Conquest and Recovery in Early Writings from America Author(s): Larzer Ziff Source: American Literature, Vol.

68, No. 3 (Sep., 1996), pp. 509-525 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2928242 . Accessed: 16/09/2011 18:08
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Larzer Ziff

Conquest andRecovery inEarly Writings from America

onAmerica also reported onNative andvery Americans, inthe early ofsuch reports history one encounters a sense on the partofthe writers that theconquest ofAmerica is dependent upontheconquest oftheIndians' and thatin twoways.First, languages, from theimperial perspective neither theIndians northelandcould be dealt with effectively unlesstheir was mastered. language Without such masthetopography tery, ofthe surrounding areas,themostproductive waytowork theland, themost efficient tohunt way andfish thenative species,and the location, and political strength, allianceofnearby tribes would havetobe discovered overa longandwasteful of period trial anderror; with ittheIndians couldserveas valuable informants. Ominously, however, an Indian learning was nottheonly tongue way to master it.Rather, itwas easierto teachIndians andthis English, was mostswiftly achieved byhaving them liveon English shipsand evensending them toEngland for a period oftime. Sincefew Indians volunteered to receive suchpractical linguistic thecominstruction, monprocedure was to kidnap them. The subjection ofthenatives' to thatoftheEnglish economy was closely tiedto thesubjection of their toEnglish. language Bringing backspecimen Indians waspart ofthemission ofCaptain George Weymouth's 1605 toMaine, for voyage "Weshipped example. five Salvages, twoCanoas,with all their bowesandarrowes," James thevoyage's Rosier, reporter wrote.' Although ethnographic curiosity in the homeland was also addressed by such kidnappings, the imperial motive is clearwhen Rosier speaksoftheadvantage of"having
American Literature, Volume 68,Number ?) 1996 3,September 1996. Copyright byDuke University Press.

The English explorers whofirst began reporting

510 American Literature nation we saw among (ofbestunderstanding someoftheinhabitant inourlanguage) may be abletogiveus further them) who(learning situation governours, andgovernment, struction concerning ... their which by no meanes oftownes, and whatelse shallbe convenient, ofourselveslearne in a long otherwise we couldbyanyobservation Weymouth tookdidindeedlearnsomeEntime"(388).The Indians on a bitofAbenaki, and servedas interpreters glish, taught others common. Thispattern wasfairly subsequent voyages. depended upon theconquest ofAmerica The secondwayinwhich and culturalthe conquest ofIndianlanguages was psychological initsnature was different andofgreater literary importance. America shaped experienced, andusersofa language from worlds previously lifeand landscape senseda linkage between continually by English ofthelandtotheir thematerial resistance efforts atphysical conquest attempts to andthelinguistic resistance ofthelandto psychological or cometo terms withit. Fear ofliterally beingswalcomprehend colony of1587, was wilderness, as wastheRoanoke lowed bythemute dreadofan alienlanddensewith shadowed phenomena by spiritual that lackednamesandso defied thought. wasidealized tospeaktheEnglish language The refusal ofAmerica in Maryland of1658in whoarrived in thewinter by George Alsop, theCromwellian a wit sharpened bythewish regime. With flight from evenas hisRoyalinproseoverPuritan viewsofAmerica totriumph oftheRoundheads, overthat Alsop's triumphed istcause had finally Character by other (1666)has a racyvigorunmatched ofMaryland viewof ofthePuritan conscious Keenly American reports ofitstime. at theResafter his return to England as unredeemed, Alsop, nature before theAmerica he knew toEdenas itwasnotonly likens toration, "The Trees, itscreatures: Adamhad named theFallbutevenbefore are and Rootsthatgrowherein Maryland, Flowers, Plants, Fruits, or Primitive or Hieroglyphicks ofourAdamatical theonly Emblems with their as odoriferous as wellfor smells, together variety situation, kinds totheir several andproperties, their effects, according virtues, to their ofInnocency according original which still beartheEffigies each hourspeaksto dumb which Oratory, vegetable Grafts; bytheir in silent neednotlookforanyother theInhabitants acts,Thatthey their to suspendor tyre curiosity upon,while Terrestrial Paradise, sheis extant."2 into thestubborn silenceofthelandscape Evenas Alsopconverts

