He Who Would Walk the Earth
by Griffin Bjerke-Clarke
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Pub Date Apr 30 2025 | Archive Date Aug 07 2025
Columbia University Press | Roseway Publishing
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Description
Sparse and dreamy, Griffin Bjerke-Clarke’s debut novel explores memory, identity, trauma, and healing through a timeless journey. Métis storytelling methods and elements of horror infuse He Who Would Walk the Earth, an anti-colonial western that powerfully evokes a mood reminiscent of twentieth-century classics like Waiting for Godot. This book unsettles as much as it stokes, dystopian in Felix’s apathy yet optimistic in the way he addresses challenges along his listless way. In the end, Felix must learn from his earnest mistakes as he begins to understand that agency requires collaborating with those around him.
Advance Praise
“He Who Would Walk the Earth is an anti-imperialist adventure that explores the strange and beautiful gifts of becoming who we are-and how we exist-in our individual and collective power. Bjerke-Clarke deftly blends western and fantasy genres in this innovative debut novel where relationality shapes reality.”
-- Tiffany Morris, author of Green Fuse Burning
“A walker journeys through a dystopian and mythically violent fairytale, where time and space are elastic and other-than-humans are central, to learn the lesson shared with him that ‘it doesn’t have to be this way.’ Partly a condemnation of the terrible costs of war and capitalism, Griffin Bjerke-Clarke reminds us, despite it all, we need to have hope.”
-- Deanna Redder, author of Autobiography as Indigenous Intellectual Tradition
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781773637228 |
| PRICE | $24.00 (USD) |
| PAGES | 160 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews
Se O, Reviewer
Thanks to Columbia University Press | Roseway Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC of 'He Who Would Walk the Earth' by Griffin Bjerke-Clarke.
This really is not an easy read but what an extremely interesting work of art Griffin Bjerke-Clarke has created.
The blurb comparison to Beckett's 'Waiting for Godot' is apt. We don't really know where or when this is set though the description and the clues in the narrative suggest it's post-apocalyptic, certainly dystopian. We don't really know who these characters are, which is apt since the main character with the fabulous and plucked-from-air name of 'Felix Babimoosay' doesn't really know who he is either.
Felix is wandering through this blasted landscape and time, displaying impressive physical stamina, encountering people and places who are either helping or hindering him, again, hard to tell and possibly learning more about himself and his situation as he progresses.
It also reminded me in tone and the impression it left on me of 'The Unconsoled' by Kazuo Ishiguro. Just a whole world that is *almost* recognizable to us, populated by people with or without a past, we don't really know, and - for me - terribly unsettling. I read that book over 20 years ago and although I don't think I enjoyed it, per se, I have never forgotten it nor the impression it left on me.
Another book it reminded me of in its dry, dystopian setting, mysterious setting, and unsettling nature is the classic 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' by Walter M. Miller Jr.
I applaud the mind that birthed this story and characters and Columbia University Press for publishing it.
Amanda D, Reviewer
He Who Would Walk the Earth blends western with a subtly dystopian setting. The atmosphere reminded me a bit of In the Distance by Hernan Diaz, a lone boy walking the dry plains, but He who would walk the is more eerie, more fast-paced, more reminiscent of something post-apocalyptic rather than historic. Griffin Bjerke-Clarke has crafted a compelling story in a short book and a main character (Felix Babimoosay) that intrigued me from the very first pages. For me, this was a "don't judge the book by its cover", cause what's inside the pages was much more intriguing to me than the cover. Very interested to see what Griffin writes next!
