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Author of new satirical novel "Jamestown," sees parallels between English settlers' miscalculation and Bush administration "adventure" in Iraq Date published: 6/11/2007
By MICHAEL ZITZ The author of the new satirical novel "Jamestown" sees parallels between the invasion of Iraq and the establishment of the Virginia colony. Seventeenth-century English leadership, Matthew Sharpe told The Free Lance-Star, was "venal and vicious and breathtakingly bumbling" in gaining a foothold here, "kind of like the Bush administration." His "Jamestown" (Soft Skull Press) is set in the near future, as "settlers" move out of a devastated Manhattan and travel down Interstate 95 to establish a colony in southern Virginia. The characters remain the same: Pocahontas, John Smith, John Rolfe. "I hope readers will pick up on the parallels I'm drawing between early Americans and our bumbling foreign policy," Sharpe said in a phone interview from New York, where he teaches creative writing at Wesleyan University. In both cases, he argued during the interview, "The primary purpose is a commercial one--the exploitation of resources. "There's also the rhetoric of importing values to the savages and of one God being more valuable than another--or several others," he said. "I do see many parallels with our adventure in Iraq," Sharpe said. "The breathtaking ineptitude in both situations would be ridiculous if it were not so horrifying." His "Jamestown" is one of mind-bending manipulation and deception. And many historians, including Virginia Indian history expert and author Helen Rountree, say that may be closer to the truth of the real Jamestown than the tales of Pocahontas' love for John Smith that so many American schoolchildren have been fed over the years. Sharpe said Rountree's historical writings on Pocahontas, Powhatan and the colony helped shape his view of the historical Jamestown. In his "Jamestown" of about 25 years in the future, Pocahontas considers mechanic Jack Smith, whom she refers to as "Jack-[deleted]," a bit of a dolt. She tricks him into helping her get together with communications specialist Johnny Rolfe, her big crush.
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