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wilderness theMaryland so he conflates "dumb Oratory," vegetable that's anything orcomposed "IfI havewrote with hisownwildness: as andtheworld, itis becauseI am so myself, wildeand confused, I reoutofthesametrim; therefore is notmuch far as I canperceive, I have anything Law for ifI ambrought totheBarofCommon solve, mentis" (429).Butsuchconversions donehere, to pleadNoncompos for thefun words that chase one another are,finally, andconflations ofan experienced thanin signification interplay rather oftheverbal he has nothzany, andsincehe is a zany wildmeans ForAlsop, world. wherehe is backin London a zanyland,especially from ingto fear ofreaders. for thedelectation hisdescription inventing to from a zanylandtothosewhosought however, wasfar America, to do so bytrivialto masktheir inability itrather than comprehend them did.The wildlandmenaced it,as Alsopquitedelightfully izing to it.Unin themselves responding senseda wildness becausethey feared the they terms, tocivilized lessthenewlandcouldbe reduced union with theego in a rushfor within wouldoverthrow wilderness without. thewilderness in 1607, Chesapeake oftheupper ofhisexploration In his account thathis party Smith gave namesto therivers reports John Captain "In allthoseplacesandthefurthest In addition, andlandformations. we writ wherein he says,"we cutin trees, we cameup therivers," Theydidso,he claims, andin someplacescrossesofbrasse." notes, order, hadbeenethere"3-in Englishmen to any, "tosignifie inorder is suchconduct Butalso impelling rights. that territorial is,to assert a dreadofthe without trace, theunarticulated fearofdisappearing those had searched that The expedition ofRoanoke. byboatfor fate inthedark near anchored offshore in1590 that colonists they reported andsounded wereencamped, believed thelostcolonists where they tunes familiar English a Call,andafterwardes many "with a trumpet The friendly; butwe had no answer."4 ofSongs,and calledto them whenthe inVirginia, soft summer ofthesilence onthat night pathos songs, to thetunesofEnglish listened without response wilderness bred countered theterror Smith's haunts settlers. party succeeding marks ofthewilderness symbolic byimposing stolidity bythemute uponit.The treeswerecutandmadetospeakEnglish. whothus wrote literally Smith, thewritings ofCaptain John Indeed, merit consideras wellas about America, uponthebodyofAmerica becausethey capture explorers English ation abovethoseofallother

Literature 512 American ofa as thepotential siteforthemaking a sense ofthe New World siteofenoras a virgin principally Others see America newperson. presence for desire-theEnglish that require-even mousresources Rosiercallsthelandhe has seen the"garJames their exploitation. to delight hirselfe,[God] wherein she only intended den ofnature, generation, it to any,excepta purblind obscured havinghitherto as they can it hathpleasedGod so to darken, whoseunderstanding richesin esteemethe unvaluable use, or rightly neither discerne, with thebarkeandoutcontent whereof they livesensually middest marrow, oftheinward thesweetnes as neither knowing wardrinds, giver"(A TrueRelation, theDeityoftheAlmighty noracknoledging has ofthe sweetmarrow is thatthe savoring 388). His implication for theEnglish. beenreserved to consumhave arrived thattheEnglish sharesthebelief Smith was close to a Indeed, itssexualdimension destiny. mateAmerica's performed in his day.In Eastward Hoe,forexample, commonplace madehisvoyage, John on theLondon theyearRosier stagein 1605, longs has Captain Seagullcryout:"Comeboyes,Virginia Marston But evenwhileseeing tillwe sharethe restofhermaiden-head."5 willphysically a place theEnglish America as ripeforexploitation, it economically, Smithalso sees it from enjoyeven as theyprofit who settle there.He is the as a place thatwillchangethe English as a a senseofAmerica in English whoseworks embody writer first a placetobe shaped. than force rather merely shaping It grewupon The captain didnotcomeeasilyto thisperception. thathe wouldnever himin direct awareness ratio to his gathering ina future that his American settlement thepostofauthority receive forhim.As he came werein partdesigned to obtain first writings he wouldpossess thatall theAmerica to acceptthefact reluctantly in his pages,his writings tookon thetoneof was whathe captured that otherwise is, one constructing a world losttohim.His writings, torecoverfor others America discovering modulated from gradually himself. ingitfor in 1580,6 the son of Smith was bornin Alford, Lincolnshire, John in the in lifeentered soldiering a farmer, and early military service, he says, inTransylvania, theTurks where, Netherlands andfighting was was enslaved, in a number ofhand-to-hand combats, he engaged In December1606 lovedby the Pasha's wife, and slewhis master. of144colonists whoestabtheVirginia Smith sailedwith expedition

