The wide sky. The Big Sky

The wide sky. The Big Sky is a western novel by AB Guthrie Junior , published in 1947. It is the first in a series of novels written by the author on the subject of the conquest of the American West, particularly Montana , by white settlers from the 1830s. The novel was first published in German in 1974 in a translation by Teja Schwaner.

action

Boone Caudill, 17 years old, broad shoulders, lives in the wider area of Frankfort / Kentucky. He suffers from his abusive father. In an argument with him, he injures him and flees with his rifle. He sets out to follow the stories told by his mother's brother Zeb Calloway from the so-called Indian country in the west. In five chapters, the novel tells a section from the life of Caudill from 1830 to 1843.

On the way west, Caudill meets 25 or 30 year old Jim Deakins, who is supposed to use a mule cart to transport a body to an undertaker in St. Louisville. Jim Deakins has "mild blue eyes" and his personality is "open and friendly". The two understand each other and continue the journey together. In Louisville, a place “busy as an anthill”, Caudill meets his father, who wants his rifle back. The two friends are separated when Caudill, fleeing from his father, jumps into the river and then has to continue on a boat. Deakins can barely call his friend to wait for him in St. Louis. The two had previously agreed to drive west from St. Louis. Caudill's rifle is stolen on his further journey. In Paoli he meets the thief and wants to get his rifle back from him. A fight ensues, but the thief manages to convince the sheriff and the court that Caudill does not own the rifle. So Caudill goes to prison. In the meantime, Deakins also travels through Paoli, hears about this story, suspects his friend to be behind it and can finally free him from prison.

When they arrived in St. Louis, they spent three weeks looking for a way to travel west on the Missouri. They finally hire Mandan on the keelboat , which sails to the land of the black-footed Indians under the command of the Frenchman Jourdonnais. The Mandan has alcohol and weapons on board, with which a profitable business can be made with the Indians. The young daughter of a chief, Teal Eye, is said to serve as a trump card for the hoped-for negotiations with the Black-footed Indians. No one on board is allowed to come close to Teal Eye. Driving on the Missouri is risky. Trading company, forts of the Union, British and Indians can let the project fail. The Missouri waters are also dangerous. But the Mandan team can initially defy the challenges. At Fort Union, Caudill meets his uncle, Zeb Calloway. Here, after two men tried to set their boat on fire, they are offered to refrain from continuing the journey and sell their goods to the fort: Indians are unpredictable. But Jourdonnais does not want to take away the hoped-for business shortly before the goal. The boat comes closer to the land of the black-footed Indians. But one night Teal Eye disappears. Still hoping for good business, the men drop anchor and start building a fort. After three days, however, they are attacked by Indians. The Mandan garrisons are massacred . Caudill, Deakins and Dick Summers, with whom Caudill befriended on the drive, can save their lives.

For the next seven years, the three friends, Caudill, Deakins and Summer, lived as so-called Mountain Men in the mountains of what would later become Montana and Wyoming. They live from hunting beavers and selling their furs, etc. a. at markets, the so-called rendezvous on the upper reaches of the Seeds-Kee-Dee River. They lead a life without the rules of civilization, on rivers and in mountains and feed on unadulterated meat and water. God does not play a role in their existence. Caudill has grown as strong as a bull. He takes what he likes, acts first and thinks later. During one of their hunts they meet Poordevil, a black-footed Indian, who accompanies them from now on. Only Summers leaves his friends after seven years, as a sedentary life as a farmer appeals to him more. Caudill also seems to be changing: he thinks of Teal Eye, the daughter of the Indian chief on the Mandan , and wants to take her as his wife. For this, Caudill u. a. an Indian of the Crow tribe. He is considered an enemy of the black-footed Indians and Caudill wants to present his scalp as a dowry. Caudill, Deakins and Poordevil go in search of Teal Eye. They come across a camp, but the residents have died of smallpox. Only a few were able to save themselves and moved further north. Eventually they find the settlement and learn that Teal Eye's father, Heavy Otter, has died but Teal Eye survived. Caudill presents his gifts to Teal Eye's next of kin, Red Horn, negotiates marriage, and now lives with Teal Eye.

Caudill lived like an Indian on the Teton River for five years. He is happy with his life. He doesn't need a woman other than Teal Eye, who is now expecting a child. Caudill knows the country and is accompanying a mission that wants to further develop the West. Deakins also leaves the Indian settlement from time to time. When Caudill returns from the mission, Teal Eye has meanwhile given birth to her child. However, the child is blind. In addition, there are suspicions that the child is not his. It has red hair, so Deakins could be its father. Caudill is mad. Caudill ambushes Deakins before his return to the settlement and shoots him.

It's the spring of 1843 and Caudill is on his way to his parents' house in Kentucky. He left Teal Eye and the settlement. He takes the same route back on the Missouri as he came to the land of the "Big Sky" 13 years ago. He meets a missionary who has never met an Indian, but wants to bring “God” to them in the West. Whereupon Caudill declares that they have their own. He also travels through Paoli, where he was once in prison. When he arrives at his parents' home, he finally learns that his father has died of tuberculosis. He tells stories to his nephew, just as his uncle Zeb used to do. But life in Kentucky is boring. White women have also become a stranger to him. Finally, his mother tells him that his grandfather was red-haired. Distraught, he leaves his parents 'home and goes to Summers' farm in Missouri. Here it quickly becomes clear to him that the life of a farmer is not for him. He tells Summers that he killed Deakins and escapes from his house that same night.

Emergence

The novel was published in 1947. The title of the novel "The Big Sky" refers to Montana, which is usually used to describe its country. The author AB Guthrie, Jr. comes from Choteau / Montana and is a monument to his homeland.

filming

The novel was filmed five years later (1952) with the actors Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin ( The Big Sky ). The core story of the novel was retained in the film adaptation, but the film differs from the plot of the novel in essential parts.

expenditure

The wide sky. The Big Sky . Book Guild (1981), ISBN 978-3763225354