Wilbur Smith has died at 88.
The bestselling chronicler of African adventure had an immense impact on me as I was discovering the Southern Africa frontier. I found his Ballantyne novels that evoked the conquest of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) not long after I first read of Frederick Russell Burnham, and I devoured them like a big, thick, juicy steak. Back in 2015 I wrote an assessment of his work, which I think is pretty accurate:
Wilbur Smith is billed as an adventure writer, which he is. But really, he’s a writer of Romance. I say that not in a pejorative sense, but in the old-fashioned sense. He writes tales of intrepid men testing themselves against Africa and in conflict with their often-savage fellow man. There’s a great sweep of history to these tales. Smith’s heroes are classic alpha males — virile, handsome, skilled at arms and successful in business. They are not saints, but their negative qualities — avarice, unscrupulous business practices, lust, occasionally bastardly behavior — are often written in a manner that turns them into a kind of virtue. As in, you know you want to be bad like that…
These heroes are not constructs for Smith — they obviously embody his values. A lengthy story in the London Telegraph gives a pretty good glimpse of his character, which is very much in line with his Courtney men, from the drive for financial success to the high libido.
Smith’s women are either tempestuous, strong-willed beauties (to be tamed only by a Wilbur Smith alpha male, of course…) or corrupt. His attitudes toward race are paternalistic. The British-descended alpha male hero usually has a black warrior sidekick who is wise, loyal — and totally secondary. Basically… Tonto. Smith’s Africa is the white man’s Africa, the Africa of the hunter, trader, pioneer, empire builder. The Africa of Selous and Burnham and P.J. Pretorius (whose exploits he hijacked for “Shout At The Devil”). That Africa is gone, but it was real in its day and Smith is an able and certainly entertaining chronicler of its heroic, mythic tales.
The International Business Times has a good obituary.
Hunter, writer, lover of women and of adventure. I raise a glass to the Old Lion, off on the last trail.
David Wrolson says
Heading off to Amazon to order his autobiography-of which I was unaware-Thanks. Another one to add to the TBR pile-but this one moves close to the top.
I found him much later than you did-circa 2010-but I made a point of doing a systematic read of his stuff and I only really missed a few stand-alones and, now, maybe a few later ones in the last few years.
He actually lit the fire for me to go to Africa in 2013. I had never really considered it realistic or a big ambition. Wilbur Smith lit the fire and I thank him for that. Off to take a sip of Scotch in his memory.
JimC says
There can’t be anything better in the world for a storyteller than to inspire others to adventure. And I reckon that Wilbur Smith could claim a mighty roster of folks so inspired. That is a life well-lived.
David Wrolson says
I also have to credit Scouting on Two Continents which I found in 2009 for fanning the Africa flames as well.
Damn, I wish I had had your reading library much earlier ie finding Smith and Burnham as a much younger man. I always read a lot-but not in any specific direction-maybe way too much WW2 stuff and Michener.
I remember in the mid 90’s that I decided that I would read in a more disciplined fashion and not re-read so many books that I liked. Did some Hemingway in that time and Gulag Archipelago.
I have said it before, but I think my “Ur-Text” if you will was “History of the Dakota or Sioux Indians” that made me aware of the vast panoply of Sioux history beyond the Minnesota Massacre and the well-known Lakota stuff.
lane+batot says
Sorry to hear of his passing. Smith’s Africa novels are something I keep MEANING to get around to, but have yet to do so. I think I will eventually. The only one I’ve read is “A Leopard Waits In Darkness”(or something like that) which seems to break the mold of the typical subject matter and characterizations you mention in the post–a somewhat UNTYPICAL hero(amputee) in modern Africa with very modern African people and politics–a marvelous story(although I got PISSED at what happened to the Ridgeback puppy, but that was a sure way to make you HATE the villain!). Just something to look forward too sometime in the future! I always tend to be behind the rest of the world in the media department–but I still enjoy every bit as much, the good stuff when I finally get around to it! I’m only JUST getting into a SPLENDID TV series already a decade old–none other than the incredibly done “Downton Abbey”–certainly a far cry from anything regarding the “frontier”! But I can relate, having been of the “servant class” all my life–even did a stint at the incredible Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N. C., way back when. I lasted an entire 9 months there before I got sacked! Definitely NOT “Biltmore Material”, as I was told at my termination! But boy howdy, do I have some tales to tell about THAT place, and watching “Downton Abbey” is dredging up some very funny memories! And I must agree with the management of the place, that I was indeed NOT “Biltmore Material”!
Matthew says
My mother LOVES Downton Abbey. I think it is a better show than it had a right to be. There are some links to the frontier in that two characters are Boer war vets (Lord Grantham and the valet.) There are also and this is minor spoilers some scenes at the front of the First World War.
lane+batot says
Yes, “Downton” set the bar mighty HIGH for a TV show! I JUST learned that another installment is going to be done!(this is yet another after the “Downton Abbey” movie that came out…..So I have plenty more yet to indulge myself with!
Beverly+Rampey says
I never got into his Africa series, but I have read his Ancient Egypt series twice start to finish. They are as good the second time as they were the first. Some of them are really hard to find in my library any more. His books seems to be less and less read by enough people to keep them on the shelves. Too Bad.
David Ishee says
I only discovered his work about ten years ago, but as you say I devoured it like a great steak! He will be truly missed as a writer.
Ron Thompson says
He was the one that turned me on to Africa. Found A Sparrow falls in 1978-79? I never looked back.