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in North thefirst lishedatJamestown settlement permanent English A neardeadly America.7 divisiveness hampered theenterprise from thevery ofmutiny, start, andSmith, suspected hadauthority withheld himbutseizedsufficient from command to conduct theexploration andthetradewith theIndians that keptthecolonists alive.In 1606 he was given thepresidency ofthecouncil that thecolony; governed buthe preferred to administration, so thedisputing went exploration on and he was compelled to defend himself from vehement critics whenhe returned to England thefollowing year. Anxious to return toAmerica, tookcharge ofa 1614expedition Smith that the explored coastofNew England for thePlymouth a merchant group; Pilgrims madeuse ofhismapssixyearslater. In 1615he setoutfor additional ofthesameregion exploration butwas thwarted by French pirates. Further to return to America were unsuccessful, and he attempts becameincreasingly in his written ofit.A Deimmersed accounts Historie scription ofNewEngland (1616)and TheGenerall ofVirginia rework earlier (1624),which andaugment arehismajor publications, oftheNewWorld. recoveries He diedin 1631. literary As Smith's a return hiswrithopesfor toAmerica pale,he situates ingaboutitin a larger historical andgeopolitical context thaneither he or anyothers had previously bookconcerned done.In his early A Map ofVirginia onwhat he found with reporting anddidinVirginia, inremarkable (1612), Smith writes detail about theIndians' religion, government, domestic manners, of hunting practices, and methods and in his conclusion off warfare, pays his opponents by indicating howaccounts from his shouldbe measured. thatdiffer Those who visit theannual with supply shipbutdo notsettle, he says,find itin their interest togivefalse sinceno actualcolonist reports, is present back in England to challenge them.Such calumniators, he writes, themostpartofsuchtender "Beingfor education and smallexperience in martiall because theyfound not Englishcities, accidents, norsuchfaire ownewishesanyoftheir houses,norat their accustomed with feather beds and downepillows, dainties, Tavernes and alehousesin every suchplenty breathing place,neither ofgoldand silver and dissolute as theyexpected or no care of had little liberty buttopamper their anything, bellies, to fly ourPinnaces, awaywith or procure theirmeanesto returne to England"(Barbour, 1:176). Ofnotein thisand similar passagesis a nascent sense thatrather thanbeinga limitation, theprimitive condition ofAmerica inspires

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tothepractical puraresubordinated heroism. Butsuchimplications ofVirginia andthecareer of thecolonization posesofpromoting both Captain John Smith. possiceases to be a realistic Whena political careerin America Smith a greatdeal morein his literary invests conbility, however, oftheNewWorld, it in broadandboldhistorivisualizing struction cal terms. "And whathatheverbeene the workeofthe best great andcivilizhe asks,"butplanting ofCountries, Princes oftheworld," andhumanity, whose Nations to civility ingbarbarous andinhumane thanthosethat eternall actions filsourhistories withmorehonour (Barbour, 3:277).The them bywarres" havewastedand consumed for nowcomesto the ofAmerica as remedy English decline concept inkeeping inGeorge Wither's dedicatory fore, with thenotesounded hopein after-daies / of NewEngland: "ther's poemtotheDescription whatTime and Pridedecaies/ In thisrichkingThenceto repair thisidea Smith dome" (Barbour, recognizes 1:315). In developing to thinke motive-"I am notsimple its dependence upontheprofit willerect there a Commonthat motive than wealth, every anyother from at home,to their ease and humours weale;or drawcompanie 1:346)-but he inNewEngland my purposes" (Barbour, stay toeffect wishesthat therevitalization ofthe destiny, motive to servea larger willgainmaterially from AmeriWhile thehomeland nation. English willbefall thelarger benefit intoitsmarkets, can resources pouring in America to be shapedby its primitive thosewhoremain rigors. inAmerica indicate that an Englishman Smith's works major literary in the in kindfrom whoremains theEnglishman becomesdifferent homeland. difference is industriousness. Smith's most The crucial mark ofthat ofAmerica addresses about thepromise directly impassioned writing rather thanlaborers offinancially distressed an audience gentlemen So does members oftheleisure classes. forcefully orthecomfortable willbe the making ofsuch he arguethattheAmerican experience himas the to identify have been tempted menthatsome scholars that of oftheAmerican is, theinvention Dream, of, great progenitor will with a to where who backs the wish as a land anyone America into economic andsocialinferiority from inherited work canadvance In his Description ofauthority.8 and a position affluence ofNewEnthat hathsmall Smith "Whocan desiremorecontent, gland, writes, his then to tread, his merit to advance or but fortune, meanes; only

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andplant that hee hath ground Ifwe purchased ofhislife? byhazard havebutthetasteofvirtue, andmagnanimitie, what to sucha minde canbee more andbuilding pleasant than planting a foundation for his Posteritie, gott from therudeearthby Godsblessing and his owne industrie, without prejudice to any?"(Barbour, 1:342). Lest one reitcertainly plythat is with tothenative prejudice Smith inhabitants, outthat suchplanting willbenefit points theIndians andpleaseGod sinceitwillleadtotheir Christians. becoming But whatever its connection withwhatcameto be known as the American Smith Dream, himself andconsistently vigorously connects his vision ofthecontinent's valueto itsbeingthesitefor England's grand entry onto thestageofuniversal The great history. monarchies ofthe past-Chaldean, and Roman-weremade,he Syrian, Greek, says,bytheir their adventurousness intoenterprises youth directing abroad rather than riots athome. onthesubhiswriting Throughout he ject, conveys the sense thatthe ultimate national gainis moral rather thanmaterial, becausethoseabroad whoaugment thewealth ofthehomeland whoathomeerodethesocialfabric: arethose young from gentlemen cutoff andpriself-sufficiency bylawsofentailment wholiveidly, mogeniture, sharkaboutfora meal,spendtheir time at cardsand dice,borrow from andfamily no meansof friends with repayment, resent their siblings, andwishfor their parents' deathso as to comeintowhatever inheritance awaits them. thatis, America, redeems boththehomeland, bypurging it ofthedissolute, and the dissolute them a field themselves, byaffording ofopportunity. Smith had been an energetic whodid soldier, unafraid ofdanger, nothesitate to takebyforce whatcouldmosteasilybe procured in that fashion, andeveninhisliterary works he explicitly valuesaction abovewords. after Nevertheless, 1616 itis words, notdeeds, that most concern andtheconflict between thissituation him, avowed andhis preference surfaces ifunintentionally, revealingly, in his Description NewEngland. Whilediscussing of thetopic oftheriseandfall ofemhe writes, pires, "Thisis thedifference betwixt theuse ofArmes in thefield, and on theMonuments ofstones; thegoldenage and the leadenage,prosperity andmiserie, justice andcorruption, substance andshadowes, words anddeeds,experience andimagination, making Commonwealths and marring thefruits Commonwealths, ofvertue andtheconclusions ofvice" (Barbour, 1:344).In thisseriesofpaired thebetter term contrasts, appears andtheworsesecond.Only first,

