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 1st ed. by Random House | |
| Author | Peter Matthiessen |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Publication date | 1975 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 408 pp |
| ISBN | 0-394-49461-X |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.5/4 |
Far Tortuga is a novel by American author Peter Matthiessen, first published in 1975 by Random House and republished in 1976 by Bantam. Known for its unique typography and poetic prose, the novel follows the story of a group of Caribbean turtle fishermen as they sail the waters of the Cayman Islands aboard the schooner Lillias Eden.
Plot
The novel tells the story of a crew of nine turtle fishermen who venture out to sea in search of green turtles on the schooner Lillias Eden. Led by Captain Raib Avers, a veteran seaman, the journey is largely filled with arguments between crew members about the decline of traditional fishing ways, the weather and differences between the new and old generations. Three crew members eventually leave, and the remaining crew encounter severe weather, leading to the sinking of the Lillias Eden and the death of five of the six remaining crew.
Style and themes
Far Tortuga is distinguished by its unconventional narrative style, and has been critically examined initially as sea literature and later as a form of pastoral. Matthiessen uses bare dialogue, and extensive use of white space to convey the expansiveness of the sea, and the "silence of the wind". The dialogue is interspersed by entries from the logbook, as well as illustrations and short snippets about the weather. Black splotches are used to mark the death of a character. The novel also incorporates local dialects to capture the voices of its Caymanian and Caribbean characters.
Thematically, the novel examines the consequences of technological development and conflict between the "back time" and "modern times". For example, Far Tortuga shows how the rise of "tourism, American economic imperialism the race to get rich" lead to environmental exploitation and the erosion of traditional ways of life. The sails on the Eden are cut down and partially replaced by engines, and traditional ways of fishing are replaced by commercial fisheries, leading to a scarcity of turtles. Differences between the past and present frequently lead to disputes between crew members. Captain Avers laments the loss of the "de back times", and struggles to adapt to new technology, while another captain, Desmond Eden, adapts well and is representative of modern times, "profligate and wasteful", with disregard for the environment.
Reception
Far Tortuga received positive reviews upon its release, and has been called "Matthiessen's most impressive work of fiction". Numerous critics highlighted the typographical choices made by Matthiessen. Writing for The New York Review of Books, Thomas R. Edwards called the book "an adventure story of great purity and intensity". Similarly, Kirkus Reviews wrote that it was "a sublime work of intense human drama -- wonderful in a very literal sense of the word, lyrical, and it says good things about what humanity is." Marianne Wiggins, in the Los Angeles Times, favorably compared the book to Moby-Dick, praising Far Tortuga as "a novel so singular, so riffy in its many strains of individual human blues, so beautiful and original that it stood alone as something unlike anything I'd ever read." The comparison to Moby-Dick was also made by Bert Bender in an article for the journal American Literature, where he ranked Far Tortuga "second only to Moby-Dick among America's great sea novels."
In contrast, Anatole Broyard of The New York Times gave a negative review, calling the book a "unrelieved bore" and criticized Matthiessen's "choice of characters and subject". Writing for The Nation, Charles R. Larson found the typography "fascinating", but noted that it eventually "made it difficult to become involved" in the story, and negatively compared it to Matthiessen's previous novel, At Play in the Fields of the Lord.
References
- "A Peter Matthiessen Checklist". Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 21 (2): 32. January 1, 1979. ISSN 1939-9138 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Lanzen Harris, Laurie (1990). "Overview: Far Tortuga". Characters in 20th-Century Literature. Gale. ISBN 978-0-8103-1847-2.
- ^ "FAR TORTUGA". Kirkus Reviews. May 1, 1975. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
- ^ Edwards, Thomas R. (1975-08-07). "Adventures of the Deep". The New York Review of Books. Vol. 22, no. 13. ISSN 0028-7504. Retrieved 2024-12-30.
- ^ Patteson, Richard F. (1983). "Holistic Vision and Fictional Form in Peter Matthiessen's "Far Tortuga"". Rocky Mountain Review of Language and Literature. 37 (1/2): 70–81. doi:10.2307/1347269. ISSN 0361-1299. JSTOR 1347269.
- ^ Cooley, John R. (1987). "Waves of Change: Peter Matthiessen's Caribbean". Environmental Review: ER. 11 (3): 223–230. doi:10.2307/3984089. ISSN 0147-2496. JSTOR 3984089.
- Noailles-Pizzolato, Marie-Christine (2016). "Nature Pictures in Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga". Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. 23 (4): 821–834. doi:10.2307/26569718. ISSN 1076-0962. JSTOR 26569718.
- ^ Larson, Charles R. (May 31, 1975). "Another Voyage of the Pequod?". The Nation. Vol. 220, no. 21. p. 661. EBSCOhost 11300902. Retrieved December 31, 2024.
- Gabriel, Trip (June 10, 1990). "The Nature of Peter Mattiessen". The New York Times. p. 31. Retrieved December 30, 2024.
- ^ Raglon, Rebecca (Summer 1994). "Fact and Fiction: The Development of Ecological Form in Peter Matthiessen's Far Tortuga". Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction. 35 (4): 245–259. doi:10.1080/00111619.1994.9934707. ISSN 0011-1619.
- Wiggins, Marianne (July 8, 1990). "Of Justice and a Good Night's Sleep". The Los Angeles Times. p. 1. Retrieved December 30, 2024 – via ProQuest.
- Bender, Bert (1984). "Far Tortuga and American Sea Fiction since Moby-Dick". American Literature. 56 (2): 227–248. doi:10.2307/2925755. ISSN 0002-9831. JSTOR 2925755.
- Broyard, Anatole (May 6, 1975). "A Slow Boat to Symbolism". The New York Times. Retrieved December 30, 2024.