What a wonderful and eventful life! Whether Beryl herself wrote the memoir or not, it hardly makes a dent in the kind of pride I have in her as a woman clearing the way for other women to come after her. Ernest Hemingway called her a 'high-grade bitch'. I wonder if he knew that a century later, this would reflect more on him than on her?

So Beryl's life in a nutshell: She moved to Kenya at the age of four and grew up in a farm. She became the first licensed female horse breeder in the world! She became the first woman to fly solo east-west across the Atlantic. And as if that were not enough, she wrote this book! Beryl saw both poverty and wealth, and died an old woman. Incredible! She also had three husbands and a string of lovers, for which many people, including author Paula McLain in her terrible, terrible fictional biography, Circling the Sun, think she should be remembered.

The book is not a linear biography. It's a collection of stories that Beryl thought interesting enough to write about. She included some really random stuff that made for interesting reading. The book covers all facets of her life through small anecdotes, so while it is not a complete biography, I felt I knew the woman well after reading this. Also, let me mention that I loved the fact that Beryl did not think it important enough to include her love life in this book, clearly showing that there were things other than men on her mind.

The author tends to get slightly lyrical about Africa and exoticises the country, but draws the line at doing the same to the people who live there. This is probably because she grew up with the Nandi tribe and her best friend was a Nandi boy. She even reflects on how their relationship changes once they become adults, he becoming the servant, and she the mistress, unable to withstand the force of colonialism. I liked her a bit more for this regret, general colonial attitudes and privilege notwithstanding.

I found it a little difficult to get into the book at first, and I was wary after reading the terrible Circling the Sun, because I thought it was going to be boring. But the writing quickly drew me in, and I began to enjoy the writing. I did get bored in the horse racing parts. It's about the one animal I just can't whip up any enthusiasm for. I am supremely 'meh' about these parts, but that's not Beryl's fault. She tries to keep it short and to the point.

I think this is a wonderful biography of an amazing woman, and more people should read it. Also, DON'T read Circling the Sun. It's pure crap.

The hills, the forests, the rocks, and the plains are one with the darkness, and the darkness is infinite. The earth is no more your planet than is a distant star -if a star is shining; the plane is your planet and you are its sole inhabitant.

"To see ten thousand animals untamed and not branded with the symbols of human commerce is like scaling an unconquered mountain for the first time, or like finding a forest without roads or footpaths, or the blemish of an axe.
You know then what you had always been told — that the world once lived and grew without adding machines and newsprint and brick-walled streets and the tyranny of clocks."

This is a really good, very nice idiosyncratic style and just a remarkable life Markham led. Still it does seem oddly impersonal, you’d might think reading this that she never had any romantic relationships.
But a quick glance at reviews of the biography of her, proves that that was very much not the case, there’s also some question apparently of whether she wrote all this herself.

Hadn’t planned on reading that biography, those aren't usually my thing but this is a such a fascinating but obviously incomplete picture of Beryl Markham i’m feeling a little compelled too. I would definitely recommend reading this first though. Really good stuff.

“You can live a lifetime and, at the end of it, know more about other people than you know about yourself.
You learn to watch other people, but you never watch yourself because you strive against loneliness. If you read a book, or shuffle a deck of cards, or care for a dog, you are avoiding yourself.
The abhorrence of loneliness is as natural as wanting to live at all.”

n  Bettie's Booksn

Well, I didn't have as much fun reading this as I thought I would. And it's all right. It wasn't for me right now but it's nice it's here.

The author lived a life that basically led me to read the whole book imagining her as Phryne Fisher? In probably less insane clothes. But all of her stories have that same sort of shine in which she is so outside of her time, so good at everything she tries, so untouched by cultural consequences, so fearless and well-liked, it grates after a while. Her stories are true (at least, I imagine, they all are true enough) and truly heroic, and it's great -- here we are reading about British East Africa just before it was known as Kenya, with this girl who grows up getting mauled by lions and making pals with the Nandi tribe and training racehorses and flying planes. It's not unimpressive. I feel so glib, being like "I didn't really enjoy these stories of fabulous experiences and heroic attitudes," but I didn't, today.

