Who Will Remember the People...
Who Will Remember the People... is a 1986 novel by French author Jean Raspail. It tells the history of the Alacalufe people, also known as the Kaweskar, a native South American group that is largely extinct. In the story, two main characters reappear in every generation, linking events across centuries. The Kaweskar call themselves “the people” in their own language.
Raspail met members of the tribe in the early 1950s, a meeting that left a strong impression and inspired the book.
The novel was translated into English in 1988 by Jeremy Leggatt. It won the Chateaubriand Prize and the Inter Book Prize.
Critical responses were mixed. The New York Times reviewer, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, criticized Raspail for portraying the Kaweskar in a negative light—portraying them as seafarers who “never even invented the sail” and describing their food from a European viewpoint. She did, however, praise his skeptical view of Europeans and especially his portrayal of Charles Darwin, while questioning whether it is right to tell a story about an extinct nation rather than about people who are still living.
Jack Schmitt of the Los Angeles Times felt that other writers, like Bruce Chatwin and Mario Vargas Llosa, did a better job showing the inner life and myths of indigenous groups. He still found Raspail’s work engaging and noted that the translation was excellent, calling the book a meaningful historical fiction that raises ethical questions about how people treat one another.
Overall, the book uses conversations between cultures to tell a thought-provoking story about memory, extinction, and humanity.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:12 (CET).