The Rifles (Seven Dreams) [Paperback]

William Vollmann (Author)

Book Description

Series: Seven Dreams | Publication Date: April 1, 1995

The latest installment of Vollmann's seven-part epic chronicling the clash of Europeans and Native Americans in the New World. Volume six focuses on the white explorers of the mid-1800s, desperately dreaming of forging a Northwest passage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in the 1800s during the exploration of the Northwest Passage, this is the sixth volume in Vollman's epic fictional history about European conquest and settlement in North America.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In an endnote to the latest installment in a projected seven-volume series, Vollmann states, "I have mixed my colors... from the palate of times." The Rifles addresses three historical topics in one hallucinatory narrative: the disastrous Franklin expedition to the North Pole in the 1840s, the Canadian government's forced relocation of Inuit families in the 1950s, and the devastating effects of Western technology on indigenous peoples. Captain Subzero, the book's narrator, journeys to Northern Canada in the 1990s, where he encounters the gasoline-sniffing descendants of a once-proud hunting race. Obsessed with Franklin, he retreats to a remote island outpost to experience cold and starvation firsthand. Huddled in his useless high-tech sleeping bag, Subzero "becomes" Franklin in a long fever dream that comprises most of the book. The text is augmented by maps, drawings, bibliographical notes, and a "consumer's report" on the equipment used. The Rifles is the best of the "Seven Dreams" series and one of Vollmann's most enjoyable books.
- Edward B. St. John, Loyola Law Sch. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (April 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140176233
• ISBN-13: 978-0140176230
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #838,356 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterpiece of writing, December 10, 2002

By 

James Nelems (Norcross, Ga USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rifles (Seven Dreams) (Paperback)

Although though it may be hard to begin Vollmann's "7 Dreams" series because each book in the series is so massive, it is certainly worth the time. Not only is Vollman attempting to create, with some fiction, the entire history of North America, each volume he writes is a totally new undertaking. New people, names,histories, and unique grammar reflective to the period. A truly talented author who has thoroughly researched his subjects and makes you feel that you are right in the middle of the action in the snow and ice, Vollman is writing the series out of the time seqences in which the history appears, but since each is complete in itself, that does not matter. I look forward to his next "dream."

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars About our continent in the days of THE RIFLEMEN . . ., May 28, 2005

By 

Christopher Nelson (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Rifles (Seven Dreams) (Paperback)

Having now read all four currently published Dreams in this series, The Rifles, which is the shortest of the four at 340 pages (+ 70 of source notes, glossaries, etc.) seems the most strange and dream-like. It is a cutting edge blend of modern travelogue, historical research, and imagination. The ill-starred Franklin expedition of 1845-1848 to discover a northwest passage underlies this volume's take on the larger series theme of European and Native American interaction. Two central aspects of this theme are the Canadian relocation of Inuit peoples in the 1950's from Quebec to various Arctic islands, and the hypotheses that rifles were the ultimate source of demise for these peoples. As in each of the other Dreams, Vollmann injects heavy doses of modern realism into the "Rifle-text", having at once the effect of scattered shards of glass in a children's sand-box, and ice-bergs jutting from a tranquil sea. Landscape descriptions are consistent in their non-romantic portrayal of desolation, serenity, and danger. As Vollmann states in an end-note, it is a sort of companion-piece to The Ice Shirt. Both take place in the North American Arctic and include thinly disguised and candidly undisguised personal travelogues which complement the "ages" in which each novel dwells. Beyond the historical contexts of this novel, there is the sad & twisted "love story" between the modern Inuit-Quebecois girl Reepah & Subzero (who should be added to the list of male-female counterparts I mention in my review of Argall). But this is no ordinary love, since it sometimes involves Captain Franklin, his wife, the author himself, and the Inuit goddess Sedna. The author's alter-ego Subzero, exchanges delirious thoughts on women and exploration with Captain Franklin as though time and place were immaterial. In fact, distinctions are altogether absent in many passages and it's almost impossible to distinguish between sets of characters. On page 120 Vollmann (or is it Subzero?) asks, "...are you behaving differently at this very moment because someone not yet to be born for a century of more will someday think about you?" There are similar sequences in The Ice Shirt, and to lesser degrees in Fathers & Crows, and Argall (each work uniquely powerful & worthwhile), but here in the most "modern" dream this timelessness is much more pronounced. Sound confusing? Check out the source notes for hints & clues if necessary, but it definitely helps to stay alert to which "voices" are speaking (the narrative frequently alters between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-person) and to understand that much of the novel deals with the author's own (mis-)adventures in modern-day Arctic Quebec in relation to & for insight into the original Franklin expeditions. With Vollmann's Seven Dreams series it's best to read on and not get bogged down, because a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense at first will make sense later.

Next up, Volume 7: Cloud Shirt? From what I understand this will be about the Hopi & Navajo in the American Southwest during the 1970's-1980's. Volume 4, Poison Shirt might be about King Phillip & The Great Swamp War of the mid-late 17th century. And Volume 5, Dying Grass is slated to cover Chief Joseph of the Nez Pierce plains Indians. Whatever he turns out, whenever, I can't wait - Vollmann's dream series is forcing a much needed up-date in the consciousness of the various "Ages" of our North American continent.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah Vollmann!, December 22, 2005

By 

V "here" (there) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rifles (Seven Dreams) (Paperback)

This book is worth reading if only for his journalistic sections of his personal stay in an abandoned station in the arctic. Also, his section which describes the equipment used is pretty fun to read once you've finished the story.
I found sections of The Rifles to be quite monotonous, and the historical thread seems to run a lot thinner here than in dreams 1 and 2.