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lauren_endnotes's review against another edition
4.0
"Today, in the middle of this emptiness, something extraordinary happened."
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The first line of Tierra del Fuego, by Sylvia Iparraguirre, translated from the Spanish by Hardie St. Martin
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An old man, living in the Argentine Pampas, remembers the life-defining moments of his youth, when as a sailor in the southern seas, he witnessed the kidnapping of three indigenous people for 're-education' in England. One of the kidnapped teenagers is nicknamed 'Jemmy Button' by the English sailors. Jemmy and Guevara, our narrator, are the same age (~15) and on the return to England, the two become friends. The book continues the story as the two return to Tierra del Fuego two years later on HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin.
This historical fiction is based on the true story of Orundellico, called "Omoy-lume" in this account, a Yamana/Yaghan indigenous teenager from the islands and inlets of the Tierra del Fuego region of now-southern Argentina. The name "Jemmy Button" is mentioned several times in Charles Darwin's voyage notes, published in 1845. The story of his capture, re-education and the later events of his life can be read in various text, as well as Darwin's account, available online through Cambridge's Darwin Correspondence Project.
This fictional account adds more depth, nuance, and a framing story of the fictional British-Argentine narrator, which speaks to the #colonialism, and nautical and land politics in this region in the 19th-century. This tension of colonial territories continues in this region even now (though much less), with the ownership of the Islas Malvinas / Falkland Islands.
The location, the change of focus in time (19th century) and the distinct focus of indigenous people groups in Tierra del Fuego provided a great addition to my #readingargentina personal project.
.
The first line of Tierra del Fuego, by Sylvia Iparraguirre, translated from the Spanish by Hardie St. Martin
.
An old man, living in the Argentine Pampas, remembers the life-defining moments of his youth, when as a sailor in the southern seas, he witnessed the kidnapping of three indigenous people for 're-education' in England. One of the kidnapped teenagers is nicknamed 'Jemmy Button' by the English sailors. Jemmy and Guevara, our narrator, are the same age (~15) and on the return to England, the two become friends. The book continues the story as the two return to Tierra del Fuego two years later on HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin.
This historical fiction is based on the true story of Orundellico, called "Omoy-lume" in this account, a Yamana/Yaghan indigenous teenager from the islands and inlets of the Tierra del Fuego region of now-southern Argentina. The name "Jemmy Button" is mentioned several times in Charles Darwin's voyage notes, published in 1845. The story of his capture, re-education and the later events of his life can be read in various text, as well as Darwin's account, available online through Cambridge's Darwin Correspondence Project.
This fictional account adds more depth, nuance, and a framing story of the fictional British-Argentine narrator, which speaks to the #colonialism, and nautical and land politics in this region in the 19th-century. This tension of colonial territories continues in this region even now (though much less), with the ownership of the Islas Malvinas / Falkland Islands.
The location, the change of focus in time (19th century) and the distinct focus of indigenous people groups in Tierra del Fuego provided a great addition to my #readingargentina personal project.
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