The Voyage of the Short Serpent

by Bernard du Boucheron

Sent on an evangelical mission to discern the spiritual fates of the members of an Iceland colony who have severed communications with Europe, the abbot Montanus and his crew are horrified to discover that the colony's residents have embraced what appear to be primitive lives of depravity and excess.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Horror, France, Historical, Fantasy, 21st Century

206 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Bernard du Boucheron, né en 1928 à Paris, est un écrivain français.

Bernard du Boucheron, born 1928 in Paris, is a French writer.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is short and brutal. the descriptions of the deadly cold was really getting to me, reading it on the back stoop at work in the snow. and the cannibalism as i am about to eat beef in aspic. great timing on my part, again. now i just have to read a book where someone finds millions of dollars, and see if i can be influenced towards wealth.

come to my blog!

[Robert · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of brutality, cannibalism, sadism, and religious fanaticism, yet strangely I still didn't like it. Left it in a laundromat in Split, Croatia.

[Chip · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stiffed by the Short Serpent

Why did I buy this book? Across the top of the front dust jacket reads "Winner of the Grand Prix du Roman de l'Academie Francaise" - one would naturally assume that the "best of the best" would be a good read, even in translation. Four of the five reviews on the back are all from France, the lone English one claiming "I'll go out on a limb and bet you have never read anything quite like The Voyage of the Short Serpent before." So I took the bait. Short answer: I *have* read several things like The Voyage and I think they were *all* better than du Boucheron's book. I ask myself why my opinion diverges so widely from the other reviewers... before I remember that France is the country that still fetes Jerry Lewis as a comic genius. Lewis is a fabulous entertainer, but he's not my idea of a comic genius... and du Boucheron isn't my idea of a Grand Prix writer. He's a very competent writer, and the translation appears excellent... but the story just doesn't live up to the hype. Or perhaps the translation didn't do the original story justice... but since I'm reviewing the English version of the book, they're equivalent. I'm not going to learn French just to read du Boucheron in the original vernacular.

I caught a lot of the symbolism... just look at the title! A book about "The Serpent" entering yet another unspoiled wilderness and wreaking havoc? Or how about the "shortcomings" of the bishop and the "Voyage" of his "Short Serpent" which spawned an illegitimate child? Its all in there, but to what end? Maybe I'm jaded because I'm surrounded by people equally amoral as the characters in this book; I've just survived eight years of Government-sanctioned amorality (Bush/Cheney - the Darkest Years of the USA). The atrocities in the book failed to move me. The symbolism failed to elicit more than a ho-hum. Other books excite me; I know it isn't a medication imbalance on my part... so that leaves the author/translator as the source.

My rule of thumb is simple: will I pass this book on to a friend with a recommendation that they *have* to read it, will I keep it for myself and make my friends buy their own, or do I pass this book on to the thrift store?

Sorry, I can't rate this one higher than thrift store fare. Can't recommend it. Can't keep it. Bye bye du Boucheron. Waste of money? Didn't pay full price for it, so I don't feel bad. Waste of time? Well... when I read a good book I carry away something worthwhile from it - something sticks with me inside, often forever. I didn't bring anything away from this book. When you expend time and effort, and when you're finished you have nothing to show for it, haven't you fulfilled the requirements for "waste of time?" This was not my all-time "waste of time" (See Illywacker) but "Serpent" does fall within that category.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fairly quick read, clocking in at just over 200 pages. A 14th or 15th century bishop is sent by the pope to check in on the settlements in Thule (Greenland), which have been incommunicado for decades, and the Church fears the people there may be dead, or worse -- fallen into heresy.

There are not a lot of written records from the doomed Norse colonies in medieval Greenland, but what du Boucheron reconstructs is grounded in archeology and what little we do know about the twilight years of the colonies. The "little ice age" of later medieval times, coupled with the Norse settler's inability or refusal to adapt to the conditions of Greenland, caused a slow decline as the colonies became inaccessible from Europe (due to the icing over of the north Atlantic) and thus unable to obtain supplies. The colonists quickly exhausted what little wood could be had from the stunted trees of that climate, and relied on imported wood and driftwood, so they were soon unable to build their own boats to leave.

du Boucheron's bishop describes a harrowing voyage to get to Greenland, with his ship becoming ice-locked and the crew suffering starvation, frostbite, and illness. When he finally gets to Greenland, he finds a settlement in its death throes. Vice is rampant; what livestock they have is starving for lack of hay and forage; the people are malnourished, disease-ridden, and increasingly falling into superstition; the indigenous people, who were at first cruelly enslaved by the Norse, are beginning to turn the tables on the increasingly dependent colonists. The colonists have already begun turning on each other and the remaining friendly indigenous peoples, and the bishop's attempt to bring reform and assert Church authority leads to disaster.

