The longest silence : a life in fishing /
Material type: TextPublication details: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 1999.Edition: 1st edDescription: p. cmISBN:- 0679454853 (alk. paper)
- 9780679454854
- 799.1 21
- SH443 .M38 1999
Item type | Current library | Home library | Collection | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Standard Loan | Hayden Library Adult Nonfiction | Hayden Library | Book | 799.1/MCGUANE (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Available | 50610018313374 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
From the highly acclaimed author of Ninety-Two in the Shade and Nothing but Blue Skies comes this collection of breathtakingly exquisite essays borne of a lifetime spent fishing.
The thirty-three essays in The Longest Silence take us from the tarpon of Florida to the salmon of Iceland, from the bonefish of Mexico to the trout of Montana. They bring us characters as varied as a highly literate Canadian frontiersman and a devoutly Mormon river guide and address issues ranging from the esoteric art of tying flies to the enduring philosophy of a seventeenth-century angler. Infused with a deep experience of wildlife and the outdoors, both reverent and hilarious by turns, The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water and demonstrates what dedication to sport reveals about life.
With ten books over a thirty-year span, Thomas McGuane has proven himself over and over again "a virtuoso . . . a writer of the first magnitude," as Jonathan Yardley wrote in the New York Times Book Review. "His sheer writing skill is nothing short of amazing." But he has devoted a couple decades more to another sustaining passion: the pursuit of most every sporting fish known to the angler's hopes and dreams.
The quarry--from trout and salmon to striped bass, massive tarpon, and chimerical permit--inhabit these thirty-three essays as surely as the characters of a novel, luring the author back to childhood haunts in Michigan and Rhode Island, and on through the stages of his life in San Francisco, Key West, and Montana; from the river in his backyard to the holiest waters of the American fishery, and to such far-flung locales as Ireland, Argentina, New Zealand, and Russia. As he travels with friends, with his son, alone, or in the literary company of Roderick Haig-Brown or Isaak Walton, the fish take him to such subjects as "unfounded opinions" on rods and reels, the classification of anglers according to the flies they prefer, family, and memory--right down to why fisherman lie. "His essay subjects are the stuff of epics," Geoffrey Wolff has written, "and his narratives can make you laugh out loud."
Infused with a deep experience of wildlife and the outdoors, dedicated to conservation, reverent and hilarious by turns or at once, The Longest Silence sets the heart pounding for a glimpse of moving water, and demonstrates what a life dedicated to sport reveals about life.
Table of contents provided by Syndetics
- Some Remarks (p. ix)
- Small Streams in Michigan (p. 3)
- Back in Ireland (p. 15)
- Sakonnet (p. 25)
- Twilight on the Buffalo Paddock (p. 35)
- Angling Versus Acts of God (p. 43)
- Twenty-Fish Days (p. 53)
- Henry's Fork (p. 59)
- Tying Flies (p. 67)
- Spring (p. 73)
- Runoff (p. 79)
- The Big Hole (p. 89)
- Midstream (p. 97)
- Seasons Through the Net (p. 107)
- Southern Salt (p. 115)
- The Longest Silence (p. 121)
- Close to the Bone (p. 135)
- Weather (p. 143)
- A World-Record Dinner (p. 149)
- Tarpon Hunting (p. 155)
- Silver King: A Glimpse (p. 169)
- The Hard Way (p. 173)
- The Sea-Run Fish (p. 177)
- Wesley's River (p. 185)
- Sur (p. 191)
- Fly-Fishing the Evil Empire (p. 201)
- Of the Dean (p. 211)
- Snapshots from the Whale (p. 219)
- Izaak Walton (p. 229)
- Iceland (p. 235)
- Roderick Haig-Brown (p. 245)
- Down Under (p. 255)
- Unfounded Opinions (p. 261)
- Sons (p. 271)
Excerpt provided by Syndetics
Reviews provided by Syndetics
Library Journal Review
Novelist McGuane (Nothing but Blue Skies, The Bushwacked Piano) is also a preeminent angling author. The title essay in this outstanding collection is named for those unproductive times when no fish seem interested in a cleverly disguised hook. Those contemplative periods of waiting are a meaningful part of fly-fishing because catching fish easy and often would be appallingly boring. These 33 diverse essays span the challenges of fishing for trout to tarpon in locales ranging from the Montana river in his backyard to New Zealand. Two are tributes to legendary anglers Isaak Walton and Roderick Haig-Brown. Colorful characters abound. Many of the pieces take jabs at humanity at large, most are profound and/or humorous, and all are capable of capturing the reader's imagination with gifted prose. Highly recommended for public libraries.ÄWill Hepfer, SUNY at Buffalo Libs. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.Publishers Weekly Review
