A Review of Winter in the Blood (Penguin Classics, 2008; originally published 1974).
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ccape
Written by Stephen Hong Sohn
Edited by Corinna Cape
As always, at Asian American literature fans, we occasionally cast the net wider, to include other writers that we believe, at least, deserve a little bit more recognition and discussion. Our latest in Asian American literature fans+ is a review of James Welch’s Winter in the Blood. When I was in graduate school, we were assigned Fool’s Crow for our MA exam reading list. I remember really enjoying that novel, so when an opportunity came up to read another of his novels with a friend, I certainly jumped at that chance. In this case, I’m here to review Welch’s Winter in the Blood. While Fool’s Crow was set in a much earlier historical period, Winter in the Blood tends to more contemporary issues.
Let’s let the marketing description do some work for us: “During his life, James Welch came to be regarded as a master of American prose, and his first novel, Winter in the Blood, is one of his most enduring works. The narrator of this beautiful, often disquieting novel is a young Native American man living on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana. Sensitive and self-destructive, he searches for something that will bind him to the lands of his ancestors but is haunted by personal tragedy, the dissolution of his once proud heritage, and Montana's vast emptiness. Winter in the Blood is an evocative and unforgettable work of literature that will continue to move and inspire anyone who encounters it.”
This rather pithy description does do a great job of condensing the poetic nature of this slim novel. The main character is leading an aimless life, working odd jobs from time to time, having short-lived sexual relationships with various women, while trying to figure out a path beyond his desultory day-to-day existence. Despite the many setbacks faced by this narrator, he always gives us a sense of quiet dignity that comes from a self-consciousness that there is something more to his life. Late in the novel, a series of analepses begins to put into greater context the apathy and general malaise that the narrator has been living in. We discover that, as a teenager, he was tasked with his brother to help bring in cows from various grazing lands. During this period, an accident occurs involving a horse, and his brother tragically dies. His brother's death has ultimately cast a pall over everything he has done since and helps explain his general lack of direction. A relationship to a blind man also helps clarify his ancestry and background as a member of the Blackfeet tribe. Here, we discover that his grandmother had endured a very grueling winter around the time that the tribe was forced from their lands primarily by white settlers. This knowledge is crucial, as it helps provide him with a more material sense of his past. The novel’s quiet power exists in its lyrical language and a narrator, who despite it all, endures.
Buy the Book Here
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ccape
Written by Stephen Hong Sohn
Edited by Corinna Cape
As always, at Asian American literature fans, we occasionally cast the net wider, to include other writers that we believe, at least, deserve a little bit more recognition and discussion. Our latest in Asian American literature fans+ is a review of James Welch’s Winter in the Blood. When I was in graduate school, we were assigned Fool’s Crow for our MA exam reading list. I remember really enjoying that novel, so when an opportunity came up to read another of his novels with a friend, I certainly jumped at that chance. In this case, I’m here to review Welch’s Winter in the Blood. While Fool’s Crow was set in a much earlier historical period, Winter in the Blood tends to more contemporary issues.
Let’s let the marketing description do some work for us: “During his life, James Welch came to be regarded as a master of American prose, and his first novel, Winter in the Blood, is one of his most enduring works. The narrator of this beautiful, often disquieting novel is a young Native American man living on the Fort Belknap Reservation in Montana. Sensitive and self-destructive, he searches for something that will bind him to the lands of his ancestors but is haunted by personal tragedy, the dissolution of his once proud heritage, and Montana's vast emptiness. Winter in the Blood is an evocative and unforgettable work of literature that will continue to move and inspire anyone who encounters it.”
This rather pithy description does do a great job of condensing the poetic nature of this slim novel. The main character is leading an aimless life, working odd jobs from time to time, having short-lived sexual relationships with various women, while trying to figure out a path beyond his desultory day-to-day existence. Despite the many setbacks faced by this narrator, he always gives us a sense of quiet dignity that comes from a self-consciousness that there is something more to his life. Late in the novel, a series of analepses begins to put into greater context the apathy and general malaise that the narrator has been living in. We discover that, as a teenager, he was tasked with his brother to help bring in cows from various grazing lands. During this period, an accident occurs involving a horse, and his brother tragically dies. His brother's death has ultimately cast a pall over everything he has done since and helps explain his general lack of direction. A relationship to a blind man also helps clarify his ancestry and background as a member of the Blackfeet tribe. Here, we discover that his grandmother had endured a very grueling winter around the time that the tribe was forced from their lands primarily by white settlers. This knowledge is crucial, as it helps provide him with a more material sense of his past. The novel’s quiet power exists in its lyrical language and a narrator, who despite it all, endures.
Buy the Book Here
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