Book Review: Cahokia Jazz, part I

Part 1: maps, epigraphs, and keywords.

I thought I’d start a review of Francis Spufford’s 2023 novel “Cahokia Jazz”, an alternative history set in the fictional North American city of Cahokia. I’d like to retreat from the daily news cycle for a while, with its cast of characters: Musk, Trump, fascist salutes, small boats and Greenland, and pay attention to something a little more wholesome. I read Spufford’s book “Unapolagetic”, in which he articulated his Christian faith, and found it irreverent, snarky and funny. So, here goes…

The first thing you get on the inside pages are a pair of maps, one of the city Cahokia, another of the “States of Northern America in the year 1922”, in this alternate history. This second map is particularly interesting. Alongside the familiar states of California and New Mexico, there are others, “British Oregon”, occupying the far northwest corner, and a large area called “The Republic of Deseret” occupying Nevada, Utah, and parts of Wyoming. Cahokia itself is located in a state initalled “CK” in what appears to be real-life Missouri. If you’re the kind of person who likes to pour over maps, you can lose hours examining the different states, trying to work out what state “SQ” might be, looking for differences between these state lines and those in the real world. It gives the novel a degree of verisimilitude, and makes me excited to dive into this particular version of America.

On the next page is an extract from “ANOPA PHRASES FOR YOUR BUSINESS TRIP!”, issued by “The Better Business Bureau of Cahokia.” That first word, “Anopa”, will become important soon. The extract explains the importance of knowing three words when you visit Cahokia, the words for the three different “peoples” of the city. These are, “Takata” - a person of European descent, “taklousa” - a person of African ancestry”, and “Takouma” - a person native to the continent. These three words give us a sense of the kind of social structure we will find in Cahokia. But do these three peoples coexist peacefully? which holds the balance of power? To what extent are they segregated, geographically, or by profession?

Then, we get the account of someone called “Sebastian Villanova SJ”, a Jesuit priest, taken from a text called Jesuit Relations vol. XXVII, North American Missions III: Cahokia.” This is presumably a fictionalised text, but you could be forgiven for thinking that Spufford had quoted a real person here. The voice seems genuine and authentic, in a lofty measured style that seems perfectly appropriate for a text from the 17th century. In it, Father Sebastian Villanova recounts how, as a missionary to the city of Cahokia, he faced torture and death at the hands of the native population (the “takouma?” before a stirring speech grants him a short stay of execution. How will religion feature in this novel? What are the creeds of the Takouma, Takata, and Taklousa? Did Father Villanova succeed, and establish a Roman Catholic presence in this city?

So far, Cahokia Jazz promises to be a rich and detailed alternative history with a hard-boiled “whodunnit” plot at its core. I’m also fascinated to see how it explores the theme of social relations, between its three different peoples, and whether the city of Cahokia is blighted by the same prejudices as our world. One imagines that Francis Spufford, having published this book in 2023, had our heightened and often disputatious discourse around ethnicity and history in mind, as he wrote it.

More to follow…