The tale is told with a mixture of laconic reporting reminiscent of Norse sagas and dark humor and satire. It is filled with horrific and stomach-turning details as well as memorable characters. Powerful stuff.

[L.A.Weekly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review by Nathan Ihara
In Voyage, a medieval Norwegian bishop named Insulomontanus goes on a mission to a colony in Greenland that has lost all communication with the Catholic Church. He hopes to restore the word of God — and to collect a heavy tithing. (It's a) seductive and stimulating read, full of the wonders and horrors of distant lands.

Boucheron’s bishop staggers through a sickening nightmare, a frozen Hieronymus Bosch landscape of cannibalism, starvation, torture and hypocrisy.

The bishop Insulomontanus not only has deeply entrenched values, but he intends to protect and enforce them at any cost, employing as methods of persuasion “the stake, the wheel, the head vise, drawing and quartering, the slow hanging, suspension from the feet or carnal parts. ...” His resolve is sorely tested when his mission of mercy (and profit) to the colony of New Thule becomes a gauntlet of abasement and misery. A few pages into the journey, his ship becomes encased in ice, the crew begins to starve, “the oarsmen’s teeth started falling out; their skin peeled off in long strips ... one of the men cut off his own hand, to eat it.” As the journey continues, the litany of abominations grows: A plague strikes, livestock is eaten alive by maggots, a man builds an igloo to protect himself from the cold and is frozen inside it, and indigenous people are murdered without a passing thought.

[Joshua Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding short novel I put down in two reading sessions. A harrowing tale of a bishop leading a voyage to Greenland to check on some colonists, where things have been rumored to have gone wrong. I especially enjoyed the chapters not narrated by the bishop.

[Book Barbarian (Tammy Smith) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Your Grace will find it hard to believe, but some even went so far as to consume another man's vomit."

How anyone can give this a one star rating I will never know.

[Vic · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Voyage of the Short Serpent is a savage story that seemed to simply stop or run out of fuel, much like the wretched souls inhabiting New Thule (Greenland circa eleventh century). I persisted out of a morbid curiosity to see if there would be any redeeming value to having spent a few hours with what was being hailed a literary masterpiece. This book was after all an international best seller and the winner of a literary award in France.

I am not a fan of the middle-ages, the time period this novel was set in. I derive neither pleasure nor erudition from reading about the atrocities and vulgarities that permeated civilization at that time. Man's inhumanity towards fellow man, more often carried out by the church's sadistic use of brutality and torture in the name of God, leaves me cold, much like the climate described on almost every page of this story.

In spite of an unexpectedly negative reaction to the story itself, I found the book quite readable and well-written, albeit heavily laced with macabre and morbid undertones. In the end I found myself without sympathy for any of the characters and neither moved (other than disgust) nor enlightened for having made it to the end.

The church's systematic brutalization of any culture, religion or indigenous society not accepting the authority of the church are well documented by the omnipresent crusades and inquisitions launched in the name of Jesus Christ to force compliance. Take away the unusual setting of the story and that about sums things up.

[Pat wegener]

When I saw the Title, I thought of "The Name Of the Rose" and there is alot here to compare. Years ago a group of people left their Home in Greenland and went to settle on New Thule (Iceland). No one has heard from them for three generations, the Bishop is worried they may have gone Native or worse yet, turned pagan. He sends his good Priest to check on them and revive their faith. Their ship is the Short Serpent and they set forth on a voyage filled with good will, to find unimaginable horror. The Ice, the Glacier is a living being as ever closer it creeps. The bleakness, the cold and the darkness slips into your very soul as you read. Does the Priest bring help to these poor lost people or is it the final darkness? Is the Priest the Savior or does he find himself in need of being saved?

[Bobby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to rate this short book as I am disappointed there wasn't more!! I really enjoyed the same tale being told from differents viewpoints in very dissimilar lights. Pretty good research but I think the Bishop's reasoning was sometimes geared to making things overly-repulsive and the consequences were probably a bit extreme. But who knows? I wasn't there and could be wrong!! Seriously, its a fine read for those interested in that time period and the harshness of life in the terrritories of Greenland and Iceland.

