, eventually meeting Rima and her grandfather. Rima and Abel fall in love, he moves in with them, and they take a journey to the region where Rima’s ancestors are from. There’s a whole lot in between all that, but that’s the basic plot.

I wasn’t really impressed with this book at all. It’s not bad, but it’s just so simple, almost as if it were written to be a movie instead of a fully-developed novel. Also, I know it was written a hundred years ago, but the stereotyping of the natives by the white men was really obnoxious, and by the last paragraph the author is really shoving his personal message down your throat. I’m still trying to figure out why this was on my list of classic books.

Green Mansions is a sort of fantasy romance set in the jungles of South America. The author, W. H. Hudson, was a naturalist early in his life, doing research in the flora and fauna of the frontier near his birthplace in Argentina. His parents were British and Irish. After he settled in England in 1874, he began organizing and reporting on his research findings. He also wrote a number of books reporting on and extolling the English countryside.

His background as a naturalist is evident throughout Green Mansions, as he describes the terrain and flora of his jungle setting, as well as its birds and wildlife.

The story revolves around the wanderings of Abel de Argensola, a Venezuelan. When a plot against the government, of which he is a part, is thwarted, he slips into the jungle, ostensibly to document the flora and fauna, as well as the culture of the Indians, but really to avoid retribution. Travelling alone, Abel meets Indians, wins their trust, and is soon sharing life with them. He learns that a particular area of the jungle is strictly avoided by the Indians because it home to and guarded by "the daughter of Didi," a mystical girl who speaks to the birds and animals in a lilting, musical voice. Two Indians, hunting together in that jungle, saw this creature, and one shot a poison dart at her. It hit his companion, killing him. The shooter swore the creature caught the dart and threw it back at the hunters. Hence, the Indians fear her powers and stay clear of "her turf."

Abel, of course, ventures boldly into that jungle, hears and sees the creature and is enchanted. Before too long, he actually meets her, learns her name—Rima—and meets her "grandfather," an elderly, white-bearded Venezuelan named Nuflo. The time Abel spends in Rima's forest riles the Indians, who now distrust him.

Rima speaks repeatedly of her mother and the region where she died. To win her favor, Abel persuades Nuflo to lead him and Rima back to the mountain where he rescued the pregnant mother. After the rescue, Nuflo had carried her to a village with a priest, where Rima was born. The mother, who is never named, cares for her daughter and teaches her to communicate with the birds and beasts. Ultimately, she fades and dies. Nuflo and Rima travel to the area in which Abel has found them. With Nuflo persuaded, the arduous trek is made. In their absence, the Indians discover they can hunt with impunity in the forbidden forest.

And it's downhill from there.

Green Mansions is very much a book of its time—1904. The patient pace, the flowery descriptions, the slow, drawn out dialogue. To me, it started slowly, built up some momentum, than tailed deliberately to a conclusion. I read it a long time ago (like 50 years) and got caught up in the mystical Rima. To an old coot, Rima doesn't have the same appeal. I still liked it, but… Give it three.

Hudson describe, varias décadas después y desde Inglaterra, su infancia en las pampas argentinas.