Antidote to the Empty Continent

[morgan_dhu]

A platform-spanning discussion of Patricia Wrede's new book, Thirteenth Child, which originated at on tor.com with a review by Jo Walton, is taking place.

The discussion focuses on the ways in which the book, an alternate history fantasy in which First Nations people never arrived in the Americas, leaving the book's analogues for European peoples the luxury of settling in reality the Empty Continent that so much North American literature and popular culture seems to assume was there anyway (thus "vanishing" whole nations of indigenous - i.e., first arrival - peoples).

I have a suggestion for readers of fantasy who want to look at the other side of the Empty Continent trope. First Nations (Cherokee) author Daniel Heath Justice has written a trilogy of fantasy novels from the perspective of a people who have been colonised. It is heavily influenced by his own heritage. I've only read the first volume so far (the other two are sitting on my TBR shelf), but not only did I enjoy it, it made me think. My own review of the first volume can be found in my book journal, here.

Comments

[allburningup]

Thanks for the book rec, it looks really interesting. One thing I'm wondering about, though. If the story is supposed to parallel European conquest of the Americas (is it?) then is the story conflating Human with European? What's your take on this?

[morgan_dhu]

I read it as being very much rooted in the European invasion/conquest of the Americas - and in particular, the experiences of the Cherokee nation.

I was very much struck by the author's decision to make the Kyn - the analogues of the indigenous people in the trilogy - distinctly non-human and the invaders distinctly human.

I don't know why the author chose to write the story this way, but I have several ideas why a First Nations author might make such a decision. He might be underscoring the white cultural assumptions that the Eurpoeans were the civilised humans and the indigenous peoples "inhuman" savages in order to subvert them. He might be making a conscious use of the SFF trope that often has aliens standing in for people of colour when an author wants to discuss race without being too "real" about it. He might be making a comment on internalisation of white cultural sterotypes by indigenous peoples. He might have been drawing on indigenous spiritual traditions, which from my limited understanding, do not always make the kinds of concrete distinctions between humans and other animals that European tradition generally does, in order to create diversity among his Kyn characters.

And there's probably a number of other possible reasons for such a choice that haven't occurred to me.

This is actually one of the artistic choices made by the author that fascinated me - I know there is something behind this choice, and part of the gift the books offer is the opportunity to work it out.