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"deeds" one wouldexpectto find one pairescapes thisparallelism; butinstead "substance," and"prosperity," aligned with "experience," with and "deeds"occursin parallel "words" occupiesthatposition The obviousexplanation and "imagination." "shadowes," "miserie," is thatSmith fora moment loses his concentration and allowsthe reversal to occur. Thisseemsindisputable. thesewords that bythetime he is writing Yetwhen oneremembers willhaveto rest that his fame Smith is beginning to acceptthefact on his writing rather thanhis exploring-or at leaston his explorhas reason in his writing-one ingonlyinsofar as it is represented himthe deed to believethathe failsto catchhis error becausefor ofwhat andtheword thesubstance has,indeed, becometheshadow tohimonly through is then available America meant. His experience outof "deeds"are not,after all,so glaringly his imagination, so that in he thenlivesmostfully place whenlinedup with"imagination"; outofplace "words" arenot, after all,so glaringly hiswriting, so that when linedupwith "experience." ofall his whenhe is compiling themostliterary Eight yearslater, TheGenerall (1624), Smith conHistorie ofVirginia works onAmerica, therelation ofwriting about theinsight sciously seekstoincorporate in his preallowed to obtrude to experience thathe unconsciously In thededication Duchess ofhis bookto LadyFrances, viouswork. he writes: "I have deeply ofRichmond, hazarded myselfein doing in and suffering, and whyshouldI sticketo hazardmyreputation ifhe twopartsis themorebornewithall Recording? He thatacteth in one ofthem." A nice ambiguity surrounds come short, or fayle orrecording-might oneofhisenterprises-doing Smith's sensethat Whereone ofthe other. fallshortand therefore need the support ofthe manof the conventional prefatory apology might anticipate willbe found action-that roughand sincehe is a doerhis writing thatall suggestion instead theauthor's inadequate-oneencounters of without thesupport he has donemight wellbe considered a failure evenas he makesthedistinction hiswriting about it.In other words, blurs Smith livedandhistory between deliberately recorded, history his work: whenhe offers a modelfor theambiguity it;he maintains whoseatchievements a Julius "Where shallwe looketofinde Caesar, didin thefield?" as they shineas clearein his owneCommentaries, haveshonein thefield would they (Barbour: 2:41). Buthowclearly onthepage? them hadCaesarnotrepresented

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butit choiceof Caesar as a modelmaybe vainglorious, Smith's is rethathistorical meaning ofthefact his recognition also marks in rather thanconstructed the event.His in thereport constructed from drifts farther somehavesuggested, Historie ofVirginia, Generall that on the same topics, writings the factsthanhis earlywritings or notthisis so-the Whether the field. from read like dispatches theliterthecase that be debated-itis nevertheless issuemaystill final ofthe acceptance from Smith's arypoweroftheworkderives andofhistory ofthesoldier-statesman roleas equaltothat historian's alonecannot unmediated experience that as thesiteofthemeanings Historie becomes hisGenerall deedstowords, from yield. As he turns areliterally doing notsimply what theEnglish thefirst booktoreport of is doingto the consciousness butalso whatAmerica in America theEnglish. is presented bythebrief outlook Aninformative toSmith's contrast who withSmith was a memObservations (1607) of GeorgePercy, Withno apparent sense ofirony, Percy ber ofthe 1606expedition. hiscomthat toparadise thefertility ofVirginia yetreports compares as condemns theIndians andwith consistent loathing panystarved, food supplied villains thattheyvoluntarily yetreports treacherous Allmanifestaofdeath. wereat thepoint whenthey saw thesettlers ofIndian to the subhumanity hostility are attributed tionsofIndian intercesofIndian humanity to divine nature, and all manifestations "Ifithad notpleasedGodto haveput sion.Percy example, says,for intheSavageshearts, we hadallperished bythosevildand a terrour we were;ourmennight cruell Pagans, beingin theweakeestateas inevery oftheFortmost pitifull to heare";9 corner anddaygroaning on thesufferers. This interpretation takespity God,nottheIndians, from withenablesPercyto receiverelief thehandsofthe Indians intheir "Itpleased savagery: outrelinquishing hisbelief unmitigated to sendthosepeoplewhich enewereourmortall a while, God,after Fish,andFleshin Corne, victualls, as Bread, miestoreleeve us with men,otherwise up ofourfeeble was thesetting which great plentie, we hadallperished" (22). so his attriopposedto Smith, was politically As ithappens, Percy to elide ofdivine butions assistance mayin somepartbe designed But of the Indians. the roleSmith supplies from playedin gaining of toSmith, offers, incontrast Percy moment is theillustration greater ofmestheconventional mixture reaction tothebewildering English

