I just finished Howard Norman’s In Fond Remembrance of Me about the author’s friendship with fellow translator Helen Tanizaki in the northern Canadian province of Manitoba.
Their story is interwoven with various versions of the Biblical Noah story as translated (by Norman) from the Inuit. These Noah stories describe what happens to the ark and its denizens when the flood carries them north to Canada.
In every version, Noah refuses help from the Inuit villagers (they fear he will starve over the winter); he refuses to let the villagers eat any of the animals on his ship (and he won’t eat them either); and at the end of winter, his ark sinks due to damage from the inevitable ice melt and he heads south on foot, never to be seen again.
Noah’s arrogance (or maybe faith?) is just as unwavering as the villagers’ desire to taste his beasts’ meats.
The combination of these stories with that of Norman and Tanizaki’s friendship seemed odd to me at first—too disparate. But the two ultimately worked together, illustrating Norman’s first experiences as a translator (in contrast to veteran translator Tanizaki) while also setting the memoire firmly inside its geography.
When I first read Howard Norman several years ago, I thought he was a Canadian writer because he described life on Hudson Bay so beautifully (read The Northern Lights). I’ve since learned that Mr. Norman is from the non-Canadian city of Toledo, Ohio. But he’s spent a good deal of time in Canada (see the Ploughshares profile linked below) and brings it to life so vividly it’ll make you want to visit.
A beautiful writer.
LINKS:
- Howard Norman (Powell’s Books)
- “About Howard Norman: A Profile”