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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 12:23:20 GMT
This also surprised me, when I read about it for the first time. As far as I recall, Hodgson even earned his money with bodybuilding; the writing was an aside. I also couldn't understand why he went back to the front. He was 41 years old; even if conscription in 1918 included men up to 50 years, he was a wounded, fairly old at the time veteran, and he knew, what awaited him. He should have known better. I intend to write a short article on him and maybe try to give a reason. I can say he was badly wounded, easily enough to retire honourably and was probably still suffering from concussion. I stress it will be a speculative reason and not in the least satisfying. He was obviously a man of action. You can see by the fact he was very sporty and a merchant seaman. I love these type of men, it's one of the things that is great about men, but in a war they often don't last long. They actually enjoy it quite often. He seems at the end to have volunteered for almost suicidal stuff, so he was pushing it to its limit. Often they become adventurers, like Sir Richard Burton, but if you have narrow horizons, like being poor, or trapped in a mediocre job and life, then war is a great release of all that pent up energy. syracuseonthisday.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/historic-headlines-episode-14-death-of-william-hope-hodgson/
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jul 15, 2021 12:30:49 GMT
I intend to write a short article on him and maybe try to give a reason. I can say he was badly wounded, easily enough to retire honourably and was probably still suffering from concussion. I stress it will be a speculative reason and not in the least satisfying. He was obviously a man of action. You can see by the fact he was very sporty and a merchant seaman. I love these type of men, it's one of the things that is great about men, but in a war they often don't last long. They actually enjoy it quite often. He seems at the end to have volunteered for almost suicidal stuff, so he was pushing it to its limit. Often they become adventurers, like Sir Richard Burton, but if you have narrow horizons, like being poor, or trapped in a mediocre job and life, then war is a great release of all that pent up energy. syracuseonthisday.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/historic-headlines-episode-14-death-of-william-hope-hodgson/Spot on. Like the chaps in Mad Max some people like war and see it as a freeing of the spirit. The reasons for joining up in 1914 ranged from a sense of duty to avoiding the wife.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 13:15:28 GMT
He was obviously a man of action. You can see by the fact he was very sporty and a merchant seaman. I love these type of men, it's one of the things that is great about men, but in a war they often don't last long. They actually enjoy it quite often. He seems at the end to have volunteered for almost suicidal stuff, so he was pushing it to its limit. Often they become adventurers, like Sir Richard Burton, but if you have narrow horizons, like being poor, or trapped in a mediocre job and life, then war is a great release of all that pent up energy. syracuseonthisday.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/historic-headlines-episode-14-death-of-william-hope-hodgson/Spot on. Like the chaps in Mad Max some people like war and see it as a freeing of the spirit. The reasons for joining up in 1914 ranged from a sense of duty to avoiding the wife. There seems to be three types of men: the Adventurers, like Sir Richard Burton, or even Aleister Crowley; the Average, which is most men, who are willing to go along with their lot in life; and the Minds, who seem to exist mostly in the realm of thought, like Newton or Leibniz. Sometimes the first and third combine, like in Rene Descartes, who used to wander Europe with protestant armies, dressed in green taffeta, armed with his fencing sword, and with a valet. The first and third are where the supermen come from, as they obsess to startling degrees. Men's obsession is their advantage, but the world would end without women, because in the end men would destroy it. As they are indeed despicable.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 13:28:26 GMT
Men are indeed terrible. For instance they never click Like when they should, even though they know women like to be complemented.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 13:43:18 GMT
Spot on. Like the chaps in Mad Max some people like war and see it as a freeing of the spirit. The reasons for joining up in 1914 ranged from a sense of duty to avoiding the wife. There seems to be three types of men: the Adventurers, like Sir Richard Burton, or even Aleister Crowley; the Average, which is most men, who are willing to go along with their lot in life; and the Minds, who seem to exist mostly in the realm of thought, like Newton or Leibniz. Sometimes the first and third combine, like in Rene Descartes, who used to wander Europe with protestant armies, dressed in green taffeta, armed with his fencing sword, and with a valet. The first and third are where the supermen come from, as they obsess to startling degrees. Men's obsession is their advantage, but the world would end without women, because in the end men would destroy it. As they are indeed despicable. Of course you couldn't have a world made up of the first and third, it just wouldn't work, as the first would take no notice of the orders of the third, and do whatever they personally wanted, without regard to others, and the third wouldn't be able to do much practical stuff, and would probably starve to death while trying to work out Fermat's Last Theorem.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jul 15, 2021 13:46:55 GMT
The tripartite model you suggest has merits.