[Pete Rider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man versus Nature is a favorite topic of mine. Norsemen died out in Greenland and North America when the climate changed over a few generations around 1300 AD. What was it like? Bernard Du Boucheron takes you there in this sparse riveting book of historical fiction. In short it was horrific. Norsemen failed to adapt to diets of blubber and adoption of native customs. Only a few stone dwellings and artifacts remain today. I wolfed down this book in less than a day. It was well worth the $4.98 I paid for it at Otto's Bookstore in Williamsport, PA. (570)326-5764

[Curtain33 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This tiny novel has a strong voice and sense of time and place. If you hold your expectations and read it as a comedy, you may find it more engaging than I did. I went in with some unfair expectations and I think it did the book a disservice. So, two stars due to my shortcomings, not those of the author.

[Ned · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Set in Greenland in the Middle Ages and narrated with deadpan brutality, this is a text-book example of the unreliable narrator. Be warned, there are a lot of bodily fluids and cannibalism, and eye-gouging, etc.

[Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminiscent of Crichton's Eaters of the Dead (aka The 13th Warrior), which I also thoroughly enjoyed.

For further queries about the novel, I direct your attention to mlle. karen brissette 's review, found here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/....

[Ross Cumming · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy a bit of historical fiction from time to time and when this popped up in my recommendations I was sufficiently intrigued to search it out and give it a go.
Montanus is sent by the Catholic Church to voyage to Greenland to try and reclaim the country and its people for the church following rumours that the people had lost their faith, resorting to cannabilism and incest. The novel tells of the hardships that befall Montanus and his crew on the Short Serpent, as they battle the icy waters north to reach New Thule. What they find there is a population struggling to survive in horrendous conditions where the cold affects all aspects of normal life. The story is told to us mostly through the eyes of Montanus and takes the form of a reports written by him to the Church, explaining what he has found and how he has dealt with the issues that have arisen. Montanus always paints himself in good light despite the cruelty of the punishments he inflicts on the populace, in the name of the church. However the second unknown narrator, especially in his last chapter paints a totally different picture of Montanus.
The novel was not totally what I was expecting, as it is written quite formally, in the style of a letter or report, and I found that the novel was basically lacking in any great story or tension. The only part I found gripping was when the captain of the Short Serpent takes some of his crew north on a trip to explore that part of the land and they get into difficulties.

[The Idle Woman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Literary prizes are strange things. This novel won the Grand Prix du roman de l’Académie française in 2004, which led me to expect something rather brilliant, but it fell gloomily short of expectations. Austere, cold and brutal, it tells the story of the medieval Catholic priest Insulomontanus, who is dispatched to New Thule (Greenland) to minister to the faithful. The New York Times regarded the book as a tour-de-force of black humour, but I found it an increasing slog of horrific cruelty and almost unbearable suffering. Framed as Insulomontanus’s grovelling report back to his master, it plays deftly with notions of the unreliable narrator – but that in itself isn’t enough to transform this monotonous miserable story into an engaging read...

For my full review, please see my blog:
https://theidlewoman.net/2018/03/18/t...

[Andy Berry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gripping

A short book easy to read in one sitting, indeed very difficult to put down once started. It is a story that clearly shows how the Christian clergy saw themselves as having a right above, and if necessary against, the needs of the people they professed to serve. Not entirely out of kilter with the extremely wealthy right wing politicians that infect us like vermin today.

[Maggie Koger · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly effective tale based on legend and history of Greenland setters who fall from civilized behavior due to hardship. Presents the conflicting paradigms of reinstating Christianity by any means with mixed-blood natives who know the old ways. Hunger, cold, and debauchery justified or perhaps not.

[Marvin Picklejar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un prêtre du 15e siècle raconte comment il a été envoyé ré-évangéliser les colonisateurs de la Nouvelle-Thulé (le Groenland, je suppose), d’où plus aucune nouvelle n’arrive depuis longtemps. Il parle de ses mésaventures et de ses tentatives de « civiliser » les autochtones, qui s’avèrent vaines évidemment.

Un roman comme je n’en avais jamais lu dans la littérature française.

[Heidi Bakk-Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good lord, what a litany of horrors. Take the misery of Middle Ages post-abandonment Greenland and add the illogical barbarism of Christian authoritarianism and you've got this little fictional account of an envoy from Nidaros checking in on the remainder of Norway's colonial efforts.

[Cécile B.]

Mon avis ici : https://leslecturesdecec.blogspot.com...

