Into the Primitive

"Into the Primitive" by Robert Ames Bennet is a novel written in the early 20th century. The narrative follows characters Blake and Winthrope, along with Miss Leslie, as they navigate through the challenges following a shipwreck off the Mozambique coast. The story sets the stage for a struggle between survival instincts, class differences, and personal conflicts in a raw, untamed environment. At the start of the book, readers are introduced to the aftermath of a cyclone that has left Blake, Winthrope, and Miss Leslie shipwrecked on a desolate shore. The opening chapters detail their precarious situation as they deal with injuries, varying temperaments, and the threatening landscape. Blake, the American engineer, emerges as a rugged and assertive figure, contrasting sharply with the more refined and cautious Winthrope, a British gentleman. Their dynamic is punctuated by the tense need for cooperation, especially when faced with the harsh realities of survival amidst the wilderness. Miss Leslie, the sole woman among them, becomes both a focus of their rivalry and a symbol of their predicament, as they must contend not only with their surroundings but also with their own contrasting ideals and behaviors as the narrative unfolds. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Robert Ames Bennet (1870–1954) was an American writer of westerns and science fiction. Early in his career Bennet wrote short stories, drama scripts, and novels for a variety of genres under the pen name Lee Robinet. By the 1930s he was primarily a western writer, penning such stories as Caught in the Wild, Go-Getter Gary, and Guns on the Rio Grande. Several of his novels were made into films, including "Finders Keepers" and "Out of the Depths". His Thyra: A Romance of the Polar Pit is considered a classic of the Lost World genre and is listed in 333: A Bibliography of the Science-Fantasy Novel a collection of the best efforts in Science-Fantasy up to and including 1950.