Redmond O'Hanlon (Redmond Douglas O'Hanlon) Biography

British travel writer, born in Dorset, educated at Marlborough and at Merton College, Oxford. Joseph Conrad and Charles Darwin: The Influence of Scientific Thought on Conrad's Fiction (1984) was his first major work. In 1981 he became an assistant editor with the Times Literary Supplement. Into the Heart of Borneo (1984) recounts a journey with the poet James Fenton through tropical forests in search of a rare breed of rhinoceros. An unusual combination of humorous detachment and high-spirited fortitude is apparent in O'Hanlon's attitude to the hazards encountered; Eric Newby called it ‘the funniest travel book I have ever read’. Similar in tone, In Trouble Again (1988) describes an expedition across the Amazon basin; a strong sense of fellowship develops between O'Hanlon and the tribespeople he encounters, admitting him to a range of extraordinary experiences. His often irreverent manner is complemented by his lyrically eloquent responses to the threatened cultures and natural environments he visits.