The Rifles by William T. Vollmann (review)

210 WesternAmerican Literature Deeplyconcerned with Native identity,women’splace inAmerican society, and the potential dangers ofnuclear energy, Awiaktaproposes that traditional Cherokee narratives about the Com Mother, Selu, and aboutAwiUsdi or Little Deer can offer insights of inestimable value for all Americans who share her hopes and concerns. Selu:SeekingtheComMother’sWisdomisawarm, caring book thatpresents, in a fresh and original way, Native American precepts about harmony, balance, and the sacredness of all life. In Selu, Awiakta displays a healthy respect for technological invention and greathopes for the future ofthe planet, evenwhile she shares the fears ofa Memphis cabdriverwho once told her: “Our country’s going broke and the planet’s dying out from under us. .. . If America’s not careful, we’re gonna eat ourselves alive.”In Selu, Awiakta poses the question: “Do human beings have enough respect for life to cope with the atom?”While she sees the atom’s “immense nurturing potential,” she also believes that we could be sowing the seeds ofour own destruction. Awiakta’smessage issimple to sayand hard to enact in a capitalistic society such asours: “Ifyou take, you mustgive back.”While her “wisdoms”aren’t new, the wayin which she slowlyand expertlyweaves them together is engaging and convincing. Some of her formulations appear simplistic, even romantic. For example, she argues that the Western dynamic isdetachment, represented bya box, while the Native American dynamic is connection, represented by a web. But there isenough truth in herclaimsto demand our respectful consideration. ELIZABETH BLAIR University ofIllinois, Chicago TheRifles. ByWilliamT.Vollmann. (NewYork:Viking Penguin, 1994. 411 pages, $22.95.) When Ifirstread aboutVollmann’splanned seven-partnovel series treating the impact of the European conquests of North America and the resulting cultural fissions suffered byaboriginal peoples, Ithought ofAsburyFox. One of Flannery O’Connor’s purblind, sanctimonious intellectuals, Asbury, driven by liberal guiltoverAmerica’sracistlegacy,wantstowrite aplayabout “the Negro.” His subject choice suggests he will not write anything ofvalue, because he sees not individual people but sociological stereotypeshe can twistto fit his theoreti­ cally structured mold. Though itfeatures passages capturing the Arctic’sbeauty and briefly notes the hypocrisyofproclaiming admiration for Native Americans because they are “environmental,” The Rifles is too close to Asbury to be successful. Vollmann attempts to relate the plight ofthe Canadian Inuit (Eskimos, ifyou know them onlybytheAlgonquian slur) primarilyon the simplistic thesis that the introduc­ Reviews 211 tion ofrifles created starvation, which furthered cultural genocide. Vollmann’s technique is chimerical: his narrative is a metamorphosing blur of John Franklin’s doomed 1840s attempt to locate the Northwest Passage, the 1950s Canadian government’s removal of Inuit from the sub-arctic to the Arctic Circle, and a fictionalized account of Vollmann’s own trips to Canada to research his novel. Readers who like their literature hallucinatory and solipsistically anti-realistic (Subzero, Vollmann’sfictional alter ego, believes he is Franklin, and Vollmann’s narrator supports this belief and others as cute) may be charmed by Vollmann’s method; I feel that its frippery both masks inanityand asserts there isno meaning to be found, inwhich case the novel isof lessvalue than TheLoneRangerreruns. Vollmann’s sociological approach is evident throughout the novel. The characters, especially the Inuit, are insubstantial, and the text isfootnoted and followed by69 pages ofglossaries and sources. These I find to be more interest­ ing and thought-provoking than the fiction. Also detrimental to the novel is Vollmann’s adolescent prurience. He footnotes Inuit slang for female genitalia, has Subzero hope “he would find the Northwest Passage between Reepah’s legs,” and describes a lake as having “a little knob like a clitoris.” If the far north interests you, try Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez or Brian Moore’sBlackRobe. JAMES P. CANTRELL Mt. Sequoyah, Arkansas Blood Thirsty Savages. ByAdrian C. Louis. (St. Louis: Time Being Books, 1994. 112 pages, $12.50.) The currentboom in NativeAmerican literature isallabout empowerment: more and more native people are discovering their own voices. The poetry of Adrian C. Louisjarringly reminds us, however, that while the Native American intellectual community may be thriving, life for the many Indians living on reservations remains as bad as ever. On the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, Louis’s home since 1984, people continue to wake each morning to grinding poverty...