Friday 5 July 2013

Pelican Time:
Fishlore by A.F. Magri MacMahon
(1946)







To be honest, I was kind of hoping this volume would focus more on the cultural, folkloric or mystical lore of fish rather than the more prosaic business of biology, identification, catching and cooking, but no matter - an essential addition to my library nonetheless.

2 comments:

Artog said...

No incantations to Dagon then? Part of me (probably the part that likes tweed) would love to go fishing. But, post catch, standing there looking down at the suffocated fish, I think I'd feel as though my soul had been indelibly stained.

Ben said...

Yes, I had very much that experience going out fishing with my dad as a kid; it's all fun & games until you've got this slimy thing flailing about in the bottom of the boat and you're told the next step is to pull the hook out of its throat and cut its guts out with a knife... and, at the time, I wasn't even very interested in eating it. Why are we doing this, dad?? Can't we just mess about in the boat for a bit and leave the poor things alone?? Urgh urgh urgh.

(Sorry.)