Far Tortuga (novel)

Far Tortuga is a novel by American author Peter Matthiessen, first published in 1975 by Random House and republished in 1976 by Bantam. Known for its unique typography and poetic prose, the novel follows the story of a group of Caribbean turtle fishermen as they sail the waters of the Cayman Islands aboard the schooner Lillias Eden. and has been critically examined initially as sea literature and later as a form of pastoral. The dialogue is interspersed by entries from the logbook, as well as illustrations and short snippets about the weather. The novel also incorporates local dialects to capture the voices of its Caymanian and Caribbean characters.
Thematically, the novel examines the consequences of technological development and conflict between the "back time" and "modern times". For example, Far Tortuga shows how the rise of "tourism, American economic imperialism the race to get rich" The comparison to Moby-Dick was also made by Bert Bender in an article for the journal , where he ranked Far Tortuga "second only to Moby-Dick among America's great sea novels."
In contrast, Anatole Broyard of gave a negative review, calling the book a "unrelieved bore" and criticized Matthiessen's "choice of characters and subject".

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu