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Too Close to the Sun: The Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton
by
Sara Wheeler
Denys Finch Hatton was adored by women and idolized by men. A champion of Africa, legendary for his good looks, his charm, and his prowess as a soldier, lover, and hunter, Finch Hatton inspired Karen Blixen to write the unforgettable stories in Out of Africa. Now esteemed British biographer Sara Wheeler tells the truth about this extraordinarily charismatic adventurer.
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Paperback
Published
March 1st 2007
by Vintage Books
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Denys Finch Hatton is best-known in the U.S. as Karen Blixen's lover in the movie "Out of Africa". Some know him too as Beryl Markham's lover from the autobiography of the aviatrix, "West With the Night". I'd put off reading Wheeler's book for a couple of years thinking, "What depth can there be to a book about an aristocratic hunter-playboy?"
But Sara Wheeler does a fine job of putting his life in context with colonial development in East Africa; the d...more
But Sara Wheeler does a fine job of putting his life in context with colonial development in East Africa; the d...more
The movie Out of Africa has always intriqued me. I've read the book of the same title and recently read West with the Night trying to get a better understanding of the characters involved. Both of the books written by Karen Blixen and Beryl Markham are evocative of Africa and their adventures but fall short of the facts, even reality. This book not only provides vivid descriptions of Africa but also the details of the lives of the main characters in Out of Africa: Karen, Blix, Denys, Farrah,...more
Jennifer (JC-S)
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‘He had seen what men with imagination cannot help seeing in a dream country like Africa.’
This biography is about Denys George Finch Hatton (24 April 1887 – 14 May 1931). Finch Hatton was one of the British settlers of East Africa early in the 20th century, was a big-game hunter, and also the lover of Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), who wrote about him in ‘Out of Africa’ (first published in 1937). And, while it’s the ‘Out of Africa’ connection which led me to read this book, it’s the hi...more
This biography is about Denys George Finch Hatton (24 April 1887 – 14 May 1931). Finch Hatton was one of the British settlers of East Africa early in the 20th century, was a big-game hunter, and also the lover of Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), who wrote about him in ‘Out of Africa’ (first published in 1937). And, while it’s the ‘Out of Africa’ connection which led me to read this book, it’s the hi...more
This is an excellent biography, but also an exceptional look at British Society (the aristocracy) and British conquest of BEA (British East Africa) and the difficulties of the Colonists. History of World War I in Africa (which I knew little about)and the beginning tension between settlers and African natives is an integral part of the book. Denys Finch-Hatton was portrayed by Robert Redford in "Out of Africa". Two other books I like came out of this era. "African Queen" and "...more
Denys Finch Hatton certainly lived a fascinating life, and it is well told here. He reminded me a great deal of my stepbrother, Frank Morgan. They share a passion for adventure, a taste for the exotic, a brilliant mind, enough charm for a dozen people, and a seemingly constitutional inability to be tied down to one woman. His romance with Karen Blixen (as told by her in the book and movie Out of Africa) is an important thread in the story. He was her only real love, but she was not his, a situat...more
I think my love of Denys Finch Hatton (DFH) is what kept me reading. The writing was alright, the organization a bit off, the ending awful and abrupt - I really wanted MORE. HOWEVER DFH is a mystery....he left no journals, few letters so Wheeler really had a difficult job. Considering this, she did a good job. I really wish I could find good biography of DFH, because he is in my opinion, one of the most amazing people that ever lived, but I think the closest I am going to come to are the bits an...more
Irene
rated it
From the moment I first saw the movie Out of Africa, I've been mildly obsessed with British East Africa in the early 1900's thru 1940's. Of course, this place is now a little place called Kenya.
Last year, when I read a biography called "The Bolter," I became even more intrigued by all the characters that made up a little circle of mostly aristocrat pervs who liked nothing more than to hunt animals, do coke, smoke opium, and swing with whatever was mobile (however mobility ...more
Last year, when I read a biography called "The Bolter," I became even more intrigued by all the characters that made up a little circle of mostly aristocrat pervs who liked nothing more than to hunt animals, do coke, smoke opium, and swing with whatever was mobile (however mobility ...more
"An eternal wanderer on a perpetual quest for knowledge and experience."
Too Close to the Sun, The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton is as much a detailed history of British East Africa--the country known today as Kenya--as it is the story of Denys Finch Hatton's life. In other words, the focus is keener on the times than on the life.
Finch Hatton, a notorious and romantic character portrayed in Out of Africa, the book of stories by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blix...more
Too Close to the Sun, The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton is as much a detailed history of British East Africa--the country known today as Kenya--as it is the story of Denys Finch Hatton's life. In other words, the focus is keener on the times than on the life.
Finch Hatton, a notorious and romantic character portrayed in Out of Africa, the book of stories by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blix...more
I started this 250 or so page book in May. I finished it in August. That should say all you need to know.
The author, early on, asks a good question: why is it great men are only recognized as great if they do great deeds? The answer becomes clear: because otherwise they didn't really do anything. Denys Finch Hatton inspired a longtime lover to write about him in her great memoir Out of Africa. He himself kept no journals or diaries, so what we have here is a guy who had oodles...more
The author, early on, asks a good question: why is it great men are only recognized as great if they do great deeds? The answer becomes clear: because otherwise they didn't really do anything. Denys Finch Hatton inspired a longtime lover to write about him in her great memoir Out of Africa. He himself kept no journals or diaries, so what we have here is a guy who had oodles...more
just picked this up from the library!
