Black skirt (novel)

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Schwarzrock (Original title: Black Robe ) is a novel by Brian Moore from 1985 . The only German translation to date comes from Otto Bayer and was first published in 1987 by Diogenes Verlag , Zurich . In 1991 the novel was made into a film by Bruce Beresford under the title Black Robe - On the Iroquois River .

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The novel is about the year of death of the French Father Fernand Jérôme (* 1591, † 1635).
Father Paul Laforgue from Rouen , who attended the Jesuit school in Normandy, had already been studying the language and customs of eastern Canadian Indian tribes in Québec for two years when his hour of probation strikes: Champlain , founder of the colony of New France , has a word that that Father Jérôme - in the Jesuit mission Ihonatiria on the banks of Lake Nipissing with the Wyandot - is seriously ill. He needs to be helped. A deadly fever rages among the Wyandot. The destination of Ihonatiria is far. The path leads up the St. Lawrence River to the Ottawa , over the Ottawa into the Mattawa River and into the Nipissing Lake. Champlain wins the Algonquin chiefs Neehatin and Chomina to accompany Father Laforgue. The Algonquians are obliged to Champlain. Fought Champlain, called chief Agnonha (79) by the Algonquians , but years ago at their side against their mortal enemy, the Iroquois and killed Iroquois butts (69). The river trip leads through the Iroquois region. The two chiefs, gifted with six muskets , promise Champlain to escort the death-defying father beyond the great rapids. French people who know about the country in Québec do not understand at all how Champlain can send Father on the dangerous journey. But Laforgue, called Nicanis by the Algonquians, wants to be a martyr (46) and paddles upriver with the Algonquians. He is accompanied by the young Frenchman Daniel Davost. Daniel, called Inwanchu by the Algonquians, falls in love with Annuka, the daughter of Chief Khomina, on the way. Laforgue observes the couple's intercourse, first by chance, then intentionally, and wants to bring the compatriot back on the right track. That fails. When the Algonquin turned his back on the two French before the big rapids, Daniel left the Father and joined the Algonquin.
Chief Chomina fears the wrath of Chief Agnonha if he learns of the broken word. Together with his family and Daniel, he paddles after the father, who is left alone in the wilderness. Laforgue sees how Daniel and the Iroquois chief family are attacked from behind and brutally beaten. Laforgue faces the Iroquois. Chomina's wife - hit in the neck by an arrow in the attack - dies. All adult prisoners are tortured by the Iroquois. Laforgue has the phalanx of an index finger cut off. The little son Chominas falls victim to the cannibal warriors. The prisoners manage to escape from the Iroquois. Chomina brings Laforgue past the great rapids and succumbs to his wounds. Annuka wants to follow her tribesmen into the nearby wintry hunting grounds, but is persuaded by Daniel to continue with Father Laforgue.
In the meantime, Father Jérôme expects death in the Jesuit mission Ihonatiria. His brother René Duval's skull was split open with an ax by a Wyandot warrior. Because the Wyandot believe that the French are to blame for the rampant deadly fever. Father Jérôme, called Andehoua by the Wyandot, has had two strokes and cannot bury the confrere.
When Father Laforgue arrives in Ihonatiria, the Wyandot are divided into two parties. One wants the immediate death of the French because, as I said, they were to blame for the fever. The other wants to be converted to Christianity and thus hopes for redemption from the evil. The Wyandot decide the death of the strangers. When the French are about to be informed of their death sentence, an unexpected solar eclipse saves their lives. The majority of the Wyandot are impressed by the God of Christians and now want to be baptized. Even so, Father Jérôme dies a martyr's death beforehand. His skull is split open by a Wyandot warrior. Father Laforgue, fearless but now doubting his mission, baptizes the Gentiles.

Heathens

The Algonquians believe in the Manitu , who appears to them in a dream and whose waving they necessarily follow. The dream is an element of Indian belief. The Algonquians speak to the forest and to the river. They honor the bones of the animals they hunt: beaver, deer, elk, bear. Their contempt is for the Normans (99), their greed, their "stupidity", which is reflected in the disregard of the above. Expresses representatives of nature. Some Indians see clearly into their future. If they are overwhelmed by this greed, if they are converted to Christianity, they will succumb to the Normans .
The Indians of the early 17th century are daring warriors and even cannibals. Prisoners must be tortured and enemies destroyed. Christian virtue is completely alien to them. When a warrior is tortured, he hides his pain. Feelings are at most close relatives, e.g. B. the biological brother shown.

Background information

The Irish author used his stay in Canada for extensive research, used historical studies such as Francis Parkman's The Jesuits in North America and worked with ethnologists. Historical background is the mission of the Jesuits among the Iroquois and Huron , where among other canonized Jean de Brebeuf in 1649, the martyrdom suffered. The author describes the life of missionaries and Indians in a factually precise manner and, thanks to his creativity, fills it with life. The FAZ review praised: "The sympathetic thing about Moore's novel is that it doesn't ennoble or demonize any page; rather, he is concerned with the absolute lack of understanding between Indians and Europeans. His telling is concise and focused, every detail is important."

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source

  • Brian Moore: Black rock. Black robe. Novel. Diogenes, Zurich 1987, 265 pages, ISBN 3-257-21755-2