First Things

by Harry Ricketts

First memory. First going hitchhiking.First seeing my father angry. First shotgun. First poem.In First Things, Harry Ricketts chronicles his early life through the lens of ‘ firsts' : those moments that can hold their detail and potency across a lifetime. Set mostly in Hong Kong and Oxford, these bright fragments include the places, people, writers, encounters and obsessions that have shaped Ricketts' world, from his first friends and rivals to his first time being caned by a teacher and his first time dropping acid. There are other, more enigmatic firsts here too, like the first time he realised what really mattered, and the first time he began doubting God. ‘ I wanted to believe in God and, even more, wanted God to believe in me.' Who really were we, back then? Which parts of ourselves get to be remembered and carried along with us, and which parts are gone forever? In First Things, the gaps in between shine as brightly as the memories themselves.

Genres: Memoir

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 9, 2024

About the author

Harry Ricketts studied to Oxford and taught at universities in Hong Kong and the UK before moving to New Zealand in 1981. He is a professor in the English Programme at Victoria University of Wellington and also teaches creative non-fiction in the International Institute of Modern Letters. He has published over 30 books, including biographies, personal essays and collections of poems. He has also co-edited several anthologies of New Zealand poetry and a collection of new essays about World War I.

Reviews

[Rod MacLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a delight. Informative, entertaining, erudite and in parts, very funny, this memoir gives real and honest insights into many of the formative events in the author’s life and is a joy to read

[Alan Wightman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this captivating and candid memoir, Harry recounts the first (approx) 28 years of his life. His initial years as the son of an army officer in Malaya (then later Hong Kong), prep school in England, public school in England, University at Trinity College, Oxford, three years teaching at Hong Kong University, and a return to England.

Being a son of an officer, a firm member of the upper middle class, and going to some of the posher schools, Harry as a child benefits from being part of the engine of privilege, although naturally he doesn't realise it at the time. Similarly, in Hong Kong, he starts feel part of the engine of a dying empire, although this time he realises it, and this seems to be the main reason for his return home.

This is not the memoir of a prince, or an actress, or (I hope he would forgive me) a famous writer, but rather someone more nearly normal. There are no greats moments of discovery, no dirt on other famous persons. Rather, there is several laments at missed opportunities (e.g. never getting to know Auden at Oxford).

Having said that, there are some pretty exciting foreign adventures, hitchhiking in Europe, being robbed, translating pop lyrics into German to get money to get back home. And there is quite a sequence of women with whom he is involved, I concede I got them mixed up, and also a smattering of men.

Harry's loves overlap with mine, particularly his passions for cricket, English novels and Bob Dylan, so this was an easy read for me.

I liked it a lot. I might read it again, and this time note down all the books I need to read and records I need to listen to.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very generous sharing of what makes a life.