Sir Richard Burton was probably the definitive man of action. Using crocodile's heads as stepping stones for a wager smacks of trying a bit hard though. I suspect he couldn't help himself.
When a lady drops her fan the gentleman picks it up. The problem now lies with the lack of both in modern times.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 13:57:12 GMT
The tripartite model you suggest has merits. Sir Richard Burton was probably the definitive man of action. Using crocodile's heads as stepping stones for a wager smacks of trying a bit hard though. I suspect he couldn't help himself. When a lady drops her fan the gentleman picks it up. The problem now lies with the lack of both in modern times. I read Sir Richard Burton's camp was attacked at one time in Africa by local warriors, and he was speared through the jaw, but he continued fighting them off with his sword, while still carrying the spear attached to his face.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 14:09:52 GMT
Sir Richard Burton was probably the definitive man of action. Using crocodile's heads as stepping stones for a wager smacks of trying a bit hard though. I suspect he couldn't help himself. There is a scene in the film Mountains of the Moon where Sir Richard Burton meets David Livingstone, and they try to show off to each other by comparing wounds. Livingstone was mauled by a lion. I'm afraid I don't know much about Livingstone, other than the rather obvious.
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jul 15, 2021 14:12:22 GMT
The tripartite model you suggest has merits. Sir Richard Burton was probably the definitive man of action. Using crocodile's heads as stepping stones for a wager smacks of trying a bit hard though. I suspect he couldn't help himself. When a lady drops her fan the gentleman picks it up. The problem now lies with the lack of both in modern times. I read Sir Richard Burton's camp was attacked at one time in Africa by local warriors, and he was speared through the jaw, but he continued fighting them off with his sword, while still carrying the spear attached to his face. Indeed, that was his account and he seemed generally truthful. He was fighting from just inside his tent. Always wondered why they didn't just pull the guy ropes but I guess it was more robust than a Decathlon tent. His face also had a healed spear wound in it, lending credence to the tale.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 14:31:33 GMT
On TV a few days ago there was an Antiques Road Trip on in the background, and it mentioned another action man, a professional soldier who had lost an eye and an arm, possibly in one of the Boer Wars. He led his men into battle like that, at the terrible Somme and, because he only had one arm, he carried a bag of grenades around his neck and would pull the pins(is that right?) out with his teeth and throw them at the enemy. He was like these action men have to be to survive, lucky, all the senior officers above him were killed and he took command, holding the trench they had gained, by running up and down it encouraging the men. He won a VC for it. In WW II he survived a plane crash into the sea, and was interned in a prisoner of war camp, where he made efforts to escape. War is truly monstrous, but it creates the most amazing men sometimes. There seems to be something great in many people, if only we could find a better way of allowing it to get out, than by killing each other. I can't remember his name unfortunately, and couldn't find him on a brief search. On retirement he took up fly fishing.
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Post by helrunar on Jul 15, 2021 15:31:01 GMT
You poor dear. I clicked "like" for you. Hope your day improves.
Hel
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Jul 15, 2021 15:57:44 GMT
You poor dear. I clicked "like" for you. Hope your day improves. Hel i still feel a bit faint, please click more likes, so I feel better thank you.
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Post by Michael Connolly on Jul 15, 2021 16:23:42 GMT
The tripartite model you suggest has merits. Sir Richard Burton was probably the definitive man of action. Using crocodile's heads as stepping stones for a wager smacks of trying a bit hard though. I suspect he couldn't help himself. When a lady drops her fan the gentleman picks it up. The problem now lies with the lack of both in modern times. Drops her what?
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Post by helrunar on Jul 15, 2021 18:01:07 GMT
Nobody, absolutely nobody, wants to hear Helrunar speculate about what happens when two gentlemen are sharing one of the "gang showers" in the rear area of the locker room and one gentleman is noticed by the other to have dropped his soap.
H.
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Post by andydecker on Jul 15, 2021 19:31:29 GMT
Spot on. Like the chaps in Mad Max some people like war and see it as a freeing of the spirit. The reasons for joining up in 1914 ranged from a sense of duty to avoiding the wife. Another point for free divorces, huh? If the only escape from a bad relationship is to go to war ... But I can't imagine that the sense of adventure was still a reason for Hodgeson. 1914? Maybe. Mostly volunteers. 1918? After he was in Ypern before? It must have been an obsessive sense of duty which compelled him. I am not very familiar with his work, I mean the nuts and bolts and details. Is this sense of duty mirrored in his heroes? It is hard to understand the people of this time. And it doesn't matter which side. To think it was perfectly acceptable for all to throw hundreds of thousands lives away just because they thought that one day they must succeed with this tactic is beyond me. Isn't this a definition of insanity according to Einstein? "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results".
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