Novelist McGuane (Nothing but Blue Skies, etc.) celebrates everything about angling in this collection of 33 essays, which is certain to entertain fellow enthusiasts and fans of his writing. Any notion that fishing is humdrum is dispelled when McGuane describes eloquently his lifelong love affair with the sport, from the joys of tying flies and testing different rods, to sharing ghost stories and observational gems with fellow anglers, to absorbing quietly life's mysteries. He puts into historical and literary context the classic fishing writings of Izaak Walton and Roderick Haig-Brown. Throughout, McGuane's awe at nature's splendor shines in his prose. Releasing a trout after catching it becomes a moment of reverence: "Suddenly the fish was there, its spotted back breaking the surface, then up showering streamers of silver from the mesh of the net.... I stood in the river for a long while, holding him into the current and feeling the increasing strength in a kicking tail I could barely encompass with my grip. To the north, the Aurora Austral raised a curtain of fire in the cold sky. My trout kicked free and continued his journey to the Andes." Such moments emphasize McGuane's call for preserving the world's rivers from overdevelopment. Whether he's fishing for trout in a beaver pond in Michigan, salmon in Iceland or tarpon in Key West, McGuane casts not only his fishing line, but also his magic at turning a precise phrase and evoking a delightful image. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reservedCHOICE Review
There have been many contributors to the literature of sport fishing since the 18th century, but few have chronicled in a more personal and provocative manner the attraction of sports angling than has McGuane. These 33 essays, some of which have been published previously, reveal the author's passionate odyssey in pursuit of fish, from small streams in Michigan to the Haffjardara River in Iceland to the Ponai River in the Soviet Arctic. While the expressed focus is on fly fishing for trout, salmon, bass, permit, or tarpon, one learns much about the geography and peoples of the lands and waters where the fish are sought. With a writing style that is both lyrical and reverent and humorous and irreverent, McGuane delineates the peculiarities and differences among both fish and fishermen. Blessed with a strong sporting and conservation ethic, he marvels at the use and abuse of the globe's natural world and the fate that awaits many of the waters of the world. His description of fishing the Henry's Fork of the Snake River in Idaho should become an exemplar on how western waters are degraded by the "hit and run management techniques of several public agencies." Recommended for undergraduates and general readers; all libraries. P. D. Thomas; Wichita State UniversityBooklist Review
There is a wonderful variety in the fishing McGuane describes in this, his eleventh volume on the subject. With dry fly or nymph, he pursues the trout of his home rivers in south central Montana, the bonefish, permit and tarpon of Florida's coastal waters, the sea trout of Argentina, and the salmon of Ireland, Iceland, and Russia. What is constant is his deep appreciation of the natural world, the companions who share his quest, the experience of fishing, and the fish themselves. What is also remarkably consistent is the masterfully precise quality of the prose with which McGuane conveys, with wit and sensitivity, his observations and ruminations along the way. Writing about fishing, as with other passions, can best be judged by the degree to which the author can put the reader in his shoes, or waders, as the case may be. McGuane's readers will feel the strong, cold currents of fish-infested rivers at their legs. --Dennis DodgeKirkus Book Review
An outlaw spirit moves through these fish stories. It flashes like the glint of a knife or the back of a trout holding in a pool, and marks these tales from novelist McGuane (Some Horses, p. 699, etc.) as his iconoclastic, unpredictable own. McGuane is a serious angler. He watches and listens to the whole nine yards: from rigging up to the birdsong, the cut of the trees along the horizon line, the fluid dynamics, those heavenly fish. His approach is vivid, focused, and intense, as he plays hard and gets dirty in his ``willingness to deepen the experience at nearly any personal cost.'' For the payoff is sublime: ``I could feel glory all around me,' he says after one of those times when it all came together. He attends to the most minute details, knowing, for instance, that in Ireland, ``you would have to be born not only among these lanes to find our aperture of unguarded water but also among its rumors,'' and acknowledging when he is tinkering with his fly selection that ``the deep voodoo of salmon is something I am unready to disturb.'' All the narratives are instantaneous, as if your attention had been momentarily diverted and McGuane were reporting what had just transpired, but not all is skittish esoterica. He allows notes of sentiment when revisiting favorite haunts (``universal irony might just have to eat hot lead for the moment''), and readers will take him at face value when he says, ``If the trout are lost, smash the state,'' in a classic piece that is included here among stories that range from early more-outrageous-than-thou fishing high jinks to recent fishing in remote venues, the fury of his pursuit now in his head rather than on his sleeve. ``Of course, it's all in my head; that's the point.'' It's a daring head, too, audacious and unrepentant and wild for the type of experience you could write about.Author notes provided by Syndetics
Thomas McGuane was born in Wyandotte, Michigan on December 11, 1939. He received a B.A. in English from Michigan State University in 1962 and a M.F.A. from Yale University in 1965. His first novel, The Sporting Club, was published in 1969. His other works include Ninety-Two in the Shade, Nothing but Blue Skies, Keep the Change, Panama, and Nobody's Angel. His novel, The Bushwhacked Piano, received the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award for a Work of Fiction in 1971. He was also co-editor of The Best American Sports Writing. He authored screenplays for Rancho Deluxe (1973), The Missouri Breaks (1976), and 92 in the Shade (1975).(Bowker Author Biography)
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