The Ways of the Calawo

The Ways of the Calawo is a novel published in Deysachin in 54 PC by Nyhttôn a'Ryukurds Letauk. It is considered to be one of the most important pieces of modern Deysachni literature, and one of the greatest novels of all time. The novel follows an unconventional style, featuring layers of stories within stories, blending of fiction, nonfiction, and metafiction, and various elements of nonchronological and nonlinear storytelling.

Development

Letauk began work on what he referred to as his "Great Big Pompous Novel" some time around 43 PC, while he was still a college freshman. He continued working on the book for over a decade, alongside several smaller novels which he wrote and published, to little success. In the winter of 47 PC, fresh out of college, he moved to Aomt, to join the burgeoning Gyelsy Street scene. There he met Thyn'l Pongwuaif, another up and coming author, with whom he developed a friendship. Pongwuaif claims to have provided Letauk with some inspiration for Calawo, and also claims Letauk wrote a portion of Pongwuaif's Rain On My Wedding, but asked to not be credited.

Plot

In the frame story, the unnamed narrator (referred to as "The Protagonist" in a single footnote), meets with and interviews Nemnor Haes, an elderly man living alone in an out-of-the-way area. The date is not given, but it can be inferred from context it is some time within The Great Hesitation, or shortly after. It is unclear for what purpose the narrator has sought out Haes, other than to write down an account of his stories with the Calawo for use in some sort of "report." It is heavily implied that Haes is a widower, and that if he has children they do not speak to him often. The narrator's inner monologue make it clear he does not think much of Haes, and continues listening to his lengthy story out of pity.

Haes's story, which encompasses the bulk of the plot, begins in the Deysachni year 384, when he was a much younger man. Nemnor, a land surveyor by trade, is a self proclaimed drifter, working odd jobs to finance gambling and drinking habits, and in the opening of the story is offered a high paying gig scoping out a swath of land out east, for quarrying and landfilling. Haes accepts the offer, only to then be informed the area is the hunting grounds of the Calawo, a mysterious tribal people known to shun society. Haes, en route to the hunting ground, purchases and begins reading the only extensive documentation on the Calawo, "Calawotani: A Hidden Folk" by Sko'end F. Djeizal, published fifty years prior. Haes immediately finds Djeizal suspicious, as any reference he finds to the man portrays him as a pseudoscientist and quack, but decides to work with what he has.

Djeizal's sections are dry, and primarily academic, outlining the various traditions and customs of the Calawo, loosely strung together by a retelling of their history. According to Djeizal, the Calawo have inhabited the eastern woodlands for all of known history, and live as hunter gatherers, in an identical manner in the modern day as they did in ancient times. He states that they have wholly resisted conversion to Modhesianism, or any luxuries of Deysachni society, yet they also do not shun the faith, for as he writes, they have no religion whatsoever. Djeizal's sections appear when Nemnor reads the book, as well as in random intervals throughout his story, breaking the plot up into chunks.

Haes arrives at the edge of the woodlands, and attempts to speak to the locals he finds, but is quickly laughed when he asks about the Calawo. According to the locals, he is the seventh person to attempt to secure the land, with the rest either being forced away, disappearing, or in the case of the last one, dying. Nemnor, realizing what he has gotten himself into, cloisters himself away in the only bar in the area, and continues reading Djeizal's book. As he continues with it, he increasingly finds it to be written in a shoddy, hokey manner, and begins to heavily question the authenticity of the information, which he believes may be heavily warped so as to portray the Calawo as a simplistic, overidealized people. After a confrontation with the locals, where he finds they know less about the Calawo than they claimed and only rarely interact with them, Nemnor goes off into the woods to finally meet the Calawo. He wanders the forest for days with no sight of man, and numerous failed attempts at foraging for food. As he begins to consider giving up, he hears the snapping of a twig, and comes across a boy, identifiably a member of a Calawo tribe, who tripped and twisted his ankle. Nemnor helps the boy up, despite the boy angrily yelling at him in an unknown tongue. Haes gives the boy a portion of what little food he had scrounged up, and attempted to begin communication with him, only to find the boy already knows standard Deysachni. The boy, who identifies himself as Horflan, insults Nemnor for aiding him, and reveals that he is a scout, who has been spying on him since his arrival in the hunting grounds. Nemnor convinces Horflan to let him take him back to the Calawo camp, so someone can fix his leg, though secretly Nemnor wishes to use the oppertunity to finally come to understand the Calawo.

