Narrative
People of the Deer
Farley Mowat · 1952
Synopsis
In 1947, a young biologist back from the war leaves for the Barren Grounds of Keewatin on a mission to study the caribou. There he meets the Ihalmiut, inland Inuit who live on caribou alone. According to him, they numbered in the thousands; he counts about forty. He collects their story and looks for its causes: the fur trade, which turned them into trappers, the traders who have left, the ammunition that runs short, an absent administration.
Context
Published in Boston by Little, Brown in 1952, this first book called into question the federal government, the police and the Hudson's Bay Company. A. E. Porsild, an Arctic expert at the ministry, disputed even the existence of the Ihalmiut, and the controversy was taken to Parliament, without result. The author described himself as the author of subjective non-fiction and claimed never to let the facts get in the way of the truth. Payot published a French translation as early as 1953.
Who it is for
An easily accessible narrative, to be read bearing in mind the controversy over its accuracy, which was fierce from the time of publication.
Prizes and reception
Anisfield-Wolf Award in 1953; the book made its author known and set off a lasting controversy.
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