The Life and Times of Captain N. by Douglas Glover


The Life and Times of Captain N.
Title : The Life and Times of Captain N.
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0864922973
ISBN-10 : 9780864922977
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 185
Publication : First published March 16, 1993

Douglas Glover's acclaimed novel The Life and Times of Captain N. is now available in a GLE Library edition. Originally published by McClelland & Stewart, the novel was acclaimed by the most respected critics in Canada and the US, and compelled The Toronto Star 's Philip Marchand to call Glover "one of the most important Canadian writers of his generation." Set on the Niagara frontier in the final days of the American Revolution, The Life and Times of Captain N. sees the revolutionary new world order from the standpoint of the losers. Hendrick Nellis, a Tory guerrilla, has also been a redeemer of whites abducted by Indians. His son Oskar finds himself sometimes allied with the Indians, sometimes at war with them. Hendrick kidnaps Oskar for King George's army, and Oskar, haunted by dreams and by books, is the teller of the tale. The book he intends to write is sketched out in his letters to George Washington and in the signs tattooed on his skin as mementos of his personal Indian wars. The Life and Times of Captain N. trespasses into the no-man's-land where the delirium of combat drives races, genders, languages, and ideas into a primeval frenzy. Master of the psyche's primitive depths, Douglas Glover draws the reader into a violent and erotic emotional whirlpool. Some of the incidents in The Life and Times of Captain N. are based on the lives of the real Hendrick Nellis and his family, and, says Glover, "I have no doubt their descendents and relatives on both sides of the border will find much to complain of."

The Life and Times of Captain N. Reviews

  • Sillyhuron

    Possibly the Great Canadian Gothic Novel.
    Violent, experimental and unforgettable, this epic story by Douglas Glover is a fictionalized history of Hendrick (aka Robert, aka "Dutch Henry") Nelles, the New York farmer who became a Loyalist guerilla soldier during the American Revolution and burned down large parts of New York fighting with the Shawnee and Mississauga Indians. His mental and physical anger as he loses the war is contrasted with a girl kidnapped by the Mississauga who learns to accept their ways. The book strongly reminds me of Michael Ondaatje - multiple points of view and time shifts thrown at you without warning, making it a difficult and challenging read. But the overall effect is stunning. This book isn't just about Whites and Indians, or the Revolution - it's about how people see the world in different ways, with some of the most vivid imagery I've ever seen in a book. Two warnings - 1. it's not the real story of Nelles (something Glover freely admits). 2. It's casual violence is mind-boggling. Torture and death are almost seen as a form of communcation to the man whose motto is "I am against the future"...

  • Megan

    I feel like I should not have liked this book, but (obviously) I did. It was difficult to keep track of whose POV we were in, what with the multiple first-person plus the fact that they all suffered from headaches and dreams meant I was usually three or four pages into a section before I properly knew who was speaking. But there's something about Douglas Glover's writing that I truly enjoy -- the only reason I picked this up is because I remember adoring
    Elle. This one was no exception. When I reached the end, I knew that despite all its ... flaws? difficulties? whatever it was, despite them, I enjoyed the book.

  • Shishir

    Great language but unable to follow the story or the characters - after 30 pages gave up