On the way to the camp, Nemnor and Horflan discuss, and Nemnor comes to understand the Calawo are not as disconnected from society as once thought; they secretly having been travelling in and around the wider area, living quietly in Deysachni cities undetected for years, with only the old people staying in the woods year round. Haes tells Horflan that though he came to the land as a land surveyor, he has no interest in infringing upon them, though his inner dialogue claims this a lie, and he just wants to satisfy his curiosity before moving on. After a day the two arrive back at the Calawo settlement, not a camp as believed but rather a whole longhouse-town. Horflan is tended to by a healer, and Nemnor is brought before the head of the tribe, Skindelfbairn, "Skelf" for short. Skelf is immediately friendly towards Haes, as Haes's gaunt appearance reveals him to be an inept hunter rather than a missionary or researcher. Nemnor once again identifies himself as the land surveyor, and again iterates his lack of intent against the Calawo, but the tribesmen care little and instead invite him to festivities. Nemnor, unsure what their motives are, accepts.

Haes quickly becomes acquainted with several members of the tribe: Horflan's father Hroflaen and grandfather Hohrunhalef, the latter of whom acts as a shaman figure; hunter Morchuc and his sister Tebai, both of whom dislike Haes; Klutsmats, a half-mad old woman who constantly argues with everyone; and Ujmig Kabweim, one of the previous land surveyors who went missing, now serving the Calawo as a servant. Ujmig tells Haes that it was his idea to get the Calawo to treat him nicely instead of scaring him away or killing him, as Ujmig wants Haes to lie to the people who hired them, and tell them that the land is unusable. Ujmig states that he would do it, but is visibly injured, and as such people would believe the Calawo forced him to lie. Haes reluctantly accepts this deal, in exchange for the Calawo bribing him, letting him into their secret ways.

Djeizal's sections grow in length and alternate with Haes's sections in a montage-esque manner, showing Haes slowly grow to become a member of the Calawo over time, being let into their ways, aiding them in return, and slowly coming to abandon his old life as he finds he truly enjoys life among the Calawo. Djeizal's sections initially mirror Haes's, describing the mystical traditions of the Calawo before cutting to the real thing, but slowly they break down in style, and show more about Djeizal as a person, revealing him to be profoundly lonely, and desperate for his research to bring him fame. In one account, Djeizal refers to having had a burgeoning friendship with a young Hohrunhalef, and an implied romance with Klutsmats, only for them to both fall apart for unclear reasons.

Eventually there is a lengthy passage wherin Djeizal's sections completely usurp Haes as the sole story. In the midst of this, Djeizal reveals a source of his own, the writings of the missionary Myeraidt Lhorishwey, collected over a century prior. Myeraidt has sections of his own, centered around his attempts to convert the Calawo, and his begrudging conversations with the wise woman Gostuom. Myeraidt has little respect for the Calawo, and only cares about them as a thing to be converted. Gostuom spends most of the sections passing wisdom to Myeraidt, ostensibly to aid in his efforts to convert them, though in truth she is attempting to convince him to leave the Calawo alone. Djeizal rips into Myeraidt, criticizing him for dehumanizing the Calawo, treating them with little to no respect, portraying them as full savages.

When Haes's section resumes, it is the year 387, and he has become fully integrated into the Calawo culture. He has become like a brother to Hroflaen, and like a second father to Horflan, though he worries that Horflan has become too infatuated with the wider world and is abandoning Calawo custom. Tebai and Nemnor take on a friendly rivalry of sorts, and though it is clear that both of them have developed feelings for one another, neither are aware that the other has. The only person within the tribe who holds distain for Nemnor is Morchuk, who thinks he is a corrupting influence. Ujmig, elevated long ago from a servant, now acts as the caretaker of the elders and personal assistant to Skindelfbairn.

After much hesitation, Haes finally approaches Hohrunhalef and Klutsmats about Djeizal, and is suprised to learn that they valued him greatly as a friend. Hohrunhalef reveals that their falling out came when the Calawo began to sneak out into the cities, and Djeizal attempted to convince them to stick with their traditions. Klutsmats, who believes she is dying, demands Haes take them to find Djeizal and finally reconcile with him. Haes obliges, and the main cast embarks on a lengthy voyage to attempt to find Djeizal. On the road, they encounter numerous difficulties, and slowly piece together that, following the failure of Calawotani to get any attention, he moved on to a series of increasingly noncredible and desperate pseudoscientific endeavors, borderline scams, before eventually vanishing completely. Morchuk becomes highly frustrated with the voyage, especially seeing how much interest young Horflan takes in foreign things, and how close his sister is becoming with Haes. In Djeizal's sections intercut with this, he recounts the history of Myeraidt's attempts to convert the Calawo, culminating in Gostuom finally getting through to him and convincing him that the Calawo are a respectable people who just want to be left alone.

