Duckworth first edition - 1905
This is, quite simply, one of the most compelling and realistic novels I have read on a wildlife character. Charles Roberts, like all writers of this genre, has to steer a tightrope between authenticity and anthropomorphism. I believe he achieved this difficult task. The story of Red Ruff is set in the backwoods districts of Eastern Canada and the author takes us through from birth to the fox's final triumph over his main, and most dangerous, enemy, man. Roberts states in his Prefatory Note: Red Ruff simply represents the best, in physical and mental development, of which the tribe of foxes has shown itself capable...the incidents in the career of this particular fox are not only consistent with the known characteristics and capacities of the fox family, but there is authentic record of them all in the accounts of careful observers....as for any emotions which Red Fox may once in a great while seem to display, these may safely be accepted by the most cautious as fox emotions, not as human emotions....any full presentation of an individual animal of one of the more highly developed species must depict certain emotions not altogether unlike those which a human being might experience under like conditions. This well crafted, even exciting story, is so realistic that one must agree that the author has achieved his purpose.
The frontispiece
As if the reader's imagination is not enough, there are a profuse amount (I counted 49 of them) of atmospheric and skilfully drawn illustrations by Charles Livingston Bull, which relate directly to the text. The author - who had already published works such as The Kindred of the Wild, The Watchers of the Trails and The Heart of the Ancient Wood - is seeped (drenched?) in the ways of the animals and countryside he so lovingly describes. It is no surprise to see that he had already also published a book of Poems, as his narrative is regularly infused with poetry. I looked him up on Wikipedia (yes!) and read: Sir Charles George Douglas Roberts KCMG FRCS was a Canadian poet and prose writer. He was one of the first Canadian authors to be internationally known. He published various works on Canadian exploration and natural history, verse travel books and fiction.
Charles G.D. Roberts (1860-1943)
As an aside, I also read that Margaret Attwood has written about Canadian literature's approach to animal stories: the stories are told from the point of view of the animal. That's the key: English animal stories are about the 'social relations', American ones are about people killing animals; Canadian ones are about animals being killed, as felt emotionally from inside the fur and feathers. Roberts personifies this. As we follow Red Fox through the trials and tribulations, the mistakes and successes, of his life, we are drawn in to a certain sympathy (it can't be empathy, of course) with not only the hero but also his family and the other creatures, friend and foe. We meet shell-shocked hens - Brahma, Cochin, Plymouth Rock - when they are joined in their chicken-house by a hungry Red Fox; we are with the fox when he battles woodchucks, snakes, skunks, muskrats and owls; and when (lonely after the deaths of his parents and all his siblings) he first encounters a diffident stranger, who leads him on a catch-me-if-you-can romp until finally succumbing to his charms.
The chapters where Red Ruff is pursued by the two local dogs (one ends up being swept away over a weir, due to the cleverness of the fox in leading him on); the terrifying experiences on first encountering guns (sticks with flames), traps and snares; the even more frightening conflagration caused by a forest fire; all carry the reader along, breathlessly, until he/she reaches the triumphant finale on page 340: Wild underbrush was all about him, and ancient trees; and soon he was climbing rocks more harsh and hugely tumbled than those of his native Ringwaak. Once only he stopped - having heard some tiny squeaks among the tree-roots - long enough to catch a woodmouse, which eased his long hunger. Then he pressed on, ever climbing; till, in the first gray-saffron transparency of dawn, he came out upon a jutting cape of rock, and found himself in a wilderness to his heart's desire, a rugged turbulence of hills and ravines where the pack and the scarlet hunters could not come.
On 3rd June 1935, Roberts was one of three Canadians on King George V's honour list to receive a knighthood; he was declared a 'Person of National Historic Significance' in 1945 and a monument to him was erected by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada in Westcock in 2005. The University of Ottawa hosted a Roberts Symposium in 1984. Thoroughly deserved, say I.
No comments:
Post a Comment