Traces of Lewis & Clark in 5HC
Ste. Croix equals New Orleans, nexus of slave trade; Ste. Anne is the tribal territory from Fort Mandan to Lemhi Pass. The unusual “two captains” nature of the Lewis and Clark expedition is mirrored in the three pairs of twins-not-twins in The Fifth Head of Cerberus. The publication history of the Lewis and Clark journals corresponds to certain frame tale details in “V.R.T.” regarding source texts.
Gene Wolfe touched upon the Lewis and Clark exploration (1804-1806) of the Louisiana Territory at least two times in his fiction, by name in Free Live Free (1984) and the inclusion of spiny orange in the opening chapters of The Knight (2004), where spiny orange (osage orange) was first documented by Meriwether Lewis. In Gene Wolfe’s First Four Novels (2020) I made note of Lewis and Clark elements within the “V.R.T.” section of The Fifth Head of Cerberus (1972), observing the similar structure of anglophones exploring a francophone territory; that Lewis and Clark were seeking a dreamed-of goal, a northwest passage, nearly as quixotic as seeking fairies; and congruencies between history’s Sacagawea and Wolfe’s Victor.
In this second round I want to mention that planet Sainte Croix equals New Orleans, urban nexus of slave trade, and planet Sainte Anne is tribal territory from Fort Mandan (North Dakota) to Lemhi Pass (Montana/Idaho border), thus mapping the Louisiana Purchase from civilized (New Orleans) to wilderness (the Continental Divide).
“The Fifth Head of Cerberus” is set on Sainte Croix, with repeated reference to its slave market, where the narrator sells slaves of his own clonal creation. While the Lewis and Clark expedition did not visit New Orleans, both captains were slave owners; after the expedition, Lewis was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory and settled in St. Louis (effectively Ste. Croix).
“‘A Story,’ by John V. Marsh” has a teenage mother, Seven Girls Waiting, perhaps fitting Sacagawea, who joined the party at Fort Mandan, last outpost of semi-civilization. (Note in passing how closely “Seven Girls Waiting” phonetically approximates “Sacagawea.”)
Here is a scene involving Sacagawea and forage through digging:
Lewis noted on April 9 [1805] that ‘when we halted for dinner the squaw [Sacagawea] busied herself in searching for the wild artichokes which the mice collect and deposit in large hordes. this [sic] operation she performed by penetrating the earth with a sharp stick’ (Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, Ch. 18, p. 329).
Compare to a scene with Seven Girls Waiting and forage by digging, where Sandwalker first says, “Before, I was looking for something large, something I could take for a gift. Now I’m going to look for something small, just something for us to eat tonight. Rockmice, maybe” (94), and then,
He ripped up the seemingly solid ground with strong fingers, tossing away the clods; then a clod . . . came up dripping. There was a soft murmuring. He broke the clotted stuff in two, thrusting half into his own mouth, half into hers. She knew, suddenly, that she was starving and chewed and swallowed frantically, spitting out the wax (95).
“V.R.T.” is about events on Sainte Anne, a place which seems like the tribal territory Lewis and Clark passed through. While the two captains were eager to meet Sacagawea’s tribe and apprehensive about encountering difficult tribes they had heard about, ultimately, they were bewildered in not meeting any tribes for over three months of time and nearly the entire width of modern Montana in distance. The experience was like passing through a country of ghosts, as depicted in the following passage dating shortly after the first month:
On May 29 [1805], at the Judith River, there were two vivid marks of Indian life. Walking along the Missouri at a point just above the mouth of the Judith, Lewis counted the fires of 126 recently occupied tepees. Close by, Clark observed the rings of an older tepee encampment numbering some 100 lodges. Once again anxiety about the Assiniboins surfaced as the captains brought Sacagawea some worn-out moccasins from the sites for her identification (James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark Among the Indians, 1984).
