Burning Water

by George Bowering

First published in 1980 to high acclaim, Burning Water won a Governor General's Award for fiction that year. A rollicking chronicle of Captain Vancouver's search for the Northwest Passage, the book has over its career been mentioned in recommended lists of postmodern fiction, BC historical fiction, gay fiction and humour. This gives you some idea of the scope of what has been called Bowering's best novel. "I have sometimes said, kidding but not really kidding," writes its author, "that I attended to the spirit of the west coast, and told the story about the rivals for our land as an instance in which the commanders decided to make love, not war." As an accurate account of Vancouver's exploration of our coastline, Burning Water conveys the exact length–99 feet–of the explorer's ship, and contains citations from his journals. As a work of fanciful fiction, things usually thought to be impossible transpire, without compromising the realism of the text. Bowering recalls that his free hand with history particularly incensed the founder of the National Archives, who had written a biography of George Vancouver and complained in print that Burning Water differed too much from other, similar books in its field.

Genres: Canada, Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

George Bowering was born and brought up in the Okanagan Valley, amid sand dunes and sagebrush, but he has lived in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta — great sources of hockey stars. Along the way he has stopped to write several books on baseball. He has also picked up Governor General’s Awards for his poetry and fiction, and otherwise been rewarded with prizes for his books, except in his home province of British Columbia. His earlier ECW book, His Life, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for 2000. He lives in Vancouver.

Reviews

[Shadowhunter's Library · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating: 2.5/5 stars

Maybe it's because it's a metafiction book (a genre I wasn't at all familar with before reading this for class), maybe it's because this jumps around a lot, but I was not a fan of this book. It was interesting to read about George Vancouver's journey mapping around Canada and the west coasts of the Americas. But, reading this book was often confusing and, especially in the first part, boring at a lot of places.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a truly bizarre book. There were parts I loved and there were parts that just didn't make any sense. The format of the book kept changing, so it was disjointed. I did learn a little about the history of the West coast, so there's that.

[Monique Genton]

I enjoyed the (presumably) historical information, particularly about Menzies and his plant collecting, but the descriptions of coastal indigenous women joyfully performing oral sex on crew members, just ruined it for me.

[Derek Deneau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent historical fiction.

[1.1 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me tell you: this is easily the best metafictional novel about George Vancouver's northwest expedition I've ever read. Absolutely enjoyable, immerses the reader in a story as intricate as the coastline it takes place in, plenty of humor, some fine irony, brilliant characters, intense conflict. It's well done. For instance, the metafiction doesn't get in the way because Bowering is no rank amateur, content to ruin a good narrative with pondering and meandering... it is inconspicuous even if it is not to your taste, but it's effective at that. Good stuff.

[Scott Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Governor General Award Winner makes for a fascinating account of the early history of the West Coast of Canada, where European countries fought and negotiated protracted claims over these distant lands, with only partial reference to those like Vancouver who were actually trying to make those claims good.

[Tg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading along with with Bowering's BC - A Swashbucling History. Wonderful.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One great postmodern novel. The melding of the Georges, Vancouver and Bowering, as high art.