Burning Water (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: George Bowering
- First Published: 1980
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Magical realism
- Time of Work: Early 1790’s and late 1960’s
- Setting: Vancouver, British Columbia; Guatemala; the Pacific Coast of North America; South America; and Hawaii
- Genres: Long fiction, Magical Realism
- Subjects: History, 1960’s, North America or North Americans, Traveling or travelers, Voyages, Native Americans or American Indians, Eighteenth century, Canada or Canadians, Imagination, Ships, Adventure, South America or South Americans, Guatemala or Guatemalans, Cannibalism, Exploration or explorers, Naturalists
- Locales: South America, Hawaii, Guatemala, North America, Vancouver, Canada
Characters Discussed
George Vancouver, the commander of the British warship Discovery. A short, thickset man resembling a bulldog in appearance and temperament, Vancouver is willful, impatient, and unyielding. He is a strict and capable captain and an almost fanatically precise surveyor who does not believe in the existence of a Northwest Passage. A homosexual, he feels great affection for Admiral Quadra as both a father figure and a lover. Toward the end of the Discovery’s voyage, he suffers severely from tuberculosis and from the emotional trauma of Quadra’s...
[The entire page is 717 words long]
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