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sages thewildcountry and itsinhabitants are sending. Threatened bya fertile landinwhich onecan psychologically as wellas physically andalienpeoplewhoareneverthenevertheless starve anda hostile behind theprejudices he less sensitive andgenerous, he withdraws a sameness in seeming has brought with him, refusing to recognize is,that theIndians' friendly behavdifference-to acknowledge, that exists beneath their wildexterior iorstems from a fellow feeling that from a wildness that exists beneath andthat hisownanimosity stems hisdomesticated surface. Generall Historie, however, deThe power ofCaptain John Smith's ofthelessonstaught by theconrivesfrom its implicit acceptance ofPocahontas's saving him frontation ofthetwocultures. His account that white and red sharethesame from deathby execution affirms ofa future inwhich theunion sensibility andholdsforth thepromise ofthe tworaces willbring a newperson, theAmerican. And forth ofhismilitary against theIndians ofPocahonSmith's account actions affirms that theEuropean canbehaveas tas'stribe, ledbyheruncle, marked thepromise ofa future andholdsforth savagely as theIndian in willadvance civilization the through unleashing byviolence which itssurface.10 wildness that always lurks beneath inSmith's to has beenturned history The complex fable embedded andagainas American authors havesought torealize themeantime In poems, plays, novels, and,indeed, ingofthenational experience. between as the mediator Pocahontas figures big-screen animation, thebodyshe placesprohernative andthat oftheEuropeans, world between thesiteofthereconciliation over Smith primitivism tectingly owesa The legendary and civilization. appealofthestory, however, as thebetrayer Pocahontas great dealtoitsunspoken countertheme: that to English hersubmission ofnative waysa whoredom America, her In its totalcontent invites the invaders' rape ofthe continent. theIndian misLa Malinche, that thus resembles surrounding legend to thehallsof his VeraCruzbeachhead tresswholed Cortesfrom mother both andbetrayer La as But Malinche's Montezuma. duality in Mexicanlore,whereso many Mexicansrecis farmoreexplicit liveoutitsmeaning.1" anddaily ancestry ognizetheir Spanish-Indian is notbiological In English cultural miscegenation America, however, Euroa pure-blooded to be an American is to remain acknowledged: oftheIndians. manners theidealized "natural" peanwhohas acquired a mirror in her adoption ofEnglish manners, presents Pocahontas,

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imageofthiscondition.-2 Andmoreimportant thantheworks based onthePocahontas is thewayinwhich story itself oneofthedominant whichwas to follow themesof the American literature (in Crevefor is madeup ofthe coeur, Cooper, Thoreau, andMelville, example) intertwining ofthedream ofIndian-European harmony andthenightin theworkofCaptain braided mareofracialwarfare, strands first Smith. John Almost all the earlynarratives of Englishexploration of North America exemplify theinterdependence ofphysical andliterary conofthefirst areshapedbyexpectations quest.The accounts explorers baseduponfables about theIndies, andtheseaccounts shapeinturn the perceptions a subtler of succeeding explorers. Moreover, and morepotent oftherelation ofwritten text to actualexcomplication residesin the act oftranslating so completely perience something as land of into a formed alien the and people America language by in theBritish ofsocialexperience thelitercenturies Isles.Whereas the ofa lettered that aryrepresentation culture may augment culture, ofan unlettered itwith someliterary representation culture replaces In thissensetheliterary oftheIndians different. thing replacement clearsthewayfor their physical displacement. theNative Americans viewed So faras thewritten record shows, as a technology that couldleadto direconsequences English writing inwhich three for them. Heldcaptive after a skirmish bytheIndians ofhis party Smith with werekilled, entered intonegotiations them and sentIndianmessengers to Jamestown witha noterequesting therequested return with goods.The messengers' goods,saysSmith in thethird ofhimself (writing person), causedwidespread wonder "thathe couldeither or the papercouldspeake" (Barbour, divine, 2:149).A thread seemsto windbackfrom sucha viewofwriting to ThomasHariot's from oftheIndian sixteenth-century report Virginia ofthefact explanation that they weresuccumbing to a diseasethat seemednot to be affecting the English.Some prophesied, writes "that there Hariot, weremoreofourgeneration yetto come,to kill theirs as somethought thepurpose andtaketheir places, wasbythat which was already done.Those that wereimmediately to comeafter vs they to be in theaire,yetinuisible imagined & without bodies& that & for theloue ofvs didmakethepeopleto they byourintreaty dieinthat sortas they didbyshooting inuisible bullets into them."13 The gap between in theexplanainvisible causes andvisible effects

