arndt@lymph.DEC (07/06/85)
This novel by Brian Moore (Dutton, '85) was fun reading. It is about a French Jesuit priest in the wildnerness of 17th C Canada among the indians. Moore based his work on the largely on the RELATIONS which were voluminous letters that the Jesuits sent back to their superiors in France. It is not a romantic novel which makes it even more worth reading if one seeks to actually understand the people and the times. A few tidbits: From the author's note: "For, unlike the English, French, and Dutch traders and explorers, the Jesuits came to North America not for furs or conquest, but to save the souls of those whom they called 'the Savages'." "To succeed, they had to learn the 'Savages'' often scatological tongues and study their religious and tribal customs. These letters (the RELATIONS), the only real record of the early Indians of North America, introduce us to a peoplewho bear little relationship to the 'Red Indians' of fiction and folklore. The Huron, Iroquois, and Algonkin were a handsome, brave, incredibly cruel people who, at that early stage, were in no way dependent on the white man and, in fact, judged him to be their physical and mental inferior. They were warlike; they practiced ritual cannibalism and, for reasons of religion, subjected their enemies to prolonged and unbearable tortures. Yet, as parents they could not bear to strike or reprove their unruly children. They were pleasure-loving and polygamous, sharing sexual favors with strangers as freely as they shared their food and hearth. They despised the 'Blackrobes' for their habit of hoarding possessions. They also held the white man in contempt for his stupidity in not realizing that the land, the rivers, the animals, were all possessed of a living spirit and subject to laws that must be respected." pviii This novel plays the two worlds off against each other to good effect and without cheap tricks or a satisfying ending - could there be one? The reader can see the world from each viewpoint. (Of course the Indians were wrong!!) Anyway, after reading this novel I puke every time I see that Indian faker on his horse crying because I throw my trash along the highway. (Actually makes me want to hit him with it.) A good read. Regards, Ken Arndt