Synopses & Reviews
Set in the 1760s at the time of Pontiacs Indian alliance against the British,
Wacousta combines elements of revenge tragedy and gothic romance in reconstructing a violent episode in Canadian frontier history. In Major John Richardsons vivid depiction, Pontiacs campaign against Fort Detroit is masterminded by the mysterious Wacousta, a Byronic anti-hero whose thirst for vengeance against the fortress commander borders on madness. Turning upon binary oppositions - garrison against wilderness, restraint against passion, mercy against justice - this suspenseful novel creates a world of deception and terror in which motive is ambiguous and the boundary between order and anarchy unclear.
First published in 1832, Wacousta anticipated many of the themes that would assume central importance in the Canadian narrative imagination. The New Canadian Library edition is an unabridged reprint of the complete original text.
About the Author
John Richardson was the first Canadian-born novelist to achieve international recognition. He balanced much of his writing career with service in the British Army, leading him first to the United States, where he was imprisoned for a year during the war of 1812, and later to England and the West Indies. Wacousta, written in 1832, was his third and most successful novel.