Partway through the road trip, Haes's story pulls back to the frame story, with old man Haes near to tears. Nemnor offters the narrator food, and though the narrator declines Haes gets up to get some anyway. The narrator strongly considers leaving, as he believes the story is dull and he is wasting his time, but just before he can leave he overhears Haes weeping, and sees him in the kitchen looking at a portrait of himself and a woman, implied to be Tebai. The narrator sits back down, and when Nemnor returns they both begin eating as he continues with the story.

The group finally arrive at Djeizal's last known residence, only to find that he is dead. Klutsmats has a moment of complete clarity, and declares that although she is sad he is dead, she is glad to have closure, which Hohrunhalef agrees with, though he hides from her that it appears Djeizal moved on too, being married and divorced numerous times. Morchuk however is enraged, declaring that this voyage was wholly pointless, and that Nemnor has dragged them on a waste of time and energy. He attempts to engage Haes in a ceremonial duel, to banish him from the tribe, only for Tebai to step in and duel Morchuk instead, defeating him and forcing him into a temporary exile.

The way back is easier for the tribe, but less joyous due to Morchuk's departure. Haes begins to consider if Morchuk may have been correct, and becomes self-conscious about his influence upon the tribe. Simultaneously, Morchuk wanders aimlessly through Deysachin, and eventually happens to run into the quarryrunners who hired Nemnor at the start of the book, and reveals to them that Haes lied three years prior, and is being payed off by the Calawo. The Quarryrunners however do not believe him, finding the idea that the Calawo understand currency to be humorous. In Djeizal's sections intercut with this, he concludes Myeraidt's story, revealing that Myeraidt did not in fact change his mind, and instead began resorting to torture, killing Gostuom in the process. His superiors within the temple find out what he's doing, and have him executed.

Upon returning to the tribe, Haes grows distant, especially towards Horflan, and finds himself arguing with Tebai often. After several days Morchuk returns, stumbling and intoxicated, and reveals he has murdered a man, and the authorities are chasing him. Though it is not revealed who he killed, it is implied to either have been a former land surveyor or a police officer, as his rambling drunk mentions him engaging in an argument with one of the previous surveyors, which a cop tried to break up. The police arrive, and it appears that a great confrontation will occur between the Calawo and them, as they refuse to turn Morchuk over, but just before fighting can begin, Nemnor turns himself over, claiming to be Morchuk. From his appearance the officers are suspicious that he is not truly Calawo, but he points out his outfit and recites traditions, proving himself to be a member of the tribe. Nemnor gives one last speech to the Calawo, telling them to preserve themselves and to keep their culture strong. Tebai and him kiss, before he is dragged off by the authorities.

Back in the frame story, old man Nemnor has trailed off, and is again starring at the portrait of himself and a woman. The narrator inspects it himself, and describes in further detail that both Haes and the woman are dressed in Deysachni clothing, but that the woman has an odd face, which he describes in a way similar to how the Calawo look. Haes quickly stumbles through the end of his story, saying that he was not imprisoned for long, as they eventually found he was not Morchuk, and he continued with his life, though Haes abruptly ends the tale there, reluctant to speak on what occurred following. He thanks the narrator for allowing him to tell this tale, and the narrator departs. The narrator then internally monologues, saying that the whole endeavor was a waste, and he probably will not use the notes here. The frame story ends, only to reveal itself to be contained within another frame story, as the notes attached to a letter addressed to the reader (in second person), containing the notes of the reader's great uncle as per his will. It is implied that this 2nd person author is intended to be the author of the real book The Ways of the Calawo, publishing the abandoned notes of his great uncle.

Throughout the novel are passages referred to as "Calawotan Myths", poems and sayings of the Calawo, which typically relate to the ongoings of the plot, and obliquely outline the themes. On the final page is a Calawotan myth, the only one which directly refers to the characters in the story.

Style

Besides the story-within-story framing, The Ways of The Calawo stands out in other ways of structure. The differing sections are written in different voices; The unnamed narrator speaks in the first person, and the sections of Haes's story which are told within the outer frame are as well, but the sections which take place within the story are in the third person; Djeizal's story is the inverse, being read in the third person by Haes and in the first person in their own section. The narrator's story is however in the present tense, whilst Djeizal's is in the past tense, and the inverse for Hae's story and Djeizal's story as read by Haes, providing each of the four with a unique combination of tense and voice. The Calawotan myths are told in such a way as to be unclear, and the conversations between Myeraidt and Gostuom change convention every time they appear. The second to last page features the only second person passage in the novel.

