Michel the Giant

Huge thanks to Penguin Classics both for republishing Michel the Giant and for allowing me to read a review copy via NetGalley. Although Tété-Michel Kpomassie gained worldwide fame at the time from the original publication of his Greenland travel memoir and the associated lecture tours he gave, I had never previously heard about his incredible expedition and the fascinating book he wrote as a result. Perhaps a cautionary tale of the dangers of allowing children free rein in libraries(!), Kpomassie's obsessive enthusiasm for the world's largest island was sparked by discovering a little book about Greenland's Eskimaux. Growing up in Togo, his life probably could not have been further removed from theirs, (and perhaps that was the attraction) yet he was determined to join the Greenlanders, the first African to do so.

I could not fail to be awed by Kpomassie's dedication to his quest. A lone sixteen year old boy travelling from Africa to Europe would today be demonised and exploited, but Kpomassie steadily worked his way to Paris, then to Copenhagen, then - years later - finally arrived, woefully underdressed, on Greenland's southern shore. His memoir of the journey is relatively brief, though none the less interesting for that, and it goes into much greater detail once he begins living in Greenlandic communities.

Despite having been written nearly half a century ago, I was delighted that Michel The Giant doesn't feel in any way dated. The prose feels vivid and fresh, and Kpomassie has a keen eye for detail. What was shocking and saddening was his depictions of the extreme poverty and deprivation of many Greenlandic lives, especially for those people who had been encouraged to embrace progress by abandoning their traditional lifestyles in favour of then-modern fishing industry and town living which simply could not support them. Kpomassie sees a society in transition, yet through remembering Crimson by Niviaq Korneliussen, written some forty years later, I was aware that much of the self destructive behaviour he witnesses would still be central coping mechanisms for those people's descendants.

Michel The Giant is ideal reading, I think, for people interested in Arctic life and travel memoirs in general, but also for those studying post-colonial history and different cultures Kpomassie frequently compares his own Togolese culture with that of various Greenlandic communities finding differences, obviously, but also striking similarities. He also understands and contrasts the effects of French colonialism in Togo with that of Demark in Greenland. A powerful, educational and entertaining read.