Actually, I genuinely think there's good appeal here for younger readers, maybe around the 10-14 range in particular. A lot of the chapters are simplified adventure, which didn't especially excite me -- I outright skimmed over the hunting expeditions, and I really don't do that -- but the author's narrative enthusiasm could definitely pull in younger readers, even if it isn't aimed at them. (However, a few wise words about imperialism would be necessary, in my opinion.)

It also doesn't hurt that she makes a fantastic figure of a female role model without that being the main focus of the book. I liked that -- it's not writing that's about a woman having accomplished these things, it's writing about these accomplishments, and she is a woman. It's glossed over enough, in fact, that I couldn't help but wonder about the underside of her experience. In this book, she has all these admiring, respectful male mentors and colleagues in these masculine professions she excels in. Was it really that easy? She was very privileged, so, perhaps? But I'm thinking it's more likely that when writing in the 1940's she found it easier to highlight the thrill and excitement and fun and glory of it all, and never mind the bollocks.

There is some unfortunate portrayal of her relationship to African people, growing up when and where she did. This isn't particularly surprising but it still isn't great to read, though often it's so gently done that perhaps not all readers will feel it's cruel. But she grew up and became this fabulous, successful woman within the environment of imperial domination. There are many overt comments on the lesser intelligence of the tribal Africans: "I couldn't help wondering what Africa would have been like if such physique as these Kavirondo had were coupled with equal intelligence -- or perhaps I should say with cunning equal to that of their white brethren." Er, no. But mostly this bias is written into the background of her day to day life -- one surrounded by kind, happy natives who are thrilled to include this white girl in their hunting rituals and protect her when she is a child, and once she is older, be employed by her. When she is raising horses, she speaks of the limitations of her dozen-odd "syces," how good and loyal they are but that the most expert tasks "are for me." Her best friend, a Nandi boy who is her childhood playmate, grows up to clean her plane and serve her tea and dispense tribal wisdom.

And once she leaves it behind, flies to England with her white male friends, they drink "a toast to Africa because we knew Africa was gone." Oh yeah? You just closed that book yourself, did you?

Anyway, this privilege problem isn't a dealbreaker, nor is it a shock to hear in the author's voice within its historical context. With perspective, I could have enjoyed the book in spite of it, but in fact I found the book a little too boring. It's odd, because the author's writing style is often noted as the finest thing about the book (and there is the famous Hemingway endorsement), but despite its occasional beauty, at times I found it stilted and barely coherent. Just, really, not for me. But I'm going to keep it around in case it's good for somebody else, someday.

#مرور_کتاب
شب در مسیر غرب چهار بخش و 24 فصل دارد. بخش اول شامل کلیتی از کتاب است و سه بخش دیگر هرکدام درباره‌ی یک عشق بریل مرکام است: افریقا، اسب، پرواز.

چطور ممکن است به خاطرات نظم بخشید؟ خوش دارم با صبر و حوصله و از آغاز شروع کنم، همچون باقنده‌ای در کارگاه نساجی‌اش. خوش دارم بگویم اینجا نقطه‌ی شروع است؛ نه هیچ‌جای دیگر.

کتاب با این جملات شروع می‌شود. مرکام از یادداشت یکی از پروازهایش در افریقا شروع می‌کند. ماموریتی که باید یک کپسول اکسیژن را برای یک بیمار از نایروبی به نونگوه ببرد. از اینجا شروع می‌کند و از افریقا می‌گوید، از پرواز، مردم، خلبانی به‌نام وودی که چند روزی است گمشده، از زندگی‌اش مزرعه پدری و اسب. بخش اول مانند خلاصه‌ای است از کل کتاب. طبیعت و تاریخ و مردم افریقا، کودکی و مزرعه پدرش و ارتباط با بومیان و پرورش اسب، پرواز و هواپیما و آسمان.

