Yukon, diary of a river
about first nations & indians, settlers and about a boy who crossed the ocean to discover how to become a man, navigating through the sadness of missing the sea, running and singing like the ancestors demonstrated through their legendary traits

photography, text, design
Guus Rijven

This book is set up in two parts. The first part is the start to a 'diary' of the Yukon River as if they were a person, living a very long life, their water flowing through time, like history. The second part is a summary of the diaries of three canoe trips I made down this same river. The various text fragments in the first part are extracts of explorers' diaries, stories of native people, citations from (old) newspapers, books and so on. It is an attempt to summarise the 'western' or 'white' discovery and occupation of the Yukon River area, but also to share the stories that have long lived along the river. This first part is illustrated by stereotypes, natives as a European invention or, as Thomas King calls them in The Inconvenient Indian, dead Indians.

Part two is a diary of three journeys I made, canoe trips from Whitehorse to Dawson City, undertaken in 1972, 1976 and 2011 respectively.

The Yukon River is a major waterway in northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows north through the Canadian territory Yukon, bends west, flows through Alaska and empties into the Bering Strait.

30 x 21 cm
hardcover, paperbound
348 pages
ISBN 978.90.828194.41
language: English only

€ 50,- incl. shipping (Holland)

ORDER
mail to guus.rijven(at)gmail.com
mention: 'Yukon, diary of a river' and your personal details (name, address)
pay on NL82INGB0002376305 attn AJM Rijven

* When the edition of this publication is sold out, a new printrun will follow.
Then your copy can take a while. Do not be alarmed, 'Japan, the track is still fresh' will come to you for sure.