Who Will Remember the People...

Last updated
Who Will Remember the People...
QuiSeSouvientDesHommes.jpg
First edition
Author Jean Raspail
Original titleQui se souvient des hommes...
TranslatorJeremy Leggatt
CountryFrance
LanguageFrench
Publisher Éditions Robert Laffont
Publication date
1 September 1986
Published in English
1988
Pages284
ISBN 2-221-04559-9

Who Will Remember the People... (French : Qui se souvient des hommes...) is a 1986 novel by the French writer Jean Raspail. It tells the history of the Alacalufe people, a largely extinct South American tribe, throughout the centuries. The two main characters reappear in each generation. The native name of the Alacufs is "Kaweskar", which means "the people". Raspail had met members of the tribe in the early 1950s which had made an impression that stayed with him.

The book was published in English in 1988, translated by Jeremy Leggatt. [1] It received the Chateaubriand Prize and the Inter Book Prize. [2]

Reception

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas reviewed the book for The New York Times , and wrote that Raspail "seems rather critical of the Kaweskar, calling them seafarers who 'never even invented the sail,' having them perform unlikely, pointless acts (impotently throwing a stone in imitation of a cannonball, for example) and describing their food from a European viewpoint, which certainly makes it seem disgusting." Marshall Thomas was positive about the author's negative portrayal of Europeans, especially that of Charles Darwin: "Mr. Raspail's portrait of him deserves applause". The critic continued: "The victims and their oppressors seem equally squalid, ignorant, pathetic, as the two groups inexorably re-enact the age-old pageant known as Man's Inhumanity to Man". Marshall Thomas questioned Raspail's decision to portray an already extinct nation, rather than one at the risk of vanishment: "Yes, the last Kaweskar has gone to heaven, and we're sorry. But what about those like him who remain here below? They want to live. They too are 'The People.' Remember them?" [3] Jack Schmitt wrote in Los Angeles Times : "In two recent works, Bruce Chatwin ( The Songlines ) and Mario Vargas Llosa (El Hablador (The Speaker) ) convincingly draw the reader into the soul-life, the Earth-bound myths and legends of the Australian Bushmen and the Peruvian Machiguengas, respectively. Raspail is far less successful in a parallel attempt with the Alacalufs, and the fault is not in Jeremy Leggatt's translation, which is excellent. Despite that limitation, Raspail's story, inscribed in the dialogue of cultures so characteristic of our age, is a fine version in historical fiction of a true story loud with ethical reverberations." [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Updike</span> American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic

John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short-story writer, art critic, and literary critic. One of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once, Updike published more than twenty novels, more than a dozen short-story collections, as well as poetry, art and literary criticism and children's books during his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick White</span> English-born Australian writer

Patrick Victor Martindale White was a British-born Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack London</span> American author, journalist and social activist (1876–1916)

John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction.

<i>The English Patient</i> 1992 novel

The English Patient is a 1992 novel by Michael Ondaatje. The book follows four dissimilar people brought together at an Italian villa during the Italian Campaign of the Second World War. The four main characters are: an unrecognisably burned man — the eponymous patient, presumed to be English; his Canadian Army nurse; a Sikh British Army sapper; and a Canadian who describes himself as a thief. The story occurs during the North African Campaign and centres on the incremental revelations of the patient's actions prior to his injuries, and the emotional effects of these revelations on the other characters. The story is told by multiple characters and "authors" of books the characters are reading.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Roth</span> American novelist (1933–2018)

Philip Milton Roth was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophically and formally blurring the distinction between reality and fiction, for its "sensual, ingenious style" and for its provocative explorations of American identity. He first gained attention with the 1959 short story collection Goodbye, Columbus, which won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Ten years later, he published the bestseller Portnoy's Complaint. Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's literary alter ego, narrates several of his books. A fictionalized Philip Roth narrates some of his others, such as the alternate history The Plot Against America.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2003.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Raspail</span> French author, traveler, and explorer (1925–2020)

Jean Raspail was a French explorer, novelist, and travel writer. Many of his books are about historical figures, exploration and indigenous peoples. He was a recipient of the prestigious French literary awards Grand Prix du Roman and Grand Prix de littérature by the Académie française. The French government honoured him in 2003 by appointing him to the Legion of Honor, with the grade of Officer. Internationally, he is best known for his controversial 1973 novel The Camp of the Saints, which is about mass third-world immigration to Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffalo Bill (character)</span> Fictional character from The Silence of the Lambs

Jame Gumb is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Thomas Harris's 1988 novel The Silence of the Lambs and its 1991 film adaptation, in which he is played by Ted Levine. In the film and the novel, he is a serial killer who murders overweight women and skins them so he can make a "woman suit" for himself. In the television series Clarice, he is portrayed by Simon Northwood.