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coming account bywriting byHariot is closedinSmith's tion reported achieved its theinvisible which to be viewedas themeansthrough visible effects. thinker who and political the radicalreligious RogerWilliams, tonguein the Narragansett himself RhodeIsland,taught founded andtocontothenative inhabitants topreach Christianity order both On one occawith ductpolitical and commercial them. negotiations debating he hadbeenpreaching, he overheard twoIndians sionafter rather death go toheaven that soulsafter ofhiscontention thevalidity In defense ofWilto the southwest. taught, as their tradition than, after all, whether, askedtheother oneNarragansett liams'sdoctrine, asked,when But,the other he had everseen a soul go southwest. replied, towhich thefirst everseena soulgo toheaven; hadWilliams made, conGodhimselfe andonewhich "He hath booksandwritings, maywellknowmorethanwee menssoules,and therefore cerning Such from ourforefathers."114 buttakeall upontrust that havenone, link the between as a crucial writing a viewgoesbeyond recognizing superior to it an authority to granting invisible and visibleworlds of which to accepting itsdisplacement oforaltradition, is to say, that Indian culture. to theIndian language century ofworks devoted Noneofthefirst A Keyintothe ofRogerWilliams's Language has theliterary stature it is aim appearsto be lexical, its immediate Although ofAmerica. life ofIndian a sympathetic presentation as to embody so structured ingeneral civilization ironic comment anda critically uponEuropean In a seriesofchapters, each inparticular.15 andNewEngland society connected to someaspectof words to presenting thenative devoted seasonsofthe relations, life family -sleep andlodging, Narragansett in Indian thepertinent phrases andso on-Williamsintroduces year, on themwithhis observations theform ofdialogues, interspersing with a poemthat eachchapter concluding said,andthen what is being at withregard to the matter and Indianconduct English compares the schemeofeach poemis to present hand.While thefundamental inanother, andtheChristian inonestanza, theIndian outlook English in a and found bothare to be measured doctrine wanting bywhich suchas religion more into as thebookadvances complex topics third, servesto expose theIndian andgovernment, increasingly viewpoint readsas forexample, One stanza, oftheEnglish. theshortcomings follows:

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Gods, havemany Weweareno Cloaths, arelesse: Andyetoursinnes Paganswild, YouareBarbarians, (204) YourLand'stheWildernesse. observaofeach chapter-dialogue, format structured The highly the extravagantly poem-seems to be modeledafter tion,didactic modern editors emblem books,as Williams's Renaissance stylized artifice, thandespite, its manifest contend.'6 Yetbecause of,rather worksdo not,in rendering the worksucceeds,as less structured it. replacing intheprocess without readers for English culture Indian words(Mdttapsh ofIndian in theall-but-tactile immediacy Grounded which [SpeakEnglish]), Awanagusantowosh [Sitby the fire], yoteg toward theconobservations through authorial are thenmodulated ofa progression from thetotal consists cluding poem,each chapter ofEnglish convertheinformality ofNarragansett through otherness observation, ofliterary Dialogue, English. tothehigh formality sation and Old New England to Indian, settler, and poemthuscorrespond the through linked to English with Indian culture resident, England who Narragansett. the New ofWilliams, Englander speaks mediation ofits the circumstances ofA Keyparallels the format Strikingly, before theMasto answer he wrote atthetime it.Summoned author abouttheseparation for his radical teachings authorities sachusetts in had fledtheir jurisdiction of churchand state,RogerWilliams ofthatyear,in Rhode 1636to settlefinally, in the spring January -some world colony intheEnglish thefirst where he founded Island, sinceRomeaccepted perChristianity-that government saythefirst New England colonies mitted Whenthe other freedom ofworship. it things-that other fearing-among RhodeIsland, leaguedagainst andbecomea jurisdictions their refugees from political shelter would theinhabitants ofRhode Island acts, for revolutionary ground staging from thePuritan procure andthere to go to England askedWilliams and retheirautonomy a charter thatwouldguarantee parliament set Williams from colonies. neighboring movethethreat ofintrusion A Keyduring thevoyage, publishing 1643andcomposed sailinJune primitive bridges The bookthat there. whenhe arrived itin London whenits in itspageswas thuswritten America andliterary England intransit thetwo. was actually between author Friends and In a preface addressed "To myDeare andWelbeloved

