Pierre-Esprit Radisson. the Collected Writings Volume 1: The Voyages

Pierre-Esprit Radisson. The Collected Writings Volume 1: The Voyages. Ed. Germaine Warkentin. Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2012. xvii + 357 pp. + 12 illus. $65.00. Review by M. G. AUNE, CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Until recently, the writings of Frenchman Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636/40-1710) would have been regarded somewhat reductively as the memoirs of an explorer / fur trader or coureur des bois in seventeenth-century North America. The interdisciplinary developments of recent decades, however, have broadened the scholarly interest writings of figures such as Radisson. Not only did his travels include commercial exploration of what is now upstate New York, Ontario, and the Midwest, he was a captive of the Iroquois, a founder of the Hudson's Bay Company, and an aspiring courtier in Paris and London who wrote extensively if unevenly of his adventures. As a result, Radisson's writings have found audiences interested in the colonial history of Canada, captivity narratives, Native American ethnology, and postcolonial studies. As a teenager, Radisson travelled to New France and was soon captured by Mohawks. After living with them long enough to learn the language and earn their trust, Radisson managed to escape. With his newfound knowledge of the geography, language, and cultures of New France, he found work as a guide, trapper, and interpreter. Partnered with his brother-in-law, Medard Chouart des Groseilliers, he helped develop the fur trade around Lake Superior. They used Radisson's familiarity with Native American languages and customs to make contact with and enlist as trading partners a great range of peoples, including the Sioux, Cree, Huron, Saulteaux (Anishinaabe), and members of the Iroquois nations. Radisson's success also brought him into contact with French Jesuit missionaries and embroiled him in conflicts between French, Dutch, and English fur traders. For several years he left the French and was employed by the English, helping to found the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670. When his relationship with the HBC became strained, he joined its competitor, the Compaignie du Nord. This placed him in the middle of several clashes between the French and the English over colonial claims around Hudson's Bay. In 1683 Radisson returned to France to resolve legal claims on his profits with the Compaignie, fell into a complex religious / political plot, and again returned to service with the HBC. Radisson remained with the Company until about 1687, retiring to England after running afoul of internal company politics. He lived in England for the rest of his life, somewhat embittered by his treatment at the hands of the Company and its irregular payment of his pension. Radisson's extant writings consist of his Voyages, which he composed in English in 1668 while idled in England, waiting to make his first expedition with the HBC. He seems to have written it in part to manage his restlessness and in part at the behest of Charles II. The original of the manuscript is lost, but a contemporary transcription was made and is among Samuel Pepys' papers at the Bodleian Library. Four separate narratives make up the Voyages. The first is an account of his teenage captivity by the Iroquois in 1652. The narrative is far less providential than other contemporary captivity accounts; nevertheless, it provides a wealth of detail about the culture and language of the Iroquois at a time of dramatic change. The other three narratives describe Radisson's various travels throughout North America. They are rich with description of the Native Americans, Jesuits, other fur traders, and the flora and fauna of the region. They are also distinctly self-promotional, highlighting Radisson's linguistic abilities, resourcefulness, and sense of personal honor. …

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