<i>The Camp of the Saints</i> 1973 French anti-immigration novel by Jean Raspail

The Camp of the Saints is a 1973 French dystopian fiction novel by author and explorer Jean Raspail. A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the Western world. Almost forty years after its initial publication, the novel returned to the bestseller list in 2011.

The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach activities such as National Poetry Month, its website Poets.org, the syndicated series Poem-a-Day, American Poets magazine, readings and events, and poetry resources for K-12 educators. In addition, it sponsors a portfolio of nine major poetry awards, of which the first was a fellowship created in 1946 to support a poet and honor "distinguished achievement," and more than 200 prizes for student poets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kawésqar</span> Indigenous people of Chilean Patagonia

The Kawésqar, also known as the Alacalufe, Kaweskar, Alacaluf or Halakwulup, are an indigenous people who live in Chilean Patagonia, specifically in the Brunswick Peninsula, and Wellington, Santa Inés, and Desolación islands northwest of the Strait of Magellan and south of the Gulf of Penas. Their traditional language is known as Kawésqar; it is endangered as few native speakers survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floreana Island</span> Island in Ecuadors Galápagos Archipelago

Floreana Island is a southern island in Ecuador's Galápagos Archipelago. The island has an area of 173 km2 (67 sq mi). It was formed by volcanic eruption. The island's highest point is Cerro Pajas at 640 m (2,100 ft), which is also the highest point of the volcano like most of the smaller islands of Galápagos. The island has a population of about 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt</span> Franco-Belgian playwright

Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt is a Franco-Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary Mantel</span> British writer (1952–2022)

Dame Hilary Mary Mantel was a British writer whose work includes historical fiction, personal memoirs and short stories. Her first published novel, Every Day Is Mother's Day, was released in 1985. She went on to write 12 novels, two collections of short stories, a personal memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prince Philip movement</span> Religious sect followed by Kastom people in Vanuatu

The Prince Philip movement is a religious sect followed by the Kastom people around the villages of Yaohnanen and Yakel on the southern island of Tanna in Vanuatu. It is a cargo cult of the Yaohnanen tribe, who believe in the divinity of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1921–2021), consort to Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022).

Elizabeth Marshall Thomas is an American author. She has published fiction and non-fiction books and articles on animal behavior, Paleolithic life, and the !Kung Bushmen of the Kalahari Desert.

<i>Creation</i> (2009 film) 2009 film directed by Jon Amiel

Creation is a 2009 British biographical drama film about Charles Darwin's relationship with his wife Emma and his memory of their eldest daughter Annie, as he struggles to write On the Origin of Species. The film, directed by Jon Amiel and starring real life couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly as Charles and Emma Darwin, is a somewhat fictionalised account based on Randal Keynes's Darwin biography Annie's Box.

<i>Blue Island</i> (novel) 1988 book by Jean Raspail

Blue Island is a 1988 novel by the French writer Jean Raspail. The narrative is set in Touraine during World War II, where a charismatic boy gathers his friends on an island, where they play war games which become increasingly more interlinked with reality. The book was published in English in 1991, translated by Jeremy Leggatt.

<i>The Daltons</i> (2010 TV series) French comedy series

The Daltons is a French comedy animated television series based on the works by artist Morris and writer René Goscinny as it focuses on the four main villains of the comic book series Lucky Luke who try to escape the prison they get locked up in every time Lucky Luke captures them. The show is being adapted by Olivier Jean-Marie and Jean-François Henry while the series is directed by Charles Vaucelle.

References

  1. Who will remember the people-- : a novel. OCLC   17675798 . Retrieved 2014-10-23 via WorldCat.
  2. "Le Prix du Livre Inter 2011". franceinter.fr (in French). France Inter. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
  3. Marshall Thomas, Elizabeth (1989-01-15). "Darwin Meets the Kaweskar". The New York Times . Retrieved 2014-10-23.
  4. Schmitt, Jack (1989-01-01). "Extinct in the Land of Fire". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2014-10-23.