Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
"Cloudsplitter" by Russell Banks is a historical novel that explores the life of Owen Brown, the son of the infamous abolitionist John Brown. Set against the backdrop of the early 20th century, the narrative unfolds through a series of letters that Owen writes but never sends, intended to help biographer Oswald Garrison Villard understand his father's legacy. John Brown, despite his reputation as a skilled sheep farmer, struggles with business failures and embarks on a tumultuous journey to England seeking better deals for his wool. The story examines complex themes of heroism, morality, and the radicalism of the abolitionist movement, especially through pivotal events such as the Pottawatomie massacre and the ill-fated raid on Harpers Ferry—both key moments that shape the course of American history and contribute to the onset of the Civil War. The novel delves into the dynamics of family relationships, particularly between Owen and his father, while also addressing broader societal issues like race, religion, and the philosophical debates of the time. Ultimately, "Cloudsplitter" presents a nuanced portrait of a man torn between loyalty to his father's cause and the consequences of violent action.
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Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks
First published: 1998
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Historical realism
Time of plot: c. 1840-1859
Locale: North Elba, New York; Kansas; Harpers Ferry, Virginia
Principal characters
John Brown , an abolitionistOwen andFred , his sonsMiss Peabody , a niece of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Story:
As the twentieth century dawns, Owen Brown, the last survivor of the raid on Harpers Ferry, begins writing a series of letters to Oswald Garrison Villard, intended to help Villard with research for his biography of Brown’s father, abolitionist John Brown. Owen never sends the letters.
John Brown is a sheep farmer in Ohio, where he has a reputation as an expert in fine wools, but he is a poor businessman, struggling to make ends meet by operating a tannery. At one point Brown and son Owen sail to England to try to negotiate a better deal from English wool merchants, but the trip is an expensive disaster. It is, however, a formative experience for Owen. On the boat, father and son meet Miss Peabody, who is the niece of writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. She is pregnant and unmarried. She urges Owen to reconsider his life by embracing a pragmatic philosophy rather than Puritan or Transcendentalist philosophies.
After his return from England, Brown moves his extensive family (he has seven children with his first wife and thirteen with his second) to a farm outside North Elba, New York. Tahawus Mountain overlooks the farm. Brown has been a passionate supporter of the abolitionist cause, and he makes his North Elba farm a stop on the Underground Railway for escaping slaves from the South. He soon becomes more actively involved in abolitionist politics, and when conflict flares in Kansas, he gathers several of his sons and sets out to fight.
At Pottawatomie, Brown is indecisive; son Owen instigates a massacre. Once again, at the Battle of Osawatomie, Brown proves to be an appallingly bad leader, sacrificing his favored son, Fred, in a needless and scrappy defeat. However, the battle transforms Brown into a national figure and a mythic hero, and from this moment events move with a tragic inevitability. The massacre at Pottawatomie puts an end to any possibility of compromise with the slavers. As soon as he returns from Kansas, Brown begins planning a raid on Harpers Ferry, which turns out to be as ill-conceived and as poorly executed as Brown’s earlier military enterprises. Owen accompanies his father on the raid but is left to guard the camp outside the town, which it is hoped will be a staging post for liberated slaves. The raid goes disastrously wrong, and Owen is one of the very few to escape. The raid sets in motion events that will culminate in the American Civil War.
Bibliography
Banks, Russell. “In Response to James McPherson’s Reading of Cloudsplitter.” In Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America’s Past, edited by Mark C. Carnes. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. Banks explains how he thinks novelists turn history into fiction. Written in response to a reading of Cloudsplitter in this same collection.
Hutchison, Anthony. “Representative Man: John Brown and the Politics of Redemption in Russell Banks’s Cloudsplitter.” Journal of American Studies 41, no. 1 (2006): 67-82. An examination of Banks’s treatment of race, focusing on the centrality of race and racism in his fiction, including Cloudsplitter.
McPherson, James M. “Russell Banks’s Fictional Portrait of John Brown.” In Novel History: Historians and Novelists Confront America’s Past, edited by Mark C. Carnes. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. A comparison of historical events as presented by Banks and actual historical events on record. Banks’s response to this reading of Cloudsplitter is included in the same collection.
Niemi, Robert. Russell Banks. New York: Twayne, 1997. An introductory study, part of the reliable Twayne’s American Authors series. This volume provides critical analyses of Banks’s fiction and a brief biography, chronology, and annotated bibliography.
Trucks, Rob. The Pleasure of Influence: Conversations with American Male Fiction Writers. West Lafayette, Ind.: NotaBell Books, 2002. A collection of comprehensive interviews of American male writers of fiction, including Banks, who discuss their literary influences and their own works.