The Strangers' Gallery
Page 47
(He sat down. For a moment, the room was very quiet.)
“What in the name of God are you talkin’ about, Miles?”
“Now that’s mostly true, Miles, as far as I can tell, but you got the names of the dogs wrong. Freud’s dog was called Old Slip, and Amulree’s was called Nana.”
“He makes you remember things, Miles—the Newfoundland, I mean. Soon as you go near him…lay your hand on him. I think that’s what it is…why they had him there, I mean.”
“I was there, Miles. I snuck into the last session at Bay Bulls. I don’t remember any dog.”
“There was a dog, Miles, but he wasn’t a Landseer. He was all black. My brother worked for the government and had to take him out during the recess to walk him around, so he could do his business.”
“He was a Labrador, Miles, a Little Newfoundland water dog. His name was Sir…or Sire. He was the father of Lady Barlow’s first dog, given her by the Earl of Malmesbury in England in 1929.”
“Yes, he was a black Lab, Miles…a Seein’ Eye dog…from the cnib. Didn’t you know that Amulree was blind?”
There’s none so blind, Francis. Lead me to the bar.
(But he remained seated, shook his head, intoned:)
Rose of memory
Rose of forgetfulness
O my people, what have I done unto thee.
“We love the place, O Lord. Forgive us but we do.”
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Bowdring is the author of two previous novels, The Roncesvalles Pass and The Night Season, the latter published to wide critical acclaim and broadcast nationally on cbc’s Between the Covers. He has worked for many years as an English teacher and editor. He was a long-time editor of TickleAce magazine and is currently an associate editor with The Fiddlehead. He lives in St. John’s.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My gratitude, first and foremost, to my editors: Patrick Murphy at Nimbus, for his insightful and meticulous editing of the final drafts of this novel; Stan Dragland, for his close reading and editing of early drafts; and especially my longtime editor Anne Hart, both for her editing acumen and her generous support and encouragement over the long life of this manuscript. My thanks to readers Glenda Ellsworth, Leo Furey, David Griffiths, Frank Holden, Marnie Parsons, Ruth Pierson, Gordon Rodgers, and Anne Simpson. Thanks also to Sean Brosnan, Michael Clair, Larry Dohey, Patricia Fulton, Peter Hart, Susan Hart, Hetty Koemans, Andrew Lang, Robin McGrath, Paul O’Neill, Robert Thompson, and Greg Walsh for providing useful information.
For ideas, information, and especially inspiration in the labyrinthine realm of Newfoundland history, I am indebted to the following authors, editors, and books: Cassie Brown, Standing into Danger; William Cormack, Narrative of a Journey Across the Island of Newfoundland; Jack Fitzgerald, Untold Stories of Newfoundland; Garfield Fizzard, ed., Amulree’s Legacy; John P. Greene, Between Damnation and Starvation; Les Harding, Historic St. John’s; Harold Horwood, Joey; Humber Valley Development Association, When I Was Young: a History of the Humber Valley; F. L. Jackson, Surviving Confederation; Wayne Johnston, Baltimore’s Mansion; Thomas Lodge, Dictatorship in Newfoundland; Gene Long, Suspended State; Kevin Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea; Peter Neary, Newfoundland in the North Atlantic World, 1929-1949; Peter Neary, ed., White Tie and Decorations; S. J. R. Noel, Politics in Newfoundland; Patrick O’Flaherty, The Rock Observed, Old Newfoundland, Lost Country; Paul O’Neill, The Oldest City; David G. Pitt, E. J. Pratt: The Truant Years; D.W. Prowse, A History of Newfoundland; J.R. Smallwood, Newfoundland Miscellany; and George Story, People of the Landwash. Various lectures, radio programs, periodical and anthology articles, and newspaper columns were also helpful, especially those by David Alexander, Jerry Bannister, Chris Brookes, John Fitzgerald, Ray Guy, Gordon Handcock, Michael P. Murphy, Neil Rosenberg, Christopher Sharpe, and Joan Sullivan.
The following books were very helpful in other areas: Harold Bloom, ed., Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; Ciaran Carson, Fishing for Amber; Jacques Derrida, Archive Fever; Denis Dutton, ed., The Forger’s Art; J. L. Granatstein and Peter Neary, eds., The Good Fight; Louis de Jong, The Netherlands and Nazi Germany; David Kaufman, ed., A Liberation Album; Bernard Martin, The Ancient Mariner and the Authentic Narrative; Peter and Linda Murray, The Penguin Dictionary of Art and Artists; Ian Nairn, Nairn’s London; John Newton, Authentic Narrative; and James Reynolds, Andrea Palladio and the Winged Device.
In the area of archival practice and theory, the ANLA Resource Binder for Small Archives, a publication of the Association of Newfoundland and Labrador Archives, was an important source of information. So too were numerous articles and reviews in archival journals, particularly those by George Bolotenko, Brien Brothman, Tim Cook, and Catherine Hobbs in Archivaria, and by Clarke A. Elliott and Harvey Mitchell in The American Archivist. cbc television’s “Children of the Liberation,” on The Fifth Estate, and cbc radio’s “The Liberation of Holland,” on The World at Six, presented much useful information on the Canadian liberation of the Netherlands in the Second World War.
My thanks to the Sisters of the Presentation Convent and to the staff of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly Legislative Library, the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Newfoundland Historical Society, and the Memorial University QEII Library and Centre for Newfoundland Studies for research assistance.
Finally, thanks to the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, the City of St. John’s Arts Jury, and the Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, for financial assistance toward the writing and editing of this book.