In Fond Remembrance of Me

A Memoir of Myth and Uncommon Friendship in the Arctic

Biography & Memoir, Literary
Cover of the book In Fond Remembrance of Me by Howard Norman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Howard Norman ISBN: 9781429930222
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: January 24, 2006
Imprint: North Point Press Language: English
Author: Howard Norman
ISBN: 9781429930222
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: January 24, 2006
Imprint: North Point Press
Language: English

Howard Norman spent the fall of 1977 in Churchill, Manitoba, translating into English two dozen "Noah stories" told to him by an Inuit elder. The folktales reveal what happened when the biblical Noah sailed his Ark into Hudson Bay in search of woolly mammoths and lost his way. By turns startling, tragic, and comical, these inimitable narratives tell the history of the Arctic and capture the collision of cultures precipitated by the arrival of a hapless stranger in a strange land.

Norman himself was then a stranger in a strange land, but he was not alone. In Churchill he encountered Helen Tanizaki, an Anglo-Japanese woman embarked on a similar project--to translate the tales into Japanese. An extraordinary linguist and an exact and compelling friend, Tanizaki became Norman's guide through the characters, stories, and customs he was coming to know, and a remarkable intimacy sprang up between them--all the more intense because it was to be fleeting; Tanizaki was fatally ill.

Through a series of overlapping panels of reality and memory, Howard Norman's In Fond Remembrance of Me recaptures with vivid immediacy a brief but life-shifting encounter and the earthy, robust stories that occasioned it.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Howard Norman spent the fall of 1977 in Churchill, Manitoba, translating into English two dozen "Noah stories" told to him by an Inuit elder. The folktales reveal what happened when the biblical Noah sailed his Ark into Hudson Bay in search of woolly mammoths and lost his way. By turns startling, tragic, and comical, these inimitable narratives tell the history of the Arctic and capture the collision of cultures precipitated by the arrival of a hapless stranger in a strange land.

Norman himself was then a stranger in a strange land, but he was not alone. In Churchill he encountered Helen Tanizaki, an Anglo-Japanese woman embarked on a similar project--to translate the tales into Japanese. An extraordinary linguist and an exact and compelling friend, Tanizaki became Norman's guide through the characters, stories, and customs he was coming to know, and a remarkable intimacy sprang up between them--all the more intense because it was to be fleeting; Tanizaki was fatally ill.

Through a series of overlapping panels of reality and memory, Howard Norman's In Fond Remembrance of Me recaptures with vivid immediacy a brief but life-shifting encounter and the earthy, robust stories that occasioned it.

More books from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Cover of the book The Legendary Mizners by Howard Norman
Cover of the book A Manual for Cleaning Women by Howard Norman
Cover of the book A Burglar's Guide to the City by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Layover by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Left Handed Women by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Man Is Not Alone by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Unforgotten by Howard Norman
Cover of the book The Dream of the Celt by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Loot by Howard Norman
Cover of the book The Immortalization Commission by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Crimes in Southern Indiana by Howard Norman
Cover of the book The Havana Room by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Eucalyptus by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Fractions = Trouble! by Howard Norman
Cover of the book Where You'll Find Me by Howard Norman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy