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Storms and Dreams: Louis de Bougainville: Soldier, Explorer, Statesman
Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. Fine, A fine copy in green cloth boards, with a fine illustrated dust jacket. John Dunmore. 296 p., 8 p. of plates, ill., maps, ports.
- GenresNonfiction
312 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2004
About the author
John Dunmore
49 books2 followersJohn Dunmore is professor emeritus of French at Massey University, New Zealand and has written more than twenty books on French navigation in the Pacific.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
February 5, 2019
Edit, after finishing: my opinion, unfortunately, didn't change. The book was slightly disappointing, but still has value as a rare English work on an important French explorer.
I'm not quite finished with this yet, but Storms and Dreams can be a little tedious. I'm inclined to give John Dunmore a break because he's one of the rare English-language historians of French Pacific exploration-- plus the simple fact that he's like a century old at this point. Such venerability demands *some* respect, regardless of quality of work.
The book, however, overflows with detail about things I don't care about, and spends very little time in the Pacific. Having just read The Trial of the Cannibal Dog, a biography of James Cook centered on his exploration of the South Pacific, I had hoped for a similar workup of Louis de Bougainville's life. In the interest of fairness, this isn't really possible, as Bougainville's time in the Pacific was considerably shorter.
Bougainville's circumnavigation of the world doesn't start until about 65% through the book, and only a single chapter is dedicated to the bulk of his travels across the Pacific. *Whole islands* are covered in a mere paragraph or two! Where's the ethnography? Where are the voluminous first-hand accounts by the sailors and officers? This stuff was recorded and reported on with Cook's voyages; I'm sure it could be done with Bougainville. I want to know how the French felt about meeting Tahitians, especially considering that France eventually owned the place, and I'd like at least slightly unsuperficial examinations of the smaller islands Bougainville ran across.
But this is a general biography. We start with Bougainville's birth, briefly covering his early life in France, then visit Quebec at the start of his military career, and witness the fall of French Canada to the British. We return to France after Canada, where we are exposed to extensive coverage of inter-ministry and inter-socialite hassles in Ancien Regime France that Bougainville endured. One may hint that well-placed connections were needed in 18th-century French society, but I don't need pages upon pages dedicated to describing back-biting relationships between minor nobles.
Characterisation is lacking: we seem to spend a lot of time meeting various historical characters who played a role in Bougainville's life, but one finds oneself with few reasons to care about the individuals mentioned. People make sudden appearances, then disappear from the text just as suddenly-- carried off by old-time illnesses like tuberculosis, in at least one case, but rarely with much emotion being elicited on the reader's part. Dunmore has written a few novels under a different name, so you'd think this would be less of a problem, but here we are.
Bougainville doesn't seem to be defined by his Pacific navigation like Cook is. I can respect that. But if you want to know about France in the Pacific, it unfortunately doesn't seem like there's much to gain from this book.
I'm not quite finished with this yet, but Storms and Dreams can be a little tedious. I'm inclined to give John Dunmore a break because he's one of the rare English-language historians of French Pacific exploration-- plus the simple fact that he's like a century old at this point. Such venerability demands *some* respect, regardless of quality of work.
The book, however, overflows with detail about things I don't care about, and spends very little time in the Pacific. Having just read The Trial of the Cannibal Dog, a biography of James Cook centered on his exploration of the South Pacific, I had hoped for a similar workup of Louis de Bougainville's life. In the interest of fairness, this isn't really possible, as Bougainville's time in the Pacific was considerably shorter.
Bougainville's circumnavigation of the world doesn't start until about 65% through the book, and only a single chapter is dedicated to the bulk of his travels across the Pacific. *Whole islands* are covered in a mere paragraph or two! Where's the ethnography? Where are the voluminous first-hand accounts by the sailors and officers? This stuff was recorded and reported on with Cook's voyages; I'm sure it could be done with Bougainville. I want to know how the French felt about meeting Tahitians, especially considering that France eventually owned the place, and I'd like at least slightly unsuperficial examinations of the smaller islands Bougainville ran across.
But this is a general biography. We start with Bougainville's birth, briefly covering his early life in France, then visit Quebec at the start of his military career, and witness the fall of French Canada to the British. We return to France after Canada, where we are exposed to extensive coverage of inter-ministry and inter-socialite hassles in Ancien Regime France that Bougainville endured. One may hint that well-placed connections were needed in 18th-century French society, but I don't need pages upon pages dedicated to describing back-biting relationships between minor nobles.
Characterisation is lacking: we seem to spend a lot of time meeting various historical characters who played a role in Bougainville's life, but one finds oneself with few reasons to care about the individuals mentioned. People make sudden appearances, then disappear from the text just as suddenly-- carried off by old-time illnesses like tuberculosis, in at least one case, but rarely with much emotion being elicited on the reader's part. Dunmore has written a few novels under a different name, so you'd think this would be less of a problem, but here we are.
Bougainville doesn't seem to be defined by his Pacific navigation like Cook is. I can respect that. But if you want to know about France in the Pacific, it unfortunately doesn't seem like there's much to gain from this book.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review