افریقا رازآمیز است؛ وحشی است؛ دوزخی گرمازده است؛ بهشت عکاسان است، والهالای شکارچیان، آرمان‌شهر واقعیت‌گریزان. همان چیزی است که اراده می‌کنید، و در برابر هر تفسیری مقاومت می‌کند. واپسین رد جهانی مرده است، یا گهواره‌ی جهانی نو. برای بسیاری، از جمله خودم، صرفا «خانه» است. همه‌ی این چیزها هست الا یک چیز – هیچ‌وقت کسالت‌بار نیست.

و از خانه می‌گوید. از کودکی‌اش، از اطرافیانش، از این‌که چطور با بومیان بزرگ شد و زبان و فرهنگ‌شان را یاد گرفت، چطور با آنها به شکار می‌رفت و یگانه زنی بود که به شکار می‌رود و حتی زن‌های بومی به او حسادت می‌کردند. از بازی‌های کودکی، سگ باوفایش بولر. اینکه چطور شیر به او حمله کرد، چطور یک گراز را کشت. از مزرعه پدرش و تجارت او می‌گوید. از افریقایی که داشت پیشرفت می‌کرد. چطور تجهیزات و تکنولوژی به زندگی افریقاییان وارد می‌شدند. و از اسب‌هایی که پرورش می‌داد و این‌که چطور در به‌دنیا آمدن یک اسب کمک می‌کند و پدرش کره را به او می‌دهد. تعریف می‌کند که بریل کوچک چطور بدون مادر بزرگ شد، آموخت و روحیه‌ی ماجراجویی در او رشد کرد.
بعد از قحطی‌ای که در 17 سالگی او موجب ورشکستگی پدرش شد، از پدر جدا می‌شود.

یادگرفته‌ام اگر قرار است مکانی را ترک کنی که درش زندگی کرده و عشق ورزیده و همه‌ی دیروزهایت را درش دفن کرده‌ای – هرجور می‌خواهی ترکش کن اما نه آرام‌آرام، به سریع‌ترین شکل ممکن ترکش کن. هرگز پشت سرت را نگاه نکن و هیچ‌وقت فکر نکن آن ساعاتی را که به‌یاد می‌آوری ساعاتی بهترند چون مرده‌اند.

پدرش به پرو می‌رود و خودش همراه اسبش پگاسوس به نایروبی می‌رود تا به پرورش اسب بپردازد. و خیلی زود در این راه پیشرفت می‌کند، در 18 سالگی اولین زنی می‌شود که در قاره افریقا مدرک مربیگری اسب میگیرد. و اولین اسبی که برای مسابقه آماده می‌کند قهرمان می‌شود. تا این‌که با تام بلک و هواپیمایش آشنا می‌شود و دوره جدید زندگی‌اش آغاز می‌شود، پرواز.
از تام بلک پرواز را یادمی‌گیرد و همکار او می‌شود. و مشغول رساندن بسته‌های پستی، جابجایی مسافر، حمل کالا و راهنمای سافاری می‌شود. با هواپیما بر فراز منطقه پرواز می‌کند و اطلاعات گله‌ی فیل‌ها را به شکارچیان می‌دهد. (در یکی از این در 1933 س��فاری‌ها راهنمای #ارنست_همینگوی می‌شود) تا اینکه تصیمیم می‌گیرد به بریتانیا برود. در آنجا به تحریک و پشتیبانی دوستانش دست به کاری تاریخی می‌زند. پرواز بر فراز اقیانوس اطلس از شرق به غرب. کاری که هیچ‌کس به تنهایی انجام نداده. از انگلستان پرواز می‌کند به سمت نیویورک اما بعد از 21 ساعت پرواز هواپیمایش دچار نقص فنی می‌شود و در کانادا سقوط می‌کند. کار تقریبا انجام شد. و از آنجا که بیشتر مسیر را در شب پرواز کرده بود اسم این کتاب را شب در مسیر غرب می‌گذارد.
اما...
کتاب درخشان است. نحوه روایت، جهان‌بینی، توصیفات بی‌نظر از طبیعت، افراد و اتفاقات همه نشان‌دهنده ذوق ادبی بسیار قوی مرکام است و باعث می‌شود کتاب بسیار خواندنی باشد. شایعاتی مبنی بر کمک رائول شوماخرِ روزنامه‌نگار (شوهر مرکام در آن سال‌ها) در نوشتن این کتاب وجود دارد اما سخت بتوان قبولش کرد. کتاب آن‌قدر خوب بوده که همینگوی را به تحسین وادارد تا جایی که بگوید: «[در برابر نثر مرکام] حس می‌کنم صرفا یک نجار کلمات هستم، هرچه را در کار صیقل خورده باشد برمی‌دارم و به هم میخ‌شام می‌کنم و بعضی وقت‌ها یک خوک‌دانی می‌سازم. ولی او فاتحه‌ی همه‌ی ما که خودمان را نویسنده می‌دانیم نوشته است.»
خواندن این کتاب افریقایی دیگر را به شما معرفی می‌کند، افریقایی که خانه بریل مرکام است.

