Tierra del Fuego - Softcover

Iparraguirre, Sylvia; Martin, Hardie St.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880684721 ISBN 13: 9781880684726

Publisher: Curbstone Books, 2000

Synopsis

Tierra del Fuego is more than a suspenseful seafaring tale in the tradition of Captain Hornblower; it is also a chilling psychological and cultural tale, reminiscent of Heart of Darkness or Lord of the Flies, that probes deeply into human nature. Based on the true story of the Yámana Indian, Jemmy Button (parts of which are recorded in Chapter 10 of Charles Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle), the novel explores Captain Robert Fitzroy's abduction of Jemmy Button and his attempt to "civilize" him in England and return him to his country as a bearer of "enlightened society." His experiment leads to tragic consequences. The novel deals with European arrogance and exploitation, but avoids falling into the cliché of "the Noble Savage." Jemmy (the "Other") remains strange and the attempt to co-opt him fails.

Tierra del Fuego has already won two major awards for the Spanish edition: The Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Award for the best work of fiction written by a woman and The Best Book of the Year Award at the Buenos Aires Book Fair.

About this title

About the Author:

An outspoken human rights advocate, Sylvia Iparraguirre has already gained considerable fame in Argentina where she was involved in several magazine projects criticizing the military dictatorship in Argentina. Tierra del Fuego is her second novel. She has also published two collections of short stories, one of which, In the Winter of the Cities, won the Municipal Prize for Literature.

Hardie St. Martin currently lives in Barcelona. In his long and distinguished career as an editor and translator, he has translated Juan Gelman, Pablo Neruda, Miguel Hernández, Blas de Otero, and others. He is the editor of Small Hours of the Night by Roque Dalton (Curbstone, 1996).

From Booklist:

In 1830, the British ship Beagle set sail from South America for London under the command of Captain Robert Fitzroy. On board were three Yamana Indians from Tierra del Fuego, one called Jemmy Button. After sending the Indians to religious schools in England, Fitzroy returned them to their home, where he hoped they would have a "civilizing" influence. Button was put on trial for the 1859 massacre of a group of missionaries based in the Falkland Islands. Using these historical facts, Argentinian writer Iparraguirre has constructed a powerful work of fiction, told from the point of view of one John William Guevara, a sailor who accompanied Button on his journeys. Many years later, Guevara receives a letter from the Royal Navy asking for his recollections of the voyages and the subsequent events, and it's upon this frame that the story is constructed. Readers who are intrigued by this book may also be interested in Roger McDonald's Mr. Darwin's Shooter (1999). Mary Ellen Quinn
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About this edition

• Publisher: Curbstone Books
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 1880684721
• ISBN 13: 9781880684726
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 285