Pirate Freedom
Encyclopedia
Pirate Freedom is a fantasy
novel by Gene Wolfe
about a young man who is transported back in time and becomes a pirate.
and nearby regions during the "Golden Age of Piracy
". It takes place mostly if not entirely after Henry Morgan
burned Panama
(1671) and before the earthquake that destroyed Port Royal
, Jamaica
(1692).
The rest of the book appears to be set in the early 21st Century. The hero is genetically engineered
to be tall, and at the time of his birth, monorail
s are common in the United States, so his birth is in the near future of the time the book was published. or in a parallel universe
). The following summarizes his story in the order in which he experiences it.
Chris is born in New Jersey
of Sicilian ancestry. When he is ten, Communism
ends in Cuba
, and his father (apparently a "wiseguy
") moves there with him to run a casino
. Chris goes to school at a monastery
, where his studies include mathematics
, Latin
, and various modern languages. He becomes a novice
and helps a Brother Ignacio with the farm work. At one point, he notices that many of the people he knew are gone, Mass
is in Latin, and no one wears a watch. Somewhat later, he decides to leave the monastery.
As he walks away, a farmer in a horse-drawn wagon picks him up and takes him to Havana—but the roads are unpaved and Havana is much smaller than he remembers. Chris lives by theft until he signs on to a Spanish brig
bound for Veracruz, Mexico
. He is raped twice by shipmates, but thereafter manages to avoid them, and he enjoys learning military seamanship.
In Veracruz he meets an English captain, Abraham Burt. Then Chris's ship sails to La Coruña in Spain, where he becomes infatuated with Estrellita, the maid of a wealthy young married woman. Her master beats her and her mistress, putting a stop to the relationship.
He returns to his ship, but on the way back to Mexico they are captured by English pirates under Captain Burt, who takes him on to the pirate ship. They capture a Spanish slave ship
, and Burt puts Chris in charge of taking it to Port Royal to sell the ship and the slaves. When he returns, having freed a few of the slaves, he refuses to join in piracy and Burt abandons him on Hispaniola
.
There a French buccaneer
(a settler in the wilderness) helps him survive. They and other buccaneers capture a small Spanish warship sent to drive them off Hispaniola, and Chris assumes command. A "boy" on the ship reveals herself as a woman who Chris knew in Coruña; Chris takes her to be the maid Estrellita, but calls her "Novia", meaning "sweetheart". They become lovers.
After fights against the Spanish, Chris and his crew meet with Burt. An allied ship has captured a Spanish galley and its owner, Don José de Santiago. The passengers had included José's friend Jaime Guzmán and his wife, but Guzmán was presumed to have jumped overboard ten days out. Chris deduces Señora Guzmán's hiding place and finds that she is the real Estrellita; Novia is Guzmán's real wife and Estrellita's former mistress. Guzmán had beaten Novia because—she says—she too was in love with Chris. She had run away and Guzmán had set out for Mexico where he and Estrellita could pretend to be husband and wife. Though Chris is angry with Novia for lying to him, she still loves him and they reconcile.
Men are being strangled aboard the galley. Chris reasons that Guzmán is hiding somewhere but cannot find him, and José is strangled before Chris can torture him for the information. The galley burns, and Guzmán emerges but stays on board, meeting his death.
Chris rejoins Burt, and their fleet engages in successful and unsuccessful piracy, sailing around South America. At Río Hato
, Panama, they rob a mule train of Peru
vian gold (leaving Novia, now pregnant, on shipboard). That night one crew massacres the rest of the pirates and takes the gold. Chris escapes and finds the dying Burt, who gives him his maps to the treasure he has buried on the Pearl Islands
. The renegade pirates also take over Novia's ship, but she swims to shore, where Chris finds her.
They get married in Veracruz. Chris runs into Brother Ignacio and hires him to take care of Novia while Chris reclaims Burt's treasure. He sets out single-handed, but is wrecked by a storm and on the last page of the book is rescued by Mexican fishermen who have a radio.
He makes his way to the United States and enters a seminary. He becomes a priest in a Latino neighborhood of an unnamed city. Chris has differences with the other priests in the diocese: He knocks down teenagers who cause problems in the Youth Center. He believes that boys should know how to fight and be willing to so that older boys can, among other things, defend themselves from molestation by priests. Also, in the rural parish he is moved to, he reinstitutes the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. During this time he resists the temptation to visit his parents and his baby self in New Jersey.
Two years after he leaves the seminary, the Cuban Communists fall. As soon as he can, he heads to Cuba. He has realized Brother Ignacio was his older self. Finishing his manuscript on a plane to Miami
, he explains that he plans to enter his childhood monastery as a lay brother named Ignacio, follow young Chris out of the monastery into 17th-century Cuba, go to Veracruz to meet him and take care of Novia, and eventually take his place as her husband and recover Burt's treasure.
The book includes religious symbols (including the name of the protagonist) and experiences, as well as some discussion of the role of priests. It begins with Chris's declaration that he often reads about the lives of people who have sought God and found him, but that he has ". . . either never lost Him, or I have never sought Him." At one point, in response to a prayer of repentance, Chris hears the voice of God as an audible sound.