**********
10/01/07
A fascinating portrait of a man who became famous despite not accomplishing much of anything. A portrait in how charisma and charm can create a legend.
I think what disturbed me most about this book is the obvioius bias the author has against Karen Blixen, otherwise known as Isak Dinesen. In the introduction, the author refers to her as a "monster", yet little, at least in what is presente...more
**********
10/01/07
A fascinating portrait of a man who became famous despite not accomplishing much of anything. A portrait in how charisma and charm can create a legend.
I think what disturbed me most about this book is the obvioius bias the author has against Karen Blixen, otherwise known as Isak Dinesen. In the introduction, the author refers to her as a "monster", yet little, at least in what is presente...more
If you've read Isak Dinesens' Out of Africa and remember her romance with Denys Finch Hatton, here's the real story of Finch Hatton's life. Wheeler has written a remarkable bio, full of evocative descriptions of Finch Hatton's youth in England and his life in Africa and insight into Finch Hatton's complex character. If you saw the movie version, try your best to forget that Robert Redford played the role and let Wheeler tell the story.
Robert Redford played the part of Finch Hatton in the movie "Out of Africa" a non-motivated,lazy young man not interested in much of anything until he discovered flying and hunting big game in British East Africa,whose main goal in life was to avoid committment.this biography didn't add too much to what I learned from viewing the movie.
I was prepared to love this. I've read a lot about British East Africa during ths period, am familiar with the history and the cast of characters, and Denys Finch Hatton was one about whom I knew little, so this seemed like a good choice to help me fill in the blanks. But, Sara Wheeler managed to bore me. I mean, really bore me. I found her Africa very sterile, and the people fairly flat. I learned a few interesting tidbits, mostly in footnotes. I just don't think this book does the raw material...more
Just OK. I read Frances Osborne's The Bolter last week. They cover overlapping subjects, but Osborne writes better and Idina Sackville is intrinsically more interesting than Denys Finch Hatton. Wheeler does a good job of recounting the military history of WWII in East Africa.
I never cease to be enchanted by any part of Isak Dineson's life, and this book gave me one more portal. Yet Denys Finch Hatton would be of interest even without his connection to Dineson. A true adventurer with a spirit to match. How different life seems today.
I read this biography of Denys Finch Hatton while on safari in Tanzania and really enjoyed it. Having known him only from Out of Africa it was interesting to get an in-depth view of his life. It was a perfect complement to my vacation.
The was the life story of Denys Finch Hatton, of Out of Africa fame. I wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did, but the writing was excellent and extremely evocative. Denys was the typical English nobleman who ended up living quite a non-conventional life. The fact that he really didn't get a focus/occupation until his late 30's/early 40's was a comforting one. The descriptions of Africa reminded me of my Dad's stories, and the white hunter that took him on his first trip in 1957...more
I had just come back from S. Africa when a friend of mine recommended this book. Not so much for the subject of the biography, Denys Finch Hatton, as for my interest in Africa and WWI.
Hatton was Karen Blixen's lover and she wrote "Out of Africa."
I was fascinated by the era, the events, and the country as told by Sara Wheeler, the author. Very little about the WWI campaign in East Africa has been written, and I knew little about the history of Kenya and Tanzania. "T...more
Hatton was Karen Blixen's lover and she wrote "Out of Africa."
I was fascinated by the era, the events, and the country as told by Sara Wheeler, the author. Very little about the WWI campaign in East Africa has been written, and I knew little about the history of Kenya and Tanzania. "T...more
If you remember the character that Robert Redford played in the movie, Out of Africa, this is the real story of Denys Finch-Hatton, an upper class English Renaissance Man whose relationship with Isak Dinasen was only part of his story. Accomplished, handsome, brave, and intelligent, he epitomized a part of British society that was on its way out as World War I approached. He took part in the British colonial occupation of East Africa and came to loath Britain's behavior there as he learned to ap...more
I admit to being an Out of Africa fanatic; this book puts things in perspective. Read this book for the real story...reality is quite different from Hollywood's interpretation; but I still love the movie.
Sara Wheeler is an outstanding historian. She not only tells the story of Denys Finch Hatton, but she places his life in a broad historical web that allowed me to appreciate his life in a expansive way.
Great book, if you're into that kind of thing. Denys Finch Hatton is the character played by Robert Redford in "Out of Africa". Always been a hero of mine, his story is a fascinating one.
An interesting book about a fascinating character - the English hunter made famous by Isak Dinesen in Out of Africa and played by Robert Redford in the movie.
Well written and I'm interested in African history. Even though he was a 'white hunter' Finch-Hatton was also a conservationist before it was chic.
A book of magic . . . a time of swashbuckling escapades through the savannahs of west Africa and the emotional upheaval that often resulted.
Recommended on npr radio. I thought it was good enough. You'd have to already be a fan of Out of Africa; either the book or the movie.
l loved reading about Denys Finch Hatton and his escapades and adventures in Africa. He was an early conservationist.
Denys Finch Hatton was Karen Blizen's lover in her book "Out Of Africa". He was truly an adventurer.
I loved him. What an experience it would have been to see Africa with Finch Hatton.
Well-paced, interesting, and full of great side facts, but also sort of brashly biased - it's strikingly clear who the author likes and doesn't like from their introductions.
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