OR, THE LITTLEPAGE MANUSCRIPTS
Continuing the ‘Littlepage’ saga, this novel, published in 1845, sees Corny’s son Mordaunt (known as Mordy) take up the family story. The theme of land ownership is central to the series as a whole and comes to the fore in this second instalment, with the introduction of the ‘chainbearer’ – namely Andries Coejemans, whose task it is to mark out tracts of land in the wilderness, which can then be rented out and cultivated. This process is designed to enable the responsible ‘taming’ of the wilderness, but the novel illustrates how the process has been usurped and corrupted by unscrupulous individuals, as networks of ownership and power expand with the move towards increasing ‘civilization’. A particular concern, in this regard, is the usurpation of the Native Americans by colonial settlers, at first insidiously and then by force.