The unusual “two captains” nature of the Lewis and Clark expedition is mirrored in the three pairs of twins-not-twins in The Fifth Head of Cerberus (Number 5: Maitre; Sandwalker: Eastwind; Victor: John Marsh). The early, mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis (suicide or murder) matches the deaths of the dying ones in each pair.
The publication history of the Lewis and Clark journals corresponds to certain frame tale details in “V.R.T.” regarding source texts. The long delay (the team returned in 1806, but the first publication was in 1814). The missing entries. The copying of entries, such that it becomes unclear as to which captain wrote the original entry. The interrogation of the surviving captain (Clark) by editor Biddle in 1810, with subsequent supplemental information folded into a paraphrase of the field notes for the first published edition of 1814.
Gene Wolfe touched upon the Lewis and Clark exploration (1804-1806) of the Louisiana Territory at least two times in his fiction, by name in Free Live Free (1984) and the inclusion of spiny orange in the opening chapters of The Knight (2004), where spiny orange (osage orange) was first documented by Meriwether Lewis. In Gene Wolfe’s First Four Novels (2020) I made note of Lewis and Clark elements within the “V.R.T.” section of The Fifth Head of Cerberus (1972), observing the similar structure of anglophones exploring a francophone territory; that Lewis and Clark were seeking a dreamed-of goal, a northwest passage, nearly as quixotic as seeking fairies; and congruencies between history’s Sacagawea and Wolfe’s Victor.
In this second round I want to mention that planet Sainte Croix equals New Orleans, urban nexus of slave trade, and planet Sainte Anne is tribal territory from Fort Mandan (North Dakota) to Lemhi Pass (Montana/Idaho border), thus mapping the Louisiana Purchase from civilized (New Orleans) to wilderness (the Continental Divide).
“The Fifth Head of Cerberus” is set on Sainte Croix, with repeated reference to its slave market, where the narrator sells slaves of his own clonal creation. While the Lewis and Clark expedition did not visit New Orleans, both captains were slave owners; after the expedition, Lewis was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory and settled in St. Louis (effectively Ste. Croix).
“‘A Story,’ by John V. Marsh” has a teenage mother, Seven Girls Waiting, perhaps fitting Sacagawea, who joined the party at Fort Mandan, last outpost of semi-civilization. (Note in passing how closely “Seven Girls Waiting” phonetically approximates “Sacagawea.”)
Here is a scene involving Sacagawea and forage through digging:
Lewis noted on April 9 [1805] that ‘when we halted for dinner the squaw [Sacagawea] busied herself in searching for the wild artichokes which the mice collect and deposit in large hordes. this [sic] operation she performed by penetrating the earth with a sharp stick’ (Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, Ch. 18, p. 329).
Compare to a scene with Seven Girls Waiting and forage by digging, where Sandwalker first says, “Before, I was looking for something large, something I could take for a gift. Now I’m going to look for something small, just something for us to eat tonight. Rockmice, maybe” (94), and then,
He ripped up the seemingly solid ground with strong fingers, tossing away the clods; then a clod . . . came up dripping. There was a soft murmuring. He broke the clotted stuff in two, thrusting half into his own mouth, half into hers. She knew, suddenly, that she was starving and chewed and swallowed frantically, spitting out the wax (95).
“V.R.T.” is about events on Sainte Anne, a place which seems like the tribal territory Lewis and Clark passed through. While the two captains were eager to meet Sacagawea’s tribe and apprehensive about encountering difficult tribes they had heard about, ultimately, they were bewildered in not meeting any tribes for over three months of time and nearly the entire width of modern Montana in distance. The experience was like passing through a country of ghosts, as depicted in the following passage dating shortly after the first month:
On May 29 [1805], at the Judith River, there were two vivid marks of Indian life. Walking along the Missouri at a point just above the mouth of the Judith, Lewis counted the fires of 126 recently occupied tepees. Close by, Clark observed the rings of an older tepee encampment numbering some 100 lodges. Once again anxiety about the Assiniboins surfaced as the captains brought Sacagawea some worn-out moccasins from the sites for her identification (James P. Ronda, Lewis and Clark Among the Indians, 1984).