Formatting shifts around often. In contrast to usual Deysachni literature, which flows about the page, Calawo is written such that sections of the text form distinct blocks, visually resembling non-Deysachni literary stylings. This often takes the shape of a nest, wherein inner layers of story are surrounded by footnotes, implied to have been written by outer frames. In one particular example, page 837, seven different layers are nested within each other: The narrator records Haes's recount of Djeizal's dictation of Myeraldt's stating of Gostuom's reciting of a Calawotan myth, itself containing the retelling of a story, all of which is appended with a footnote, presumed to be written by the unnamed narrator at a point in the future from the outermost frame.

Several fonts are used within the novel, though this was not an intentional choice, as it was simply that Letauk wrote the novel on a series of proto-printers, which at the time were a new technology, with the only ones he could afford being prone to breaking down often. Despite this, however, the font changes occur with such regularity as to neatly break the novel into 15 or 16 sections.

Thematic analysis

The strongest themes in The Ways of the Calawo relate to the search for meaning in life, and the demystification of the mystical. Most characters within the book undergo at some point a crisis of purpose, in which they find their life lacking a direction. The large exceptions to this are Gostuom, who is singularly focused on protecting her people, and Ujmig, who is depicted as wholly satisfied despite being nominally a slave. Nemnor Haes and Morchuk undergo mirror character arcs; Haes begins as a drifter and and a drunk, and eventually finds his place among the Calawo, whilst Morchuk begins as an honored hunter among the Calawo and ends up as a drunk drifter. Haes, Djeizal, Myeraidt, and implicitly the unnamed narrator, each of whom acts as the protagonist of a segment of the story, seeks to understand the Calawo, though they end up all coming to different answers, ultimately changing the Calawo and being changed by them.

A strong sense of irony and pointlessness undercuts the whole of the story. Myeraidt's attempts to convert the Calawo lead to their reclusion, Djeizal's attempts to protect them lead to their corruption, the quarryrunner's attempts to infringe upon them lead to Haes aiding them, and it is heavily implied that Haes's sacrifice at the end of the story is meaningless, as he returns to them shortly after and seemingly fails to stop them from adopting Deysachni customs, and he ends up as alone by the end as he was at the start of the story. The narrator can be seen as the epitomy of this, as his sole opinion on the whole of the narrative is that it is boring, and considers the whole of his conversation with Nemnor a waste of time. Despite this ever-present irony, there is a silver lining of sincerity to be found, primarily in the Calawotan myths. The myths reframe the whole of the story not as a wasted endeavor but as an epic, shifting the focus away from the protagonists and back towards the Calawo. This interpretation is supported by the ending, wherein the reader is rewarded for their interest in the story by being implied as the creator, and the final myth stating the novel to have been not the legend of any man but of the Calawo themselves.

The mystical nature of the Calawo is shown eventually to be a false conception, and much of the novel is about how the Calawo are a very ordinary people, not idyllic as Djeizal believes nor savage as Myeraidt does, but human. Haes is the only of the protagonists to come to not see the Calawo as an other, eventually becoming a true member of the tribe, and though his efforts come to be for naught in the long run, his final words to the narrator imply he is happier that it occurred than if it had not.

Parallels to Real Life

The titular Calawo are based on the Carawo People, who can also be transcribed as the Calawo due to not distinguishing between rhotics and laminals. Letauk is himself half Carawo, as his paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother both were Carawo. Much of the material contained within which describes the Calawo is accurate to the real life customs, traditions, and history of the real Carawo, and a little over half of the sources mentioned in the footnotes are real documents. Sko'end F. Djeizal is based loosely upon Kreylsakt T. M. Ujomr, an early anthropologist who documented much about the Carawo, as well as numerous other less known peoples, but who is seen in the modern day as largely an unhelpful and unreliable source. Most of the Calawo names are not Carawo in origin, being largely made up. Hohrunhalef and his progeny are likely named after Horhunhalfingr, a Wisicjo poet.

Though the Calawo are a Deysachni people, they are written about in a way that draws clear parallels to non Deysachni cultures discovered post-Calming.

Artwork

The front cover, drawn by Lyptuos Ghugerin, depicts a man in the foreground sat behind a bush writing in a journal, with a Calawo archer in the background standing in profile atop a rock aiming at an unknown target, with the framing of the two man in opposite directions such that it looks as though the Calawotan is going to fire the arrow directly into the other man's head.