ما را در اینستاگرام دنبال کنید:
https://www.instagram.com/honaresepiid/

December 2015—Interestingly enough, we have Ernest Hemingway, that great macho writer who could barely stand women except of course to bed them, to thank for making Beryl Markham known to us at all. In a letter to his editor he wrote of her:

n  Did you read Beryl Markham's book, "West with the Night"? I knew her fairly well in Africa and never would have suspected that she could and would put pen to paper except to write in her flyer's log book. As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But this girl who is, to my knowledge, very unpleasant, and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers. The only parts of it that I know about personally, on account of having been there at the time and heard the other people's stories, are absolutely true. So, you have to take as truth the early stuff about when she was a child which is absolutely superb. She omits some very fantastic stuff which I know about which would destroy much of the character of the heroine; but what is that anyhow in writing? I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody, wonderful book.n

So I finished this new all-time favourite last night. Each page, each paragraph, and (not to overdo it), each sentence is a real pleasure to read. It's a book one must simply read for the love of reading. You won't learn much by the way of Markham's personal life; she certainly doesn't delve at all into her love life, marriage and affairs (you'll have to read Paula McLean's Circling the Sun to get the romance angle, though I wasn't able to finish what amounted to a bodice ripper—I'll publish that review to share some choice laughably bad quotations). In fact, she only mentions those men who are known to have been her lovers when they were work connections, but the story she does tell, about her love for horses and then her infatuation with flying at a time when such an activity was extremely dangerous, all the more so in a place like Africa in the 20s and 30s, when most of the land was plunged in darkness as soon as the night dropped down without warning, and where there were hardly any real landing strips to speak of. She learned from the best and apparently came to be considered one of the best flyers herself, which is why she took on flying solo from East to West to cross the Atlantic from Great Britain to North America in 1936, a route which is much more difficult than going the other way because the of the wind currents. This made her the first woman to have accomplished that feat, though the flight almost ended in disaster and she was unhappy with the fact she hadn't managed to reach New York, as had been originally planned. One doesn't learn much about the woman's inner workings, although it is written as a first person account; she recounts her experiences in a rather detached manner, but always with a touch of what I'd call British humour. I did cringe at the description of the hunting parties she took part in, scouting bull elephants from the air to help wealthy foreign hunters kill the largest animals to get their hands on the biggest tusks that could be found, but here again, the quality of the writing was such that I couldn't keep from turning the pages and taking in every single word and turn of phrase. Simply sublime and highly recommended. I'll definitely reread this one some time in future. And no doubt shed a tear for the elephants again.

من أجمل كتب المذكرات التي قرأتها.

ترجمة ممتازة.

UPDATED April 2017, after listening to the audio.

Audio book narrated by Julie Harris

Beryl Markham was the first woman to fly solo east to west across the Atlantic, from England to North America. This is her memoir.

Much of the book chronicles her childhood and young adulthood in Kenya. Although she was married three times, not a single husband is mentioned, but she does speak of several of the men who were important to her: Tom Black (who taught her to fly), Denys Finch Hatton (with whom she had an affair), and Baron Bror Blixen (whom she helped by scouting elephant by air). What really stands out here is her love of Africa in the early part of the 20th century.

