With GuyExpo and tourism in the air, again, I was drawn to the advertised movie, ‘Green Mansions.’ There were other reasons for watching the movie. I still have my treasured copy of the book, having acquired it a long time ago from a market stall in New Amsterdam. The stall was, at that time, operated by a Chinese male who was quite a negotiator once the item was selected. That treasure trove and its operator have since disappeared, relocated I was told, to somewhere on the West Coast of Berbice. I now grieve over the lost opportunity of securing other rare and out of print books from that business.

Two, I do not manage my time well enough to watch a complete movie, but with the book at the back of my mind, I decided to return to something I used to do when I was discovering literature – read the book then watch the movie or vice-versa. It was a fascinating venture to experience the treatment of the same subject by two differing art forms.
Another reason for staying with the film, as it was rapidly flashing its opening salvo of information, included the cast of established actors – Audrey Hepburn, Anthony Perkins, Lee J. Cobb, and Henry Silva; and known director, Mel Ferrer. Also I was aware of a Guyana-connection namely R. Lal Singh who was technical adviser during the production of the film. Singh was born in Morawhana, a little known Amerindian village in the North West District of Guyana, living among the Makushi Indians of Guyana until he was almost ten years. And I know of the author of the book, having done research on him (in this column).
In 1887, William Henry Hudson travelled to British Guiana from London to take up an appointment in a public office. During that stint, he was a daily visitor to a ‘familiar’ house in Main Street, Georgetown, the residence of a ‘Mr. Abel’ whose full name was Abel Guevez de Argensola.
Abel, poet and naturalist, was a fugitive from Venezuela who refused to return home despite news of a windfall fortune awaiting him in Caracas. He stayed in Guyana, becoming a favourite of Georgetown society, a man held in high esteem and ‘even affection’. The two men were attracted to each other chiefly because of a mutual ‘love of poetry’ even though one was ‘suckled’ on the literature of Spain and the other English Literature. There were other areas of interest shared by the two men and they would ‘tired the sun with talking.’ It was during those bouts of talking, Hudson was gifted the story of ‘Green Mansions,’ the story of Abel’s flight from his homeland and his romance with a spectre girl/creature called Rima in the virgin jungle of South America.
Hudson promised to publish the whole truth of Abel’s story in order to dispel ‘much conjectural matter… printed week by week in the local press.’
That amazing story was only given life in fictional form because Hudson was already a published author and a respected naturalist and ornithologist at a time when those subjects were treated with scant regard. By the time that story of Abel was made public, Hudson had already published some thirteen books including ‘The Purple Land’ (1885), ‘Argentine Ornithology’ (1888), ‘Fan-The Story of a Young Girl’s Life’ (1892), ‘British Birds’ (1895), ‘Hampshire Days’ (1903), and a collection of stories, ‘El Ombu’ (1902).
‘Green Mansions’, the novel, was published in 1904. It falls within that honour roll of first novels on Guyana. ‘Green Mansions’ was the first novel in our literary heritage to be made into a movie. That movie of the same name of the book was released in 1959, and in the 1970s, DC Comics adopted the story in a series, ‘Rima, the jungle girl.’
‘Green Mansions’ is a romance set within another love story – the love of nature.
Written By Petamber Persaud

(To be continued in a series ‘Welcome to Guyana’ through its literature.)
(Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)