522 American Literature

Williams says,"I drewthe Countrey-men, in old and new-England," helpe tomyownememMaterialls ina rudelumpe atSea, as a private absencelightly losewhatI had ory, thatI might notby mypresent in somefewyearshardship, andcharges among the so dearely bought is, is an act ofbringing outwhat Barbarians" (83). His writing, that than, as is commonly the he has internalized aboutIndian liferather case in reports ofAmerica, an account ofobservations madefrom a In mental outside theobserved world. this wayhisbook vantage point booksofCaptain John Smith, resembles theotherwise quitedifferent authorial attempts torecover rather which arealso,as hasbeennoted, discover America. than history, thewritings oftheEnglish From thestandpoint ofliterary andthefirst settlers represent a crucial encounter explorers English with that for which ithadno diction orgramoftheEnglish language thevocabulary andsome mar. someIndian words into crept Although wereformed, the users of Englishoverwhelmingly reneologisms totheir own terms. DavidGrayson Allen's ducedtheNewWorld study inseventeenth-century NewEngland, ofnaming for example, reports ofthenewland, and "Asa signoftheir andownership that occupation chaosinthestrange as a meansofmaking order outoftheseeming took away the Indianplacewilderness, the new settlers quickly filled withaboriginal meanings, namesand topographical features, to seventeenth-century and replaced themwiththe namesfamiliar becameWethersfield, for example, quickly Englishmen."'7 Pyquoag, Features such as rivers, and Ipswich lakes,and replaced Agawam. to cling totheir Indian names moresuccessfully mountains managed valuebutservedmerely as points becausetheyhad no productive features named But"atthelocallevel, ofreference. topographical by after Indiansweresupplanted plants, by new nomenclature-often resources thatdescribed the economic or other animals, minerals, in as found the land" valuethatsettlers (1-2). Finally, Allen'sstudy thesettlers' linesfrom Psalm49welldescribe thefollowing suggests, their continue for inward housesshall attitude: "Their thought is,that / Theycall the ever,/ Andtheir dwelling placesto all generations; ownnames." landsafter their with traditheradical break suchlinguistic Through replacement, theEnin theact offounding a newtown was denied, tionimplicit seriesof thefounding as partofan unbroken glishnameidentifying and forward back events English history pointing stretching through

from America 523 inEarly Writings andRecovery Conquest

andtheliterary ofthewild. The common tongue totheAnglicization assimilating forces, colonizing carried by it werepowerful tradition grammar. toa familiar experience unprecedented intheir separeveal Williams Smith andRoger John Yetas Captain was so interAmerica was nottotal; conquest theliterary rateways, English rather their thatit speaksthrough bythesewriters nalized a from after thefact init.Eachwrote about beingspoken than simply rather ofthedifferent transformed byhis experience consciousness in recoil from a consciousness oftheencounter thanat themoment is a senseofloss, bestwork Attheheartoftheir thedifferent. from intheir absencefrom thenewland only that awareness a bittersweet to recover-theway have theycometo realize-and so to attempt to wereattempting evenwhilethey in which ithad possessedthem beenreversed. had,so to speak, conquest Literary possessit.18 consciousthealtered itself through thelandwriting Thisreversal, literature. bodyofAmerican is themark ofa great nessofthewriter, and early of readingaccountsof exploration manner The current for landand motives (greed settlement so as to exposetheimperial lie so closetothesurface that usually dominance) for political hunger little the alongwith detection demands effort, that their ofthetexts as Other with a capitalized manner all encounters current ofviewing to theexcluoftheobserver identity oftheresisting reinforcements intheobserver's senseofself, may ofalteration sionofanypossibility to failure But in their history. to political maketheir contributions transformed anda consciousness from conquest recovery distinguish one opposedto it theytendalso to from experience by American history. literary vulgarize
TheJohns University Hopkins
Notes

in a lecture The central ideas ofthepreceding essaywerefirst developed scholars asked delivered at a number ofAsianUniversities. When Japanese intheBulletin written a version for for clarification, ofthelecture wasprinted Studies No. 16. the CenterforAmerican ofthe University ofTokyo, A TrueRelation George Way1 JamesRosier, oftheVoyage ofCaptaine Chiefly form Hakluyt, mouth, 1605,inEarly English andFrench Voyages, Scribner's Sons, 1534-1608, ed. Henry S. Burrage (NewYork: Charles 1906), 379.

