Sam Silverthorne: Quest

Gary Crew

doi:10.25907/00560

Set in the 1890s, the accompanying novel, Sam Silverthorne: Quest, has as its hero a fourteen-year-old British boy, Samuel Silverthorne, who aspires to be a naturalist like his father, the illustrious Sir Arthur Silverthorne, a collector of avian specimens in the service of the British Museum of Natural History. Fired by the dream of emulating his father's success, Sam dreams of finding the elusive, possibly mythical, Paradisea argentia impossibilis: the silver bird of paradise. But Sam's priorities change when circumstances oblige him to search for his father who has disappeared after setting out to find the bird. In his quest to locate his father, Sam's adventures take him to exotic outposts of the British Empire, the remote jungles of New Guinea populated by head hunters, cannibals and traders in bird of paradise feathers prized by the indigenous population, the lucrative millinery industry and museums of the day. The accompanying exegesis explains how the original novel, Sam Silverthorne: Quest, draws on istorically, culturally and geographically accurate information arising from: (1) an in depth literature review of the "Boy's Own" fiction genre so popular in the nineteenth and early-twentieth century, with a major focus on the significance of the 'Crusoe' or 'castaway' narrative to the genre; (2) the concept of the Victorian hero, as exemplified by Dr David Livingstone, with a particular focus on the mythology created around such a figure, and the darker social outcomes of the absence of this public hero from his family during his journeys; (3) the concept of the naturalist as Victorian hero, exemplified by Alfred Russel Wallace; (4) the travels and adventures of natural historians such as Wallace in the Victorian age; (5) the collection of avian specimens by such naturalists, especially the bird of paradise; (6) the concept of the museum as storehouse of natural history exhibits, and also as a 'cabinet of curiosity'; (7) attitudes to racism in the Victorian age, particularly the cultural constru tion of indigenous peoples as the 'other', so often referred to as 'savages' or 'cannibals'; (8) sexist attitudes in the Victorian age; and (9) suggestions for further research arising from this exegesis.

Sam Silverthorne: Quest

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