Burning Water by George Bowering
"Burning Water" by George Bowering is an unconventional historical novel centered around the British warship HMS Discovery and its mission to execute the Nootka Agreement in the late 18th century. The narrative follows Captain George Vancouver, who is tasked with charting the Pacific Northwest and searching for the elusive Northwest Passage, and Dr. Archibald Menzies, who aims to document the region's flora and fauna. As the crew encounters various peoples and challenges along their journey, tensions rise between Vancouver and Menzies, culminating in a tragic confrontation.
The novel is notable for its portrayal of characters who often lean towards parody, particularly Vancouver, whose rigid demeanor contrasts with the more flamboyant Captain Don Juan Quadra of the Spanish fleet. Bowering incorporates modern reflections on exploration alongside historical events, creating a layered narrative that examines the nature of discovery and storytelling. Interspersed with digressions and contemporary commentary, the novel offers a unique exploration of colonial encounters and the complexities of human relationships against a backdrop of significant historical events.
While Bowering is primarily known for his poetry, "Burning Water" garnered recognition, winning the Governor General's Award for fiction. It is positioned within a broader literary context of British Columbia's magical realism, echoing themes found in the works of other notable authors from the region.
Subject Terms
Burning Water by George Bowering
First published: 1980
Type of work: Magical realism
Time of work: The early 1790’s and the late 1960’s
Locale: Trieste, Vancouver, Guatemala, the Pacific Coast of North America, South America, and Hawaii
Principal Characters:
Captain George Vancouver , the protagonist, a British naval officer, explorer, and chart makerAdmiral Don Juan Quadra , a Spanish naval commanderDr. Archibald Menzies , a naturalist, surgeon, and delegate of the Royal SocietyThe Author , who is referred to as heThree Indians , unnamed, young men of the West Coast who act as a chorus to the actions of the white explorers
The Novel
From one perspective, Burning Water may be described as an unconventional historical novel. Most of the action of the novel takes place on or near HMS Discovery, a ninety-nine-foot British warship, which is on a four-and-a-half-year mission to expedite the Nootka Agreement, a treaty signed with Spain. Captain George Vancouver, the ship’s commander, also has a mandate to chart the coastline of the Pacific Northwest and to seek the fabled Northwest Passage. Dr. Archibald Menzies’ mandate from the Royal Society is to describe and collect flora and fauna of the New World. In the process of exploring from Monterey to Nootka, the crew of the Discovery encounter native peoples, American traders, Spanish sailors, and the dangerous coastline.
As the voyage progresses, the tension between Vancouver and Menzies increases. Vancouver’s only release from the isolation of leadership is derived from his relationship with Captain Don Juan Quadra, commander of the Spanish fleet stationed in Monterey. With the death of Quadra, Vancouver’s mental and physical health breaks and his hatred for Menzies precipitates his own death at Menzies’ hand.
In addition to the central plot are a variety of digressions and flashbacks which provide information on such topics as Vancouver’s earlier relationship with Captain James Cook. The reader hears from Londoners discussing politics and reacting to the art of William Blake. One hears Indians debating about the strange behavior of white explorers.
Acting as counterpoint to the eighteenth century explorations of Captain Vancouver are the modern travels of the author. While Vancouver sails west to the Pacific on All Fools’ Day, the author flies from Vancouver east to Trieste and begins writing the novel on All Saints’ Day. When Vancouver is headed north for an Arctic summer, George Bowering travels south to a Guatemalan winter.
The Characters
Burning Water is not a novel filled with strongly drawn characters. All of them, at times, tend toward parody. Captain George Vancouver would much prefer to achieve glory by fighting the French than by exploring the British Columbian coast. He is a man with no social graces who has advanced in the navy through his technical skill and his ability to outlive his fellow officers while at sea by eating sauerkraut to stave off scurvy. He is a man who loves tight discipline and the neat and the straightforward. “For him the simple was the same as the beautiful.” A Protestant of Dutch extraction, Vancouver takes his pleasure not in observing the remarkable landscape of the Pacific Northwest but in its accurate reproduction in his chart work. Dr. Archibald Menzies is “an animated personification of the curiosity of science.” He reflects the eighteenth century dedication to the accumulation of knowledge. The good doctor should be an ideal companion for Vancouver; both are intelligent, thorough, disciplined, and professional. Menzies, however, is arrogant, and he will not grovel before Vancouver to earn his friendship. Menzies has no romanticism in his character. He shoots and dissects an albatross while at sea on the very day that Samuel Taylor Coleridge publishes his famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
Admiral Don Juan Quadra, by fifteen years the senior of George Vancouver, survived in the Spanish navy by “thriving where others perished.” Quite simply, he observes the achievements of older men and then exceeds them. In a variety of ways, Quadra is Vancouver’s alter ego: Vancouver’s Puritan mentality is in stark contrast to Quadra’s Catholic lavishness in both food and sensuality. He not only has replaced Captain James Cook as Vancouver’s mentor but also has become Vancouver’s first and only lover.
“He,” the persona for the author, has had a continuing fascination with Captain Vancouver ever since coming to live in the city named for him. By including himself in the narrative, the author contrasts creative exploration, story making, with the mapmaking of Vancouver and the scientific cataloging of specimens by Menzies. His appearances in the novel become less frequent as the story takes on its own life. The author’s interruptions are a continual reminder, however, that this “history” is really an exposition on inventing the world through individual imagination.
Three unnamed Indians provide an additional point of view, acting as a chorus to the actions of the European explorers. Their contemporary lingo provides some of the best comic moments in the novel.
Critical Context
George Bowering is primarily a poet and short-story writer. He published his first novel, Mirror on the Floor, in 1967. Burning Water, his second novel, won the Governor General’s Award for fiction but received mixed reactions from reviewers and little response from the scholarly community.
The novel is best viewed in context with a group of other novels written in British Columbia which could be described as works of magical realism. Robert Harlow’s Scann (1972), Jack Hodgins’ The Invention of the World (1977), and Susan Musgrave’s The Charcoal Burners (1980) all reflect a similar concern for exploring the British Columbian imagination.
Bibliography
Brennan, Anthony S. Review in Fiddlehead. No. 131 (January, 1982), pp. 85-87.
Giltrow, Janet. “Fast-Forward Man,” in Canadian Literature. No. 89 (Winter, 1981), pp. 118-120.
Kirkus Reviews. Review. XLVIII (September 1, 1980), p. 1173.
Kroller, Eva-Marie. “Postmodernism, Colony, Nation: The Melvillean Texts of Bowering and Beaulieu,” in Revue de l’Universite d’Ottawa. LIV (April/June, 1984), pp. 53-61.
Publishers Weekly. Review. CCXVIII (October 3, 1980), p. 57.