The book is full of vivid imagery, such as:
An encounter with a lion: He lay sprawled in the morning sun, huge, black-maned, and gleaming with life. His tail moved slowly, stroking the rough grass like a knotted rope end... The sound of [his] roar in my ears will only be duplicated, I think, when the doors of hell slip their wobblly hinges, on day, and give voice and authenticity to the whole panorama of Dante’s poetic nightmares.

Her new home: The trees that guard the thatched hut where I live stand in disorganized ranks, a regiment at ease, and lay their shadows on the ground like lances carried too long.

A peddler and his caravan: There were things made of leather, things of paper, things of celluloid and rubber, all bulging, dangling and bursting from the great pendulous packs. Here was Commerce, four-footed and halting, slow and patient, unhurried, but sure as tomorrow, beating the way to a counter in the African hinterland.

Stalking elephant: One bull raised his head, elevated his trunk, and moved to face us. His gargantuan ears began to spread as if to capture even the sound of our heartbeats. By chance, he had grazed over a spot we had lately left, and he had got our scent. It was all he needed. I have rarely seen anything so calm as that bull elephant – or so casually determined upon destruction. It might be said that he shuffled to the kill. Being, like all elephant, almost blind, this one could not see us, but he was used to that. He would follow scent and sound until he could see us, which, I computed would take about thirty seconds.

On learning to fly: We began at the first hour of the morning. We began when the sky was clean and ready for the sun and you could see your breath and smell traces of the night. We began every morning at that same hour, using what we were pleased to call the Nairobi Aerodrome, climbing away from it with derisive clamour, while the burghers of the town twitched in their beds and dreamed perhaps of all unpleasant things that drone – of wings and stings, and corridors in Bedlam.

The book was originally published in 1942 and quickly disappeared. But Ernest Hemingway found a copy, praised her writing and it was re-issued. It became a bestseller in the 1980s, and has been in print ever since.

Markham was an independent woman who lived life to the fullest, and on her own terms. While there has been significant controversy over whether she actually wrote this memoir (vs her third husband ghost-writing it for her), I still highly recommend it!

Julie Harris performs the audio; she is a fine actress and has good pacing. But the production of this audio left a bit to be desired. Her breaths, swallows, and the occasional noise of turning a page on the manuscript detracted from the audio experience.

I picked up this book as a prequel to reading Out of Africa by Karen Blixen but didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. What a life Beryl Markham had! She didn't seem to have much fear. I had to do some outside research to determine why her mother left her in Africa with her father at age 4 and which other friends mentioned were thought to be lovers as those aspects of her life weren't covered in the book. It wasn't very long but the writing style had me wanting more.

4.5 Stars After reading Paula McLain's Circling The Sun I could not wait to read more about the adventurous life of Beryl Markham.

Growing up in Kenya, this amazing and fearless lady was not only a wild animal hunter, horse trainer and accomplished pilot, she was also a great story teller and writer (IMHO) as evidenced in West With The Night.

Skinning animals, running with the native hunting parties for wild boar, surviving a baboon attack in her room and a near death encounter with a lion are only some of the extraordinary stories you will find in this memoir. And, while I had hoped to learn more about the true facts of Beryl's relationship with Denys Finch-Hatton, the data is disappointingly not included here which will probably take me to yet another Markham novel in the near future.

Excellent Read!

n  (as for the rumors re. BM not actually writing this memoir........IGNORED!)n

«و آموختم كه سرگردان باشم.چيزی را آموختم كه هر كودك رويابينی بايد ياد بگيرد-كه هيچ افقی آن قدر دور نيست كه نتوانی بر آن فايق آيی و پشت سر بگذاری‌اش.»
——————-
من با خوندن این کتاب خودم رو در مکان هایی تصور کردم که قبلا ندیده بودمشون.لذت بردم از توصیف ها،قلم ساده و گیرای نویسنده اش.با خودم گفتم این زندگی‌ای هست که باید به صورت زندگی نامه نوشته شه.من چقدر جسارت دارم؟چقدر دنبال چیزایی میرم که میخوام؟چقدر تلاش میکنم برای حرفه‌ای که میخوام داشته باشم.سخت کوشی جوابه خیلی از مسائل زندگی منه،باید تقویتش کنم در درون خودم...