[Peb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very odd vibes. Such a weird book. Made me feel like I was living on a floating iceberg.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nasty, brutish and short

[Ivar Dale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally grotesque and enormously enjoyable.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this 3.5 stars, if I could. The descriptions of suffering against cold, hunger, and deprivations social, physical, and spiritual are uncomfortably gripping in this book, and the ironic tension between the narrator's awareness and the reader's creates a pretty harsh critique of colonialism and religious zealotry. But the story was too skeletal, maybe, and didn't develop as fully as it might have — for a book built on the conceit of being, for the most part, a chronicle of events in a far-flung outpost of empire, and that takes place over a pretty significant period of time, its concision is surprising and almost frustrating.

Also, and this is no fault of the author's, there were some problems with the physical book that made reading it tough. First, there were some confusing copyediting errors, particularly one in which a boat is referred to with the wrong name, which was confusing. And second, the thin paper stock allowed letters on one side of a page to bleed through the other, so some pages were actually difficult to read. I don't usually complain about these kinds of things, except in the rare case (like this one) when it actually impedes reading and lessens my experience of the book. Never mind the the cover that suggest it's going to be a vampire story or something...

[Sean · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The Voyage of the Short Serpent" by Bernard du Boucheron is a short, unpleasant volume with interesting ideas but lacking narrative cohesion and depth. Instead of indulging in complex ideas about humans in the wilderness, the book that seems solely concerned with indulging with the grotesque. The book is written interestingly - in a modified second/third person, consisting of letter of a priest to his archbishop describing a voyage to a lost Scandinavian colony in the New World that may or may not have descended into Paganism. What he finds there is darkness, depression, cannibalism, violence, and a myriad of other things that are indulged with postmodern abandon. The book was meant to be dark and uncomfortable but I would have liked it to have more to say or contribute. This is not to say the book does not have interesting ideas or techniques. I especially found the last two chapters interesting, where the exit of the bishop is told from two different point of views, calling into question what is the true narrative. I While the idea is very compelling, I found the book wanting on execution, which was short, brutal, not very deep, and frankly, not an enjoyable experience.

[James F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel is an attempt to imitate the expression of language and social values of an era long-ago that few, if any in this time of ours, will likely understand. It is an English translation of a work written in French, so it is possible that certain errors crept into the translation, particularly with respect to the actual intent of the author - is the author pro-Church or anti-Church?

It is an attempt by the author to show the existing morals of that time, particularly the morals of a church leader. This is a story of a church leader's attempt to re-instill "true" Christian values and teachings in a community that had been cut off from European contact for many generations. It is a narrative constructed from a variety of imaginary parts: letters, diary notes, and third person viewpoints. It might have been a slightly better read if the paperback copy had included a mini-glossary to assist the reader in reaching total understanding of how the narrative unfolded. It would also be of value to know the extent of the historical researches completed by the author before the completion of this work.

[Ken Vaughan · Rating 2 out of 5]

In an unspecified time, but probably the 10th or 11th century, a priest is ordered by his cardinal to voyage to New Thule (Greenland), where years earlier a colony had been established. It has been many years since any report on the community’s welfare has been received, and the priest and his crew set out on board the Short Serpent from Sweden. The story is told by the priest who begins to show signs of mental imbalance after the harrowing voyage, and the discovery that the surviving population has sunk into every conceivable kind of depravity as they struggle to survive the harsh environment. If stories featuring eye-gouging, burnings at the stake, cannibalism, incest and murder aren’t up your alley, you may want to give this one a miss. It did, however, win the Grand Prix du Roman de l’Academie Francaise.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The small Christian colony in Greenland has dropped out of touch as the ice gets heavier, and a bishop/inquisitor is dispatched assist them -- and to punish such sinners as he may find. Needless to say, he finds plenty. And needless to say, it becomes obvious that he's one of the biggest sinners of all.

This is a short book and one I tore through -- I can't say it wasn't engaging. Maybe I've just read too many novels about people struggling and suffering in the Arctic, but that aspect of it seemed very familiar to me, and the hypocritical inquisitor never became a vivid character in my mind. Boucheron certainly packed plenty of atrocities into 200 pages, but the effect is more disgusting than enlightening.

[Popup-ch · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Norse settlement of New Thule hasn't been heard of for years. It was created on the Greenland coast in a warmer era, and now the ice is creeping closer. There has not been any regular trade for decades, and there are concerns about the fate of the faith among the Christians, who haven't had an anointed bishop or an ordained priest for generations. An expedition is organised, under the leadership of a bishop, who acts as the narrator, and a ship is built according to the old customs (clinker-built like an old viking ship) and the intrepid party sets off. The trip is long and hard, but they reach the benighted settlers. They spend a long cold time there, trying in vain to restore some Christian virtues, but instead end up resorting to cannibalism and other sins.