''Manituana'' is a novel by Wu Ming first published in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

in 2007. Wu Ming is a collective of five authors founded in 2000. The members were formerly associated with the

Luther Blissett Luther Loide Blissett (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional association football, footballer and coach (sport), manager who played for the England national football team, England national team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Bliss ...

Project and wrote the international best-selling novel '' Q''. ''Manituana ''was initially conceived as the first episode of an 18th-century pan-Atlantic trilogy which the authors called "the Atlantic Triptych". All novels would be set in the last three decades of the 18th century, all across the Atlantic Ocean (North America, Europe, the West Indies and Africa), before and during the American and the French Revolutions. In 2014, when ''L’Armata dei sonnambuli'' (The Army of Sleepwalkers) was published in Italy, the collective announced a new phase in their writing. They described historical fiction as "a form we practised for many years, until we decided to move on and use history in other ways ��We treasure what we have learned from exploring that genre and forcing its conventions, and we dedicate ourselves to new experiments”. In a comment on the group’s official blog, Wu Ming stated that they had given up on the idea of completing the Atlantic Triptych, which became a diptych.

Setting and plot

''Manituana'' is set in the years 1775–1783 in New York's

Mohawk Valley The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains, northwest of the Capital District. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The novel is divided into three main sections entitled "Iroquireland", "Mohock Club" and "Cold Cold Heart". There are two brief interludes between the sections, entitled "The Crossing" and "The Return". Among the numerous real historical characters that populate the book, the most important ones are

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York and, later, Brantford, in what is today Ontario, who was closely associated with Great Britain du ...

, war chief of the

Mohawk nation The Mohawk, also known by their own name, (), are an Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people of North America and the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the Five Nations or later the ...

, and Molly Brant, a matron of the Wolf clan in the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

Six Nations.

Characters

Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet Major-General Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland known for his military and governance work in British colonial America. As a young man, Johnson moved to t ...

. Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the northern colonies. *

. Mohawk war chief and translator for the

British Indian Department The Indian Department was established in 1755 to oversee relations between the British Empire and the First Nations in Canada, First Nations of North America. The imperial government ceded control of the Indian Department to the Province of Cana ...

. * Molly Brant. Joseph Brant's older sister and Sir William's common-law-wife. * Philip Lacroix (fictional). A Mohawk brave nicknamed "Le Grand Diable" * Guy Johnson. Sir William's nephew and successor as Superintendent. * Esther Johnson. (Fictional) eldest daughter of Guy Johnson. * Lord Warwick. (Semi-fictional) mentor of the Mohawk delegation during their stay in London. * The "London Mohocks". An East End street gang taking inspiration from Native American imagery and the Mohock Club. *

Ethan Allen Ethan Allen ( – February 12, 1789) was an American farmer, writer, military officer and politician. He is best known as one of the founders of Vermont and for the capture of Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolutionary War, and wa ...

. Revolutionary leader and Colonel Commandant of the Green Mountain Boys. * Johannes Tekarihoga. A

Sachem Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Alg ...

of the Mohawk Nation. * Jonas Klug. A land-owner and militiaman in the Mohawk Valley. *

Nicholas Herkimer Brigadier-General Nicholas Herkimer (also known as Nikolaus Herchheimer; – August 16, 1777) was an American military officer who fought during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. He died in 1777 from wounds suffered during the ...

. Brigadier General in the Tryon County militia. * Panifex. A London journalist. * "North", "East", "South" and "West". Four London merchants and opinion-makers.

Reactions and interpretations

In the springtime of 2007, ''Manituana'' reached #4 in the Italian best-seller charts. In the following months, it was awarded the Premio

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...

2007 and the Premio

Emilio Salgari Emilio Salgari (, but often erroneously ; 21 August 1862 – 25 April 1911) was an Italian writer of action adventure swashbucklers and a pioneer of science fiction. In Italy, his extensive body of work was more widely read than that of Dante ...

2008. The US, UK, Spanish and French editions were all published in 2009. The novel was translated into English by Shaun Whiteside. In November 2010 the novel was nominated for the

International Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award (), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. It promotes excellence in world literature and is solely ...

. In an entry on their weblog, Wu Ming wrote that "''Manituana'' was written between 2003 and 2007, and it soaked up all the tensions of that period: S11, the Neoconservative hegemony on US foreign policy, the lies on Saddam allegedly keeping weapons of mass destruction hidden in the desert, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, George W. Bush winning his second term thanks to the Christian right in 2004,

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

conquering the hearts and minds of the majority of Italians etc." This was acknowledged by many reviewers. Film critic and writer Woody Haut wrote that the novel "has clear parallels with the war in Iraq, and the pitting of "good" Muslims against "bad" Muslims, just as Native Americans were used during the revolutionary period, only for the colonists to exploit and devastate both groups." British newspaper ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' wrote The French newspaper''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' wrote that in ''Manituana'' "history is never simple nor reducible to pre-fixed schemes... Reality is much more complex and tangled, and every character has gloomy facets, weaknesses and contradictions. No-one is neither completely innocent nor completely guilty, and one's legitimate battle for liberty and independence may bring about the loss of someone else's independence and liberty."Fabio Gambaro, "Avec les Mohawks, l'Histoire côté perdants", ''Le Monde'', August 27, 2009
English translation on the book's website
.

Editions

* Italian: Einaudi, 2007, * Italian: Einaudi SuperET (paperback), 2009, * English: Verso, 2009, * French: Métailié, 2009, * Spanish: Mondadori, 2009, * German: Assoziation A, 2018,

References

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External links