Literature 524 American Wil(NewYork: ofMaryland Province ofthe A Character Alsop, George ofthe1666edition. 445.Thisis a reprint 1869), liamGowans, and Historie ofVirginia, New-England, Smith, TheGeneral John 3 Captain 3 vols., Smith, John ofCaptain Works in TheComplete Isles, Summer the Press,1986), ofNorth Carolina Hill:Univ. (Chapel L. Barbour ed. Philip 2:172. John 1587,byGovernor in theYere Made to Virginia Voyage 4 TheFourth 317. inBurrage, White, ed. ThomasMarc Parrot(New York: Chapman, 5 ThePlaysof George Hoewas a collaborative 2:498;Eastward Inc.,1961), andRussell, Russell is attributed lineappears, thequoted andAct3,Scene3,inwhich effort, toMarston. whose Hutchinson, ofAnne was alsothebirthplace Alford 6 Interestingly, schoolSmith's was probably FrancisMarbury, the Reverend father, master. thisgroupin his poem"To theVirginian addressed 7 MichaelDrayton countries your / Worthy minds, heroique "brave them calling voyage," to Hakluyt andasking paradise," onely "Earth's Virginia calling name," toseekfame. willbe inflamed others so that thevoyage memorialize DreamofCaptain TheAmerican Jr., example, J.A. Leo Lemay 8 See, for 1991). Univ. PressofVirginia, Smith (Charlottesville: John 1606Virginia, Early inNarratives of Percy, Master George of 9 Observations Sons, Tyler(New York:CharlesScribner's 1625,ed. LyonGardiner 22. 1907), American through worked savagery" in which"civilized 10 The manner Violence: through Slotkin's Regeneration ofRichard is thesubject history Conn.: 1600-1860(Middletown, Frontier, American ofthe TheMythology oftheidea of while theAmerican history Univ. Press,1973), Wesleyan is the ofIndian savagery upona concept anditsdependence civilization A Study of and Civilization: Pearce'sSavagism of RoyHarvey subject of Univ. andLos Angeles: Mind(Berkeley American the Indianand the Press,1988). California La Malinche Cypess, Messenger see Sandra ofthismatter, 11 Fora survey For a disTexas Univ. of 1991). Press, Literature in Mexican (Austin: camein the rescueofSmith Pocahontas's ofthewayin which cussion S. see Robert to Rolfe, hermarriage to obliterate imagination popular Narrative (NewYork: TheEvolution ofan American Pocahontas: Tilton, the acbetween Univ.Press,1994).Tiltonnotesparallels Cambridge on the but does not speculate and La Malinche tionsof Pocahontas ofbetrayal thatcompliofthetheme myth absencein thePocahontas no Pocahontas "weencounter The fact that legend. catesLa Malinche's Indian authors" American written novels by when we examine figures 180) wouldseem to be a sign (CharlesR. Lawson,quotedin Tilton, ofthe subtext atleast,areawareofthenegative that Native Americans, Pocahontas myth. 2

inEarly from America 525 Writings andRecovery Conquest the Shoshone ofSacajawea, is provided by the story 12 Another parallel andprevented expedition theLewisandClark woman whoaccompanied Popular loreinin theRocky Mountains. from perishing its members mistress andborehischild. sisted that shewas Clark's LandofVirofthe NewFound A Brief and TrueReport 13 ThomasHariot, Brothers, 1931),Sig. F2. This is a Mich.:Edwards ginia (AnnArbor, oftheoriginal of1588. facsimile quarto T. TeuofAmerica, ed. John 14 RogerWilliams, A KeyintotheLanguage StateUniv.Press,1973), Wayne J.Hintz(Detroit: nissenand Evelyn 198-99. introductory for their to theeditors ofthecitededition 15 I am indebted which ledmetoan appreciation ofthecomplexity ofthework. essay, was a triyearsofthecentury as practiced in theearly 16 "The emblem or ofa symbolic a moral motto engraving, consisting partite composition theBibleor theclassics, andan explicatory poem drawn from epigram from theoften amount ofmeaning milked an amazing which frequently InA Key is replaced theengraving by oftheengraving. simple allegory theoboftheemblematic, thedialogue.... AndinWilliams's handling totheengraving" appended servations canbe seentoreplace themoral A Key, andHintz, 61-62). (Teunissen Domicilium: The Social and Cultural Allen,"Vacuum 17 David Grayson inJonathan NewEngland," L. FairofSeventeenth-Century Landscape TheSeventeenth F.Trent, NewEngland Century banks andRobert Begins: 1. ofFineArts, Museum 1982), (Boston: in Smith act,implicit ofthesense ofloss to theliterary 18 The centrality who accompais madeexplicit and Williams, by Pedrode Castanieda, thefabled inthe1540-1542 that failed to find expedition niedCoronado Fordecadesafterward, Castanieda was ofenormous wealth. SevenCities failed tofind the therealloss was nothaving haunted byhis sensethat effect to realize thetransforming SevenCities, butrather failed having ofCoronado's werethefirst ofwhat hadbeenfound; themembers party to meetthecliff see theGrand Canyon, andview dwellers, Europeans in 1565, the Great Plains.Finally, theendlessherdsofbisoncovering torecover inwriting, satdown this ofhisfellow advensaying Castanieda as mensee moreat thebullfight whenthey are uponthe turers, "Just in thering, seatsthan whenthey are around nowwhenthey know and thedirection in which were, andsee, inthey understand andsituation norrecover itis toolatethey cannotenjoy it,nowwhen they deed,that realize that they they about what they saw, andevenofwhat enjoy telling in Spanish Explorers ofCoronado," lost" ("Narrative oftheExpedition ed. Frederick in theSouthern United W.HodgeandTheodore H. States, Sons,1907], 284). Lewis[NewYork: Charles Scribner's