The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis
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Synopsis:
While writing a biography of his famous namesake, Bill Lewis, a high-school history teacher, nearly loses himself in his attempts to understand one of the great untold stories in American history--the adventures and subsequent suicide of Meriwether Lewis. Even as he struggles to illuminate that strange and exuberant time and and falls under the spell of the elusively seductive persona of Capt. Lewis, Bill finds himself fighting his own personal crisis, brought on by a clinical depression that threatens not only his book, but his job, his family, his 13-year marriage, and his own survival past the age of 40.
In this rich, confident debut novel, Michael Pritchett not only authentically recreates the world through which Lewis and Clark forced their way, but also finds extraordinary parallels between Capt. Lewis’s doubt about manifest destiny and the contemporary uncertainty of the introspective modern male at a time when all our values are in question.
Book Excerpt:
“One felt responsible for Lewis,” Clark added, taking himself by surprise.
“And wished to be like him and liked by him. Without the help of others, and guidance and temperance, he would perish, one felt fairly sure. He blundered blindly toward great things, and believed you would help him, and e’en depended on’t. He saw possibilities, but also fought back a despair brought on by keen, sensitive perception of the problem and its scope.”
Irving wrote that. They both listened to the clock. “Are you familiar with Gulliver’s Travels?” Irving asked.
“Yes,” Clark said, looking up. “I seem to recall . . . early in our journey . . . “
“. . . those people believed that Gulliver’s watch was his god, because he was constantly checking its face, as if for reassurance,” Irving said.
Clark waited for a point, then understood that that was the whole thing.
“What about the all-water route?” Irving asked.
“For all we know, it is still out there, waiting for discovery. And the Northwest Passage too,” he said.
“Do you truly think that?” Irving asked, pen paused.
“I am not certain that I ever did think it, or that it ever really mattered to me,” he said, looking upward for the answer. “My friend asked me to join him, in triumph or in ruin.”
He was at last pleased by something he had said in the interview, and resolved to end it.
“Or both,” Irving said.
“Or both,” Clark concurred.
“Do you know,” Irving said, “that an angel of the Lord has recently appeared to a man in upper state New York on four separate occasions? And that he has found, buried in the woods, some heretofore unknown books of the Holy Scriptures?”
“In New York?” Clark said. “Well, that sounds unlikely, does it not?”
Irving sat still and stared at the black, waxed floor planks as though he were wishing it to be true, as though he wanted a new faith to go along with his return to the new continent. Clark felt embarrassed, almost as if he had disappointed a younger version of himself. “This new age is confusing,” Clark said. “In a way, one misses the Spanish and the unquestionable right of conquest. Lewis would disagree, but where is he now? Do you see him here or there? When a man speaks too long and loudly for the Enlightenment, it seems the world must kill him.”
Clark was aware of saying things he never ever had, so this must be the last person who would come asking.
“But why?” Irving asked, as if waiting earnestly, erectly, to know.
“Very simply, this must not be the actual world, but something merely painted on its surface,” he said. “Otherwise, life would matter and we would take every measure to preserve it. Instead, we recklessly chance everything. And if not slaughtered that time, we do it again. The notion that life is precious is the greatest lie of our age. What matters are the passions, the thrilling lusts of rage, desire and hatred. Nothing else is actually here.”
Irving was writing quickly, trying to get it, note for note. “Do you have it, then?” Clark asked. “Are we finished?”
“Yes, I believe so . . .”
Topics/Categories:
Depression, Family and Relationships, Lewis & Clark, Relationships, Student-Teacher Relationships
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Formats and associated ISBNs:
978-1-932961-41-6
Reading Guides:
http://unbridledbooks.com/captlewisrg.html
Formats:
Hardcover
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