Sorrow of the Earth - Éric Vuillard

Published by Pushkin Press: London, 2016.
Originally published in French as Tristesse de la terre in 2014. Translated by Ann Jefferson.

This is an odd book. A non-fiction text, telling the story of Buffalo Bill's forays into show business, including the end of the life of Sitting Bull and the Massacre at Wounded Knee, the book shies away from going too in-depth into the facts of any of these moments, instead choosing to 're-imagine' the events, focussing more on the little moments, the feelings, the thoughts that may have crossed the mind of those involved in the events. As one example of this prose, after the massacre of Indians has happened at Wounded Knee, Vuillard starts a new section with: "A violent storm blew up. Snow fell from the sky like a divine ordinance. The snowflakes whirled around the dead Indians, light and untroubled. They landed on hair and lips. Every eyelid was spangled with hoar frost. What a delicate thing a snowflake is! It's like a weary little secret, a forlorn and inconsolable touch of gentleness." (page 58). Very descriptive, a little poetic, but not what you expect to find in a non-fiction text. 

Vuillard also returns to this metaphor in the final chapter, which, after wrapping up the life of Buffalo Bill and having focussed on the loss and melancholic elements in his life, chooses to focus instead on the unrelated story of Wilson Bentley, who was the first person to successfully photograph snowflakes, and who ended up dying after getting caught in a blizzard.

Odd. Sad. Occasionally moving. Also occasionally suddenly coarse for a single paragraph at a time...

Interesting topic, but once again not a book I'll be revisiting.

Completed 15 April 2022.



(Alphabet Soup Books)

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