Why do we quest? Customarily, such journeys are dangerous, requiring us to brave the unknown, the unfamiliar, in order to either satisfy some personal desire, or to advance the sum total of human knowledge. Both ventures bring with them their own unique perils which can be completely avoided by living a normal life at home, surrounded by society and its well-established conventions. And yet, for some, the unknown is so powerful a lure that it trumps even the might of self-preservation, causing these inquisitive souls to brave unexplored frontiers in search of destiny. Samuel Champlain was just such a man. His legend is both honored and elucidated in Mr. Fischer's commendable and poetic biography of the famous adventurer.
Marinated in a 16th century France convulsed by a series of religious wars memorable for the extremity of their bloodshed and betrayal, Samuel Champlain was born to a modest family whose fortunes were suspiciously linked with that of Henry IV of France. The legendary king, who strove to end the conflicts and usher his country into a peaceful and united future, was famous for his love of women, a proclivity which helped give birth to the rumor that Champlain was one of no doubt many of his illegitimate sons. How else explain the rapid rise of a common-born man to the halls of power where he held sufficient sway with the king as to earn, for himself, captaincy of an exploratory mission to the new world? Oh, Champlain was loyal, having fought bravely in Henry's armies during the numerous civil wars of the period. And he certainly possessed a clear mind, a fair spirit and a dogged will. But were these virtues sufficient to earn such royal favor?
Regardless of Champlain's origins, he spent the next 30 years repaying the generosity of the French monarchy. For, after making 27 crossings of the Atlantic without losing a single ship, Samuel Champlain had founded the colony of New France, made peace there with numerous tribes of Native Indians, nourished the French fur trade and created a lasting legacy of courage and enlightenment in an enterprise (colonialism) so often wrought by racism, animus and discord. His colony, which would someday become the Canadian province of Quebec, flourished. And such was his influence upon it that, 200 years on, stories still circulated, within the First Nations of Canada, of the deeds of the great European explorer who was so unlike so many of his fellows.
Though Champlain's Dream is unquestionably a sympathetic account of the life of this most famous French explorer, it is nonetheless a moving and lyrical recount of a rare man. Mr. Fischer, a historian and professor, traces and illuminates the many deeds of Samuel Champlain without ever losing sight of the man's soul. For as much as the explorer's actions are legendary, the author wants his readers to understand the purity of spirit that infused him, to grasp how rare it was for a European of this time to rise above the biases of his supposedly civilized world and treat people unlike himself with respect and dignity. In this, he is deeply reminiscent of Candido Rondon, the 20th century Brazilian hero who also set aside the conventions of his world to embrace the fantastically foreign.
But for all that Mr. Fischer succeeds in laying before us the mind and the actions of the famous Frenchman, this is, to a disturbing degree, a pro-Champlain account. The author almost exclusively draws upon Champlain's own words to retell his story, relying on a few Indian tales and a handful of contemporary accounts that occasionally intersect with Champlain's deeds for corroboration. Though this is made somewhat understandable by the fact that most other accounts of Champlain have been lost to the rigors of time, I was left with the feeling that Mr. Fischer wasn't much interested in cross-examining Champlain's claims. He appears to be as much a fan of the man as the reader is by the conclusion of the piece. Perhaps this is all there is of Champlain's history and Mr. Fischer has been completely fair, but this is not the impression conveyed by this chronicle which effectively argues that Samuel Champlain was a man almost entirely above the destructive prejudices of his own time.
However sympathetic, this is a readable and lyrical biography of one of the formative figures in Canadian history. A deeply compelling narrative. (3/5 Stars)
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