THE NEWFOUNDLAND QUARTERLY :: ONLINE EXCLUSIVES
Online Exclusive for #429
"Did I tell you about Skipper Jimmy? He was up in the bay in a small boat fishing one time in the fall. I don't know if he was birding or what, out there late in the fall. A strong wind come up out of the northwest and he in a little rowboat. We figured he was gone. There was no wireless or anything around then. No way of contacting anybody to find out what happened to him. New came by the coastal boat them times and it didn't come around too late in the fall. Skipper Jimmy was gone and that was it…"
This is an updated version of Candace Cochrane's original compilation of texts and photos, published in 1981. It dates from 1967 and the material is drawn from communities on the Great Northern Peninsula. This re-issue includes some new pictures and stories, retaining all the vigour and charm of the crisp black and white photos and accompanying texts while amping up its archival and preservative value. Some of the people whose images and tales are recorded in this book have died. Some of the communities profiled have truly faded. But they last, here, in this glossary-leafed, gallery-formatted setting. Outport is deeply engrossing, funny and poignant: a real find.
"It seems that everyone that comes here likes this place and likes the people. There's a reason somