In his engaging and accessible chronicle of the magnificent Rhine, aptly titled “The Boundless River”, Mathijs Deen expresses his longing to venture upstream to locate the river’s source located in the southeastern Swiss mountains. Deen is keen to spot the exact point where the young stream can be vaulted over. Although the author’s aspiration made this reader slightly apprehensive due to its flavor of man’s continued urge to dominate and regulate nature – mirroring the practice of tracing a river to its conjectured origin, akin to Stanley’s exploration of the Nile and Congo source. Deen eventually discovers a suitable location – nevertheless, his voyage across the Rhine does not amount to an epic feat: “Rather unheroically, I choose to scramble instead of leap, traversing the Rhine in three uncertain, slippery steps, in a rather comical spectacle, though unseen as there were no observers. I kneel on the snow and drink from the Rhine; it has a mineral taste.”
Soon, Deen begins to perceive the Rhine, and indeed all rivers, in a more extensive context, which is quite distant from man’s perceived control – a revelation that adds depth and vibrancy to his work. Not only does the Rhine encompass the water coursing between its shores, but also the expanses of its enormous drainage basin; what we observe is simply one component of a colossal entity that receives rain. As he delves into spatial aspects in his book, so he does with time. “The Rhine has always been present,” asserts Deen: it flowed three million years ago, predating mankind’s existence, and will continue to do so when humanity is extinct.
In the backdrop of the immense passage of planetary time, Deen juxtaposes our relationship with, and the tragic effect we have on the Rhine. His narrative strikes a chord, and is refreshingly rare in its accord to the history of the fauna – the salmon, mastodons, and rhinos – whose existence has been intertwined with the Rhine. Increasingly, our rivers – be it in Canada, Bolivia, or New Zealand – are obtaining recognition as sentient beings, with legal entitlements. Deen’s work serves to underline why this notion merits consideration.
“Mother Naked: A radiant piece of hypothetical literature set in the 15th century, revealed in a fresh tab”