The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testi..., Kent Monkman
The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testi..., Kent Monkman
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The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: Vol. 1
A True and Exact Accounting of the History of Turtle Island

Author: Kent Monkman, Gisèle Gordon

Narrator: Gail Maurice

Unabridged: 14 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 12/05/2023

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

From global art superstar Kent Monkman and his long-time collaborator Gisèle Gordon, a transformational work of true stories and imagined history that will remake readers’ understanding of the land called North America.

For decades, the singular and provocative paintings by Cree artist Kent Monkman have featured a recurring character—an alter ego of sorts, a shape-shifting, time-travelling elemental being named Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. Though we have glimpsed her across the years in films and on countless canvases, it is finally time to hear her story, in her own words. And, in doing so, to hear the whole history of Turtle Island anew. The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: A True and Exact Accounting of the History of Turtle Island is a genre-demolishing work of genius, the imagined history of a legendary figure through which profound truths emerge—a deeply Cree and gloriously queer understanding of our shared world, its past, its present, and its possibilities.

Volume One, which covers the period from the creation of the universe to the confederation of Canada, follows Miss Chief as she moves through time, from a complex lived experience of Cree cosmology to the arrival of European settlers, many of whom will be familiar to students of history. An open-hearted being, she tries to live among those settlers, and guide them to a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of all beings and the world itself. As their numbers grow, though, so does conflict, and Miss Chief begins to understand that the challenges posed by the hordes of newly arrived Europeans will mean ever greater danger for her, her people, and, by extension, all of the world she cherishes.

Blending history, fiction, and memoir in bold new ways, The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle are unlike anything published before. And in their power to reshape our shared understanding, they promise to change the way we see everything that lies ahead.
 
This audiobook features two versions of the The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle: A True and Exact Accounting of the History of Turtle Island, Volume One. The memoirs are read by Gail Maurice, Cree/Michif translator, actor, writer, filmmaker, director, and one of the inspirations for Miss Chief Eagle, with the introduction read by the authors. The first version is read as the abridged standalone memoirs, excluding endnotes. It is immediately followed by the second version which includes the full unabridged book, including endnotes inserted in situ, read by co-author Gisèle Gordon. This audiobook comes with a supplemental PDF which includes images of the paintings included in the physical book, as well as a note on the use of Cree in the text, and a Cree glossary.

About The Author

KENT MONKMAN is a Cree visual artist who works with a variety of mediums, including painting, film/video, performance, and installation. His work has exhibited extensively across Canada and internationally. His current exhibition, Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience will tour across Canada until 2020. GISELE GORDON is a writer and media artist. Her solo media work includes the feature-length documentary, The Tunguska Project, and the video installations Crosscurrent and The Land that Dreams. MONKMAN and GORDON have collaborated for two decades on writing and media art, including over a dozen short films, many of which feature Miss Chief Eagle Testickle.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jayme on December 03, 2023

An amazingly horny, decolonialist history of Turtle Island. Told through the fictional memoirs of Kent Monkman's alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. The narrative is provided as background to Monkman's art, a reverse illustrated novel. The Vancouver reading for this book was excellent. It started......more

Goodreads review by Greg on December 13, 2023

Kent Monkman’s Indigi-queering of history is fantastic in both style and content. Their paintings that accompany and complement the story-telling are so richly detailed and engrossing a magnifying glass is definitely recommended! Although I certainly had to adjust my reading expectations, it was wor......more

Goodreads review by Paul on February 29, 2024

This collaboration between printer Kent Monkman and writer Gisèle Gordon tells the history of the character, Miss Chief, seen in many of Monkman's paintings over the years, intertwining this alter-egos story with the formation of the universe, the Earth and Turtle Island. The story continues up to t......more

Goodreads review by Daniel on June 28, 2024

One of the strangest and most bizarre looks at the past that I've read...so much so that I'm listing this as both fiction & non-fiction, as it blurs the line. In fact, it blurs so many lines in so many categories that it can make the head spin...and it flirts with my allergy to poetry far too much.......more

Goodreads review by Jena on August 15, 2024

*Thank you to Libro.fm and McClelland & Stewart for the free ALC in exchange for an honest review* I don't know if I've ever read anything else quite like this, so brace for kind of a long review. This is somewhere between fiction and nonfiction - using a fictional, immortal narrator to tell historic......more


Quotes

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER
Finalist for the 2024 VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award
Finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction

One of Indigo's Top 100 Best Books of 2023

"Long a persona stalking the paintings of provocative Cree artist Kent Monkman, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle steps off the canvas to tell her own story—and that of the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island—in a two volume collaboration with Gisèle Gordon. Lavishly illustrated with Monkman’s paintings, The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle is at once (and seamlessly) a unique story of an even more unique deity, an exposition of nêhiyaw (Cree) beliefs and a primer in nêhiyawêwin (Cree Language), and a deeply researched history of contact, colonization, and resurgence. A full-blown remediation of the politically-charged and erotic world of Monkman’s paintings, these books educate, inspire, entertain, and leave the reader breathless."
—Steve Collis, 2024 VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award judge


Awards

  • Governor General's Literary Awards - Fiction