(narrated by another young American man), but slangier and more irreverent. His narration includes elements not usually seen in formal narrative, such as colloquial Italian ("alla grande"), profanity in Italian and English ("merda" and "shit"), a private joke that he then explains, and capitals for emphasis. He also uses "parlay" to mean "parley".
described Pirate Freedom as "remarkably straightforward for Gene Wolfe" and "rip-snorting". He praised the minor characters and the accurate depiction of the period, adding that "Wolfe also makes sure to substitute hard reality in place of any cliché".
Paul Witcover called the book "deceptively breezy" and "surprisingly dark", and said it dealt with deep Christian questions. For him it was "distasteful in many ways" but "a small masterpiece". He too regarded the adventure as "rousing".
Di Filippo saw Chris as charmingly naive, "no matter how bloody his hands get or how many skirts he lifts". However, Witcover saw Chris, the product of genetic engineering who may not have a mother, as "a half-human monster" (a phrase Chris uses about himself), largely unrepentant and lacking empathy. For him, Chris's only redeeming (perhaps in the literal Christian sense) quality is his love for Novia.
The book was a finalist for the Locus Award
for best fantasy novel.
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel by Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe
Gene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...
about a young man who is transported back in time and becomes a pirate.
Setting
The majority of the book is set in the CaribbeanCaribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....
and nearby regions during the "Golden Age of Piracy
Golden Age of Piracy
The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation given to one or more outbursts of piracy in maritime history of the early modern period. In its broadest accepted definition, the Golden Age of Piracy spans from the 1650s to the 1730s and covers three separate outbursts of piracy:the buccaneering...
". It takes place mostly if not entirely after Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan
Admiral Sir Henry Morgan was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a privateer, and a pirate who made a name for himself during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements...
burned Panama
Panama City
Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...
(1671) and before the earthquake that destroyed Port Royal
1692 Jamaica earthquake
The 1692 Jamaica earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica on June 7, at exactly 11:43 a.m., according to a stopped pocket watch found in the harbour in the 1950s. Port Royal was then the unofficial capital of Jamaica, and one of the busiest and wealthiest ports in the West Indies...
, Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
(1692).
The rest of the book appears to be set in the early 21st Century. The hero is genetically engineered
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
to be tall, and at the time of his birth, monorail
Monorail
A monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
s are common in the United States, so his birth is in the near future of the time the book was published. or in a parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
Plot summary
The hero is named Christopher (Chris, Crisóforo, Christophe). He recounts his childhood and career as a pirate, interspersed with digressions about events in his later life, including the time when he is writing the book (as in The Book of the Short SunThe Book of the Short Sun
The Book of the Short Sun is a trilogy by Gene Wolfe, comprising On Blue's Waters , In Green's Jungles , and Return to the Whorl . It is the sequel to Wolfe's tetralogy The Book of the Long Sun, and has connections to The Book of the New Sun...
). The following summarizes his story in the order in which he experiences it.
Chris is born in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
of Sicilian ancestry. When he is ten, Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
ends in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, and his father (apparently a "wiseguy
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
") moves there with him to run a casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
. Chris goes to school at a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
, where his studies include mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and various modern languages. He becomes a novice
Novice
A novice is a person or creature who is new to a field or activity. The term is most commonly applied in religion and sports.-Buddhism:In many Buddhist orders, a man or woman who intends to take ordination must first become a novice, adopting part of the monastic code indicated in the vinaya and...
and helps a Brother Ignacio with the farm work. At one point, he notices that many of the people he knew are gone, Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
is in Latin, and no one wears a watch. Somewhat later, he decides to leave the monastery.
As he walks away, a farmer in a horse-drawn wagon picks him up and takes him to Havana—but the roads are unpaved and Havana is much smaller than he remembers. Chris lives by theft until he signs on to a Spanish brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
bound for Veracruz, Mexico
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
. He is raped twice by shipmates, but thereafter manages to avoid them, and he enjoys learning military seamanship.
In Veracruz he meets an English captain, Abraham Burt. Then Chris's ship sails to La Coruña in Spain, where he becomes infatuated with Estrellita, the maid of a wealthy young married woman. Her master beats her and her mistress, putting a stop to the relationship.
He returns to his ship, but on the way back to Mexico they are captured by English pirates under Captain Burt, who takes him on to the pirate ship. They capture a Spanish slave ship
Slavery in the Spanish New World colonies
Slavery in the Spanish colonies began with the enslavement of the local indigenous peoples in their homelands by Spanish settlers. Enslavement and production quotas were used to force the local labor to bring a return on the expedition and colonization investments...
, and Burt puts Chris in charge of taking it to Port Royal to sell the ship and the slaves. When he returns, having freed a few of the slaves, he refuses to join in piracy and Burt abandons him on Hispaniola
Hispaniola
Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...
.
There a French buccaneer
Buccaneer
The buccaneers were privateers who attacked Spanish shipping in the Caribbean Sea during the late 17th century.The term buccaneer is now used generally as a synonym for pirate...
