green hills of africa

Hemingway’s safari memoir intertwines big-game hunting with meditations on writing, identity, and the search for truth in life and art.

Set in East Africa during a 1933 safari, Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway is a nonfiction account of big-game hunting that blends travel narrative, philosophical reflection, and literary critique. As Hemingway tracks kudu, lion, and rhino across the African landscape, he also meditates on writing, rivalry, and the nature of authenticity. Part memoir and part exploration of masculinity and mortality, the book provides insight into Hemingway’s personal ambitions and artistic ideals.

Written in his signature economical style, the narrative is less about the hunt itself and more about the internal journey. Hemingway contrasts the raw, elemental African environment with the intellectual and emotional terrain of a writer in search of meaning. As the centennial of its original publication approaches in 2035, Green Hills of Africa continues to offer a compelling glimpse into Hemingway’s psyche—his hunger for experience, his literary competitiveness, and his desire to fuse life with art.