Tales from the Farm
| Author | Elwin Weyman |
|---|---|
| Country | Kingdom of Sierra |
| Language | English, Spanish, German, Mandarin |
| Genre | Historic fiction |
| Published | August 11, 1917 |
| Pages | 812 |
Tales from the Farm is a novel written by Elwin Weyman and was published on August 11, 1917 with the help of the San Jose Publishing Company. The novel is set in the Sierran Civil War and mainly follows the story of Elwin Mudge, a young farmer from rural San Joaquin who enlists in the United Farmers' Front during the Sierran Civil War and serves in a UFF volunteer regiment during the war fighting mainly in the east against Monarchist forces in Clark and Eureka. It tells the story of the Civil War from the republican perspective and documents the life of a soldier in the UFF, their motivations, and the hardships they faced while fighting in the war. The story mostly covers the period of the war from the summer of 1875 to early 1877 just before the fall of Bernheim. The book was released during the Sierran Cultural Revolution and caused major controversy due to the anti-revolutionary view of Weyman, but has since become one of the most popular and revered books in Sierra and is one of the most popular books in the Styxie provinces where the book is mandatory in most Styxie schools.
Background
The book's author was Elwin Weyman, a Canadian-born Sierran author, historical and activist, who had become a vocal critic of the Cultural Revolution early on having accused it of threatening the identity, culture and values of the Styxie due to the pro-monarchist ideology of the revolution. In 1910, Weyman published A Call to Arms for the Styxie arguing that Styxers had an obligation to defend their culture and values from what he perceived as cultural encroachment on their values by the monarchy and perceived radicals in the movement. One of his most notable criticisms of the movement was what he perceived as historic suppression arguing that revolutionary groups, individuals and organizations were attempting to suppress any records, history and stories of the Republican faction from the civil war and focusing purely on the war from the Monarchist perspective citing the glorification of Monarchist military leaders such as John C. Frémont and the erecting of statues in honor of the monarchists, but opposed putting up statues and monuments to Republican leaders and soldiers from the civil war and in some cases pushed for the deliberate neglect of telling Republican stories from the civil war.
In 1911 Weyman started doing research on the civil war for the novel and interviewed many surviving Republican veterans from the civil war, talked to members of the UFF, and spoke to historians that documented the history of the Second California Republic and those that fought for it in-spite of heavy opposition from many academic, social and political groups, organizations and institutions that were largely supportive of the revolution and the Monarchist faction of the civil war. As part of his research, he toured rural San Joaquin and the rural parts of the Styxie where he interviewed the descendants and families of those that supported the republic during the civil war and the UFF to find inspiration for the novel. By 1914, his research was completed and spent the next three years working on and writing the book and by December 1916 reached an agreement with San Jose Publishing Company to help publish the book.
Plot summary
The book begins on March 1, 1875 in rural San Joaquin where the story begins on a large farm before focusing on Elwin Mudge, a young teenage farmer tending to the crop field. The Mudge family is also introduced and is established as a family that is dedicated to their home province of San Joaquin, card carrying members of the Democratic-Republican Party, and supporters of Isaiah Landon and the self-proclaimed Second California Republic and the United Farmers' Front. By March of 1875, the Republican armies were making gains in central and northern areas of Sierra and were pushing to the west to the present day province of Clark and northern districts of the Inland Empire. While the Republicans were making quick gains, they were stretching their army thin and turned to conscription which sees Elwin get drafted at the start of the story by representatives of the Department of War and National Defense, the government agency responsible for military affairs in the Second California Republic. Elwin is initially hesitant, but goes with the men and collects vital belongings before being sent to a training camp south of Bernheim where he's trained for combat before being assigned to the 1st Farmers' Volunteer Division.
Characters
Elwin Mudge
Mudge is the main character, protagonist and narrator of the novel with the whole story being told from his perspective. He's a young man from a rural background who was born and raised on his family's farm and tended to the farm's corn fields just before the civil war. A native of San Joaquin, Mudge is described as having inherited his family's political, social and religious beliefs inherit to the province resulting in him being a devout Protestant Christian, a critic of the Monarchy, and a supporter of Landon and the republican movement as well as being a loyal supporter and member of the Democratic-Republican Party. When he's forced to enlist, Elwin is unsurprised, but is dedicated to the cause and has high moral throughout the story, though it gradually declines as the war drags on and he finds himself physically and mentally worn down by the grinding attrition of fighting in the war's Eastern Theater.
Sergeant Mike
Mudge's superior officer as head of the 3rd Platoon of the 1st Volunteer Division the Sergeant's full name is Mike Macron, a French-born immigrant citizen of Sierra, and is an ardent republican whose views were influenced by his parents due to them being forced to leave France in the 1850s after the Second Empire was established by Napoleon III. Mike's first name was adopted by himself and his parents, but is more commonly known as Sergeant Mike in the story. He mostly serves as Elwin's superior officer and father figure-like mentor and serves to maintain his moral and will to fight in the conflict.
Themes and ideas
Reception and legacy
Film and TV adaptations
Controversy
The book received controversy not long after its release due to the views of Weyman and the book's defense and exploration of the Republican perspective of the Sierran Civil War. The book was denounced as anti-monarchist propaganda and efforts to ban the book were done in provinces where the revolution had the most support such as in Kings, Orange and the Gold Coast, though such bans were overturned by provincial courts and the national Supreme Court on the grounds that such bans were efforts against Weyman's freedom of speech. The book's popularity in the Styxie was immediate and became a source of pride and a rallying point for many republican sympathizers and those opposed to the revolution. Weyman spent much of the late 1910s and early 1920s fighting to prevent his book from being banned and would later use his experiences as inspiration for future short stories criticizing the revolution leading to his famous 1923 essay Of Fanatics and Revolution.
While Cultural Revolution-era controversy has largely died down, in the modern era controversy about the book persists with the most common criticisms being accusations of glorifying Landon and ignoring republican war crimes, demonizing the monarchy and its supporters and biased depiction of the war's Eastern Theater with many claiming that the novel ignored the reality of the Republican armies invading Clark's eastern territories in an attempt to conquer the province.