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Review of Labrador Odyssey: The Journal and Photographs of Eliot Curwen on the second Voyage of Wilfred Grenfell, 1893
Review Author: Paul Hansom
Affiliation: University of Southern California
Ronald Rompkey's Labrador Odyssey is a fascinating personal and photographic account of a brief summer visit to Britain's first colony, the harsh and unforgiving territory north of Newfoundland. In a quiet and unassuming style, the region comes to life through the private voice and vision of Eliot Curwen, a young idealistic medical missionary. Curwen's account, ostensibly written for his sisters back home, is both rich with observation and insight, providing stories and anecdotes on the flora, fauna, and grim weather of the region. It is this quiet hush of confidences that gives the journal its immediate appeal, suggesting much about the nature of Victorian leisure activities, as well as the sheer philanthropic motives lying behind such a grueling adventure.
Yet the journal also has much to say about the relationships between the organization of philanthropy and the agencies undertaking such humanitarian missions, making clear the direct links between medicine, religion, and social policy. Curwen was essentially part of a crew that was busily laying the foundation for an experiment in colonial medical practices, in what would later become known as the Grenfell Mission. Fitted out by the Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, a nondenominational London charity, Curwen was sent to record the shocking conditions suffered by the Labrador coast's 12,000 inhabitants. In stark detail, Curwen's self-developed photographs exhibit an intrusive and reformist quality, bringing to life the living and working conditions of many of the women and children in the region. Essentially developed for use in fundraising activities back in England, many of the photographs are quite brutal, and offer both a systematic documentary record, as well as fine illustration of Curwen's own tenacity. Yet as Curwen makes clear in his writing, while the expedition's motivations emerged from a sense of social injustice, there was also a full understanding of the commercial importance of the fisheries here, and the need to improve their organizational efficiency. Armed with zeal and know-how, the expedition is a fascinating embodiment of late Victorian impulse.
Despite its political and cultural ramifications, Curwen's journal spills over with an unbridled enthusiasm and a thirst for knowledge, recording hikes, shooting trips, and close scrapes with icebergs. More a man than a cultural studies cipher, Curwen is a practical Victorian figure: a consummate amateur, deeply religious, yet devoted to science and social progress at the same time. In this way, the journal explores the hopes and very real fears of a complex human being.
The journal is also filled with a wealth of information on sailing and fishing, clearly illustrating the problems involved in traveling by sailing ship and communicating over long ocean distances. Many of the entries were written while waiting for the tides to turn, or when the ship literally had no wind, and Curwen wastes no time grumbling about the boredom of sea-going life. Making only a few miles headway in any given day, the journal makes clear Newfoundland was as inaccessible as the darkest parts of Africa.
The diary also gives us private insights into Labrador culture, and the subtle machinations of local politicians, their sectarianism, and their growing ties with the Canadians. Essentially operating in a lawless region, these tiny bureaucracies faced terrible odds in trying to levy taxes and impose legal codes on its residents, all of which is made clear over spur-of-the-moment social visits and teas. Starved for conversation, the Governor offers candid accounts of the corruption, in a full and fascinating account of colonial society and relations.
Though the journal only spans the brief months of the Labrador summer, Curwen's account of his experiences and meetings make available a wealth of information on this little known corner of the British Empire. In this personal account of the Imperial missionary-philanthropist, Rompkey's Labrador Odyssey brings to life the natural and social history of a harsh region.
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