December 2000 - Nr. 13
Views and Reviews
by Alidë Kohlhaas
The other reminder is the equally delightful, and very funny
Christmas pantomime, Peter Pan, at the Elgin Theatre, where it will be on
till January 6, 2001. Ross 
Petty
has again turned a well-known children’s story into what he calls "a
fractured fairy tale" to entertain old and young alike. He once again
plays the role of the villain, in this case Captain Hook, with much zest and
irreverence. Sheila McCarthy as Peter Pan wings through the air with much
grace despite having to take Gravol for the high flying. And then there is
Mr. Dressup, Ernie Coombs, who plays the storyteller, and a few surprise
roles in one of which he looks as if he had stepped right out of the
Pickwick Papers. The satire this year isn’t quite as biting as in past
seasons, but the show still entertains royally.
If you haven’t seen the CBC’s outstanding Canada: A People’s History, then be sure to look at the next episodes scheduled on the TV network in January. Episodes six to eight will air Sunday January 7, 14 and 21 from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m., and episode nine, just an hour long, will air on Tuesday, January 23 at 9:00 p.m.
This series proves that Canadian history is as exciting as that of our cousins south of the border. True, the series is at times superficial in the coverage of events, or it leaves events out that should have been included, but then, nothing is perfect.
The people in the Atlantic provinces must have felt left out during the airing of the first few episodes, which almost totally ignored their early history. There are also moments when anti-American sentiments put the blame wrongly for the expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia. The driving force behind that unhappy event in our history lies squarely on the shoulders of the British and Governor Lawrence. Blaming Benjamin Franklin and "the Americans" (who at the time were British colonists) is shifting the truth. Whitehall wanted very much to ensuring the French in Nova Scotia disappeared in one way or another.
Those of us, who know how deeply immigrants of German origin were involved in the building of Halifax (before Lunenburg), and the large proportion of Loyalist who came to Upper Canada that were German, find it disappointing that no mention of those facts are made. Still, this series is worth every moment of watching and every dollar the CBC has spent on it. One strongly disagrees with comments made by the series’ producer that it is unsaleable outside this country. Our southern cousins at PBS would surely find it interesting, as would European viewers, who lack knowledge of Canada and its history.
While speaking of history, Bernard Assiniwi, a member of the Cree nation, wrote an amazing book about the very early history of Newfoundland. The book appeared originally in French in 1996, and has now been released in English.
Assiniwi, who sadly died shortly before the English version of the book appeared, was a highly regarded curator of Eastern Subarctic Canada at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. He took his deep understanding and knowledge of the early history of the area to recreate the story of Newfoundland, beginning one thousand years ago with the Vikings’ arrival. He divided the story in three parts and closed it with the death of the last known Beothuk, the woman known to the European settlers as Nancy, and to her own people as Shanawdithit, in 1829.
In The Beothuk Saga, Assiniwi recreated how the early peoples, including the outsiders – the Bouguishamesh – lived, hunted, warred and made love. Outsiders were not just the Vikings and later Europeans, but also Inuit, who made short shrift of the Beothuk during any encounter. The writer combined his anthropological and historical knowledge with his creative imagination to provide plausible answers for some of the mysteries that have puzzled members of his profession for a long time. He also included in his book a lexicon of the Beothuk language, which is based on one written by Ou-bee, held captive in England around 1760. The saga thus takes us even deeper into the history of an extinct people. It will make an excellent Christmas gift for anyone interested in our earliest history. [The Beothuk Saga by Bernard Assiniwi, M&S, 341 pages, hardcover, $34.99]
The
Storyteller (Memory, Secrets, Magic and Lies) is also about history, but one
that is far more recent. Anna Porter, who happens to be one of Canada’s
most successful publishers, was born in Hungary and left there in 1956
following the unsuccessful revolution. In her story she recounts the tales
of the Hungarian people through the ages as told to her by her grandfather.
But, she also tells the more recent history through her own eyes, from the
experience of the horrors of that revolution.
While reading this books, and taking in the stories of the ancient heroes of the Hungarians, one begins to realize not only how little we know about these people, but that the little we do know, we have learned from a different perspective. And, for those of us, for whom the WWII ended in 1945, it is a revelation to read how that war continued in an indirect fashion behind the iron curtain for a much longer time. Most of all, one also sees clearly that totalitarian states, regardless of whether they are on the right or on the left, all use the same methods to keep people in line, and to maintain power. The book, however, also reveals that when the history of a nation or a people is turned into mythology and hero-worship, it is a history repeated over and over again, and never learned.
Porter brings compassion, humour, and a sense of sadness and loss to this story. She wrote it to commemorate her grandfather, but one feels, also to recapture a sense of place for herself. [The Storyteller (Memory, Secret, Magic and Lies) by Anna Porter, Doubleday Canada, 324 pages, hardcover, $34.95]
Comments to: alide@echoworld.com
