African Queen
January 2nd, 2009 From
>Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 00:05:39 -0800
>From: TMOliver
>Organization: Kestrel/SWRC/Oliver
>X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win16; I)
>To: mahan@microworks.net
>Subject: Re: African Queen
>Precendence: bulk
>Sender: mahan-owner@microworks.net
>Reply-To: mahan@microworks.net
>
>John Forester wove a web:
>
>(snipped, an anecdote almost as attention-maintaining as the
>magnificently simple tales his father told)
>
>I remember first reading (actually, trying to read) the three in one
>Captain Hornblower at about age six, and in the years of my childhood I
>continued to devour every available bit and weeviled-biscuit of CSF. I
>recall the deep disgust with which I exited my first viewing of the
>movie Hornblower. How could CSF have allowed such a travesty? How
>could Gregory Peck, the ideal selection for the part, assist in its
>perpetration? That was before I understood that authors had little say
>in screen adaptations and story lines.
>
>And now, fortunate association with this list has once more brought the
>author to life in the vivid anecdotes of his son. CSF lives in them,
>and his ships, great and small, are recommisioned by them. I sleep
>again in Hornblower’s cabin, and clear is the sound of the officer of
>the watch’s heels on the deck above.
>
>Thank you, John Forester, for sharing with us both the pleasure and a
>bit of the pain of having known him. May his tales live on to keep
>other little boys’ bedsight lights on late for years to come.
>–
>”A little learning is a dangerous thing,
> But more is inevitably catastrophic!”
>