Bibliograph

Barkskins, a novel, Annie Proulx

Type

Label

Barkskins, a novel, Annie Proulx

Language

eng

Illustrations

genealogical tables

Index

no index present

Literary Form

fiction

Main title

Barkskins

Oclc number

915943439

Responsibility statement

Annie Proulx

Sub title

a novel

Summary

In the late 17th century, two illiterate woodsmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, make their way from Northern France to New France to seek a living. Bound to a feudal lord, a seigneur, for three years in exchange for land, they suffer extraordinary hardship, always in awe of the forest they are charged with clearing, sometimes brimming with dreams of its commercial potential. René marries an Indian healer, and they have children, mixing the blood of two cultures. Duquet travels the globe and back, starting a logging company that will prosper for generations. Proulx tells the stories of the children, grandchildren, and descendants of these two lineages, the Sels and the Duquets, as well as the descendants of their allies and foes, as they travel back to Europe, to China, to New England, always in quest of a livelihood or a fortune or fleeing stunningly brutal conditions -- accidents, pestilence, Indian attacks, the revenge of rivals. Again and again, they seize what they can of a presumed infinite resource, leaving the modern-day characters face-to-face with possible ecological collapse

Target audience

general

Creator