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language: Inuktitut (English tr. Peter Frost, from Bernard Saladin d’Anglure’s French translation)
country: Canada
year: 1984
form: novel-ish
genre(s): literary
dates read: 11.8.23-14.8.23
Mitiarjuk Nappaaluk’s Sanaaq (tr. Bernard Saladin d’Anglure and Peter Frost) is often described as “the first Inuktitut novel” (it was written before Markoosie Patsauq’s Hunter with Harpoon but the latter was published first). it was originally written as a language exercise: Mitiarjuk (she seems to be referred to habitually by her first name) was writing in order to document/demonstrate as many linguistic structures and as wide a vocabulary as possible. d’Anglure, the original translator of the book into French (Frost’s English translation was done from d’Anglure’s French) notes that fully understanding the book — the everyday subsistence practices and lifeways it describes, the broad vocabulary (especially of plants and animals), and its social and historical context — took him the entire period of his Ph.D. research, and I can see why that would be.
you may have noticed, however, that I avoided referring to Sanaaq as a “novel” in the previous paragraph. this is absolutely not a judgment against it — rather, I think that presenting and trying to interpret Sanaaq as a novel does it an injustice. while it is a long narrative in prose with a consistent cast of characters, it is first and foremost a collection of anecdotes; there is little by way of the overarching plot or unifying thematic concern that “novel” implies, at least to me. it’s doing something different, offering a wide-ranging and panoramic view of changing Inuit life during the 20th century, from before the establishment of regular contact with qallunaat (white people) to the advent of government agents and the push to move Inuit into sedentary lifestyles.
I wouldn‘t say that I loved the book, but it’s really cool stylistically. first, a large portion of the book is dialogue, including many things that would “normally” (i.e., in a Western novel) be exposition presented in the narration. in conjunction with this, there’s often a kind of doubling of exposition, where dialogue and narration will repeat each other, but the second of the two will elaborate on the first:
Arnatuinnaq was rummaging around for the harness.
“I have to hurry up and get the dogs harnessed! But where’s the nuvviti?”
*Deleuze voice* difference and repetition. the pace of the book is brisk, with a very direct style, but this doubling creates a cool effect that adds depth to the narration.
it’s also, I think, written on a kind of sliding timescale, compressing events that in reality took place over the course of 30-odd years — the arrival of firearms in Inuit communities, the arrival of the first permanent white settlers in the north, the first consistent missionary efforts, the establishment of Canadian legal authority in the north, etc. — into a continuous single narration. all in all, it’s an engaging read — or, in my case, audiobook, read by Tiffany Ayalik. the audiobook doesn’t include the glossary that the printed translation has, but if you’re willing to go along with a high volume of untranslated Inuktitut words, Ayalik’s performance is excellent.
you know I hate to tag things with “informative”, but given Sanaaq’s origins as a language-learning tool, I think in this case it’s fair and accurate.
moods: informative, lighthearted