Green Mansions: Illustrated - Softcover

Hudson, W. H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1541233484 ISBN 13: 9781541233485

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest is an exotic romance by the British-Argentine naturalist William Henry Hudson. The story tells of a traveller to the Guyana jungle of southeastern Venezuela and his encounter with a forest dwelling girl named Rima. As a primary theme, the novel explores the potential damage inherent in contact between European and indigenous cultures.A failed revolutionary attempt drives the hero of Hudson's novel to seek refuge in the primeval forests of south-western Venezuela. There, in the 'green mansions' of the title, Abel encounters the wood-nymph Rima, the last survivor of a mysterious aboriginal race. The love that flowers between them is soon overshadowed by cruelty and sorrow... One of the acknowledged masters of natural history writing, W. H. Hudson forms an important link between nineteenth-century Romanticism and the twentieth-century ecological movement. First published in 1904 and a bestseller after its reissue a dozen years later, Green Mansions offers its readers a poignant meditation on the loss of wilderness, the dream of a return to nature, and the bitter reality of the encounter between savage and civilized man.Hudson presents a moving and mysterious romance against a backdrop of great natural beauty. Books as rich as "Green Mansions" need to be savored, like good wine. The story flows naturally and poetically. Though written over a hundred years ago, it doesn't seem at all dated. The plot and the pacing are superb, and Hudson's storytelling is particularly fascinating.

About this title

About the Author

William Henry Hudson (1841-1922) was an author, naturalist, and ornithologist. Hudson was born in the Quilmes Partido in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, son of settlers of U.S. origin. He spent his youth studying the local flora and fauna and observing both natural and human dramas on what was then a lawless frontier, publishing his ornithological work in Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society, initially in an English mingled with Spanish idioms. Hudson settled in England during 1869. He produced a series of ornithological studies, including Argentine Ornithology (1888-1899) and British Birds (1895), and later achieved fame with his books on the English countryside, including Hampshire Day (1903), Afoot in England (1909) and A Shepherd's Life (1910), which helped foster the back-to-nature movement of the 1920s and 1930s. He was a founding member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Hudson's best known novel is Green Mansions (1904), and his best known non-fiction is Far Away and Long Ago (1918). In Argentina, Hudson is considered to belong to the national literature as Guillermo Enrique Hudson, the Spanish version of his name. A town in Berazategui Partido and several other public places and institutions are named after him. Towards the end of his life, Hudson moved to Worthing in Sussex, England. His grave is in Broadwater and Worthing Cemetery in Worthing.

From the Back Cover

The curious call of an unseen bird lures a young European explorer deeper and deeper into the jungle, where he encounters the source of the siren song--a lovely, half-wild girl with mysterious powers. Thus begins the romance between Abel, a revolutionary hiding among an Indian tribe in the Venezuelan rainforest, and Rima, who speaks the languages of birds and longs to return to the land of her birth to be reunited with others of her kind.
Written by a British naturalist with a deep love and knowledge of wilderness areas, the richly colored tale transports readers to the lush atmosphere of the Amazonian outback. Originally published in 1904, this haunting classic offers a narrative of lyric beauty as well as a fascinating link between nineteenth-century Romanticism and modern environmentalism.
Dover (2014) republication of the edition published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1904.
See every Dover book in print at
www.doverpublications.com

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1541233484
• ISBN 13: 9781541233485
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 138