The unusual “two captains” nature of the Lewis and Clark expedition is mirrored in the three pairs of twins-not-twins in The Fifth Head of Cerberus (Number 5: Maitre; Sandwalker: Eastwind; Victor: John Marsh). The early, mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis (suicide or murder) matches the deaths of the dying ones in each pair.
The publication history of the Lewis and Clark journals corresponds to certain frame tale details in “V.R.T.” regarding source texts. The long delay (the team returned in 1806, but the first publication was in 1814). The missing entries. The copying of entries, such that it becomes unclear as to which captain wrote the original entry. The interrogation of the surviving captain (Clark) by editor Biddle in 1810, with subsequent supplemental information folded into a paraphrase of the field notes for the first published edition of 1814.
date
newest »
newest »
Strange new animals; sexually promiscuous tribes
The Lewis and Clark expedition recorded numerous animals strange to them. At the smaller scale was the prairie dog, which they stumbled upon figuratively as well as literally (7 SEP 1804) while on their way to Mandan tribal territory. At the larger scale, the captains learned from the Mandans about the “white bear” and subsequently had difficulty in killing these ferocious creatures we know as grizzly bears. Bears are omnivores, and possessive about found kills: one particularly memorable site was at the base of Great Falls, Montana, where the corpses of bison from upriver collected in great numbers, providing a choice feeding ground for grizzly bears. These scavengers, covered with rotting gore, were truly “ghoul-bears,” identical to those found in 5HC.
Looking through the lens of Lewis and Clark, one expects to locate the bison, the “king” of the Great Plains, somewhere in 5HC, and it seems likely to be the mysterious animal Marsch shoots with such celebration. He compares it to a carabao (161), also known as the Asian water buffalo. This might match up with the bison, commonly known as the (American) buffalo.
There is the curious case of the cat, seemingly shared by both texts. In 5HC Marsch misses his shot at the strange catlike animal he takes to be a “tire-tiger”; on the expedition, Lewis is on a solitary hike with a similar situation:
He started down the level bottom of Medicine River. Just short of its junction with the Missouri, he spotted what he at first thought was a wolf; on getting to within sixty yards of it, he decided it was catlike. (It was probably a wolverine.) Lewis used his espontoon as a rest, took careful aim, and fired at it; the animal disappeared into its burrow. On examination, the tracks indicated the animal was some kind of tiger cat. Lewis saw no blood; apparently he had missed, which mortified him and bother him not a little . . . [since] he was sure he had taken careful aim and that his rifle shot was true. (Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, 365-66)
In addition to meeting new animals, the Lewis and Clark expedition encountered new tribes, some of whom practiced sexual promiscuity with strangers, beginning with the slave-taking Mandan on the Plains, continuing with the slave-source Shoshone in the Rockies, and finally other tribes at the Pacific Coast. When Marco Polo mentions this sort of practice occurring along the Silk Road, it is taken with a greater or lesser amount of skepticism as being fabricated travelers’ tales; however, such doubts seem out of place with the expedition.
The promiscuity had a component of magic to it best illustrated by the buffalo dance of the Mandans. The ceremony was thought to be a magnet to the wandering herds of bison.
There was a second purpose to the dance. The Mandans believed that power--in this case, the hunting abilities of the old men [of the tribe]--could be transferred from one man to another through sexual relations with the same woman. To the great good luck of the enlisted men, the Mandans attributed to the whites great powers and big medicine. So, throughout the three-day buffalo dance, the Americans were said to be “untiringly zealous in attracting the cow” and in transferring power. One unnamed private made four contributions. (Ambrose, 303-304)
In 5HC this relates to the weirdness of Marsch believing that the boy is having carnal relations with the cat, even to the point of sympathetic magic and shapeshifting. Marsch, in thinking the couple will "tie up," seems to go so far as to suppose he will find them in wolf-form, since this is a trait specific to wolves.