(a settler in the wilderness) helps him survive. They and other buccaneers capture a small Spanish warship sent to drive them off Hispaniola, and Chris assumes command. A "boy" on the ship reveals herself as a woman who Chris knew in Coruña; Chris takes her to be the maid Estrellita, but calls her "Novia", meaning "sweetheart". They become lovers.
After fights against the Spanish, Chris and his crew meet with Burt. An allied ship has captured a Spanish galley and its owner, Don José de Santiago. The passengers had included José's friend Jaime Guzmán and his wife, but Guzmán was presumed to have jumped overboard ten days out. Chris deduces Señora Guzmán's hiding place and finds that she is the real Estrellita; Novia is Guzmán's real wife and Estrellita's former mistress. Guzmán had beaten Novia because—she says—she too was in love with Chris. She had run away and Guzmán had set out for Mexico where he and Estrellita could pretend to be husband and wife. Though Chris is angry with Novia for lying to him, she still loves him and they reconcile.
Men are being strangled aboard the galley. Chris reasons that Guzmán is hiding somewhere but cannot find him, and José is strangled before Chris can torture him for the information. The galley burns, and Guzmán emerges but stays on board, meeting his death.
Chris rejoins Burt, and their fleet engages in successful and unsuccessful piracy, sailing around South America. At Río Hato
Río Hato
Río Hato is a town in the Coclé province of Panama.- Sources :* – World-Gazetteer.com...
, Panama, they rob a mule train of Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian gold (leaving Novia, now pregnant, on shipboard). That night one crew massacres the rest of the pirates and takes the gold. Chris escapes and finds the dying Burt, who gives him his maps to the treasure he has buried on the Pearl Islands
Pearl Islands
The Pearl Islands are a group of 100 or more islands lying about off the Pacific coast of Panama in the Gulf of Panama.- Islands :...
. The renegade pirates also take over Novia's ship, but she swims to shore, where Chris finds her.
They get married in Veracruz. Chris runs into Brother Ignacio and hires him to take care of Novia while Chris reclaims Burt's treasure. He sets out single-handed, but is wrecked by a storm and on the last page of the book is rescued by Mexican fishermen who have a radio.
He makes his way to the United States and enters a seminary. He becomes a priest in a Latino neighborhood of an unnamed city. Chris has differences with the other priests in the diocese: He knocks down teenagers who cause problems in the Youth Center. He believes that boys should know how to fight and be willing to so that older boys can, among other things, defend themselves from molestation by priests. Also, in the rural parish he is moved to, he reinstitutes the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. During this time he resists the temptation to visit his parents and his baby self in New Jersey.
Two years after he leaves the seminary, the Cuban Communists fall. As soon as he can, he heads to Cuba. He has realized Brother Ignacio was his older self. Finishing his manuscript on a plane to Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, he explains that he plans to enter his childhood monastery as a lay brother named Ignacio, follow young Chris out of the monastery into 17th-century Cuba, go to Veracruz to meet him and take care of Novia, and eventually take his place as her husband and recover Burt's treasure.
The book includes religious symbols (including the name of the protagonist) and experiences, as well as some discussion of the role of priests. It begins with Chris's declaration that he often reads about the lives of people who have sought God and found him, but that he has ". . . either never lost Him, or I have never sought Him." At one point, in response to a prayer of repentance, Chris hears the voice of God as an audible sound.
Style
Chris tells his story in an informal style reminiscent of Wolfe's Wizard KnightThe Wizard Knight
The Wizard Knight is a series of epistolary novels written by fantasy and science fiction author Gene Wolfe. It chronicles the journey of Able of the High Heart, an American boy transported to a magical world and supernaturally aged to adulthood...
(narrated by another young American man), but slangier and more irreverent. His narration includes elements not usually seen in formal narrative, such as colloquial Italian ("alla grande"), profanity in Italian and English ("merda" and "shit"), a private joke that he then explains, and capitals for emphasis. He also uses "parlay" to mean "parley".
Reception
Paul Di FilippoPaul Di Filippo
Paul Di Filippo is an American science fiction writer. He has been published in Postscripts...
described Pirate Freedom as "remarkably straightforward for Gene Wolfe" and "rip-snorting". He praised the minor characters and the accurate depiction of the period, adding that "Wolfe also makes sure to substitute hard reality in place of any cliché".
Paul Witcover called the book "deceptively breezy" and "surprisingly dark", and said it dealt with deep Christian questions. For him it was "distasteful in many ways" but "a small masterpiece". He too regarded the adventure as "rousing".
Di Filippo saw Chris as charmingly naive, "no matter how bloody his hands get or how many skirts he lifts". However, Witcover saw Chris, the product of genetic engineering who may not have a mother, as "a half-human monster" (a phrase Chris uses about himself), largely unrepentant and lacking empathy. For him, Chris's only redeeming (perhaps in the literal Christian sense) quality is his love for Novia.
The book was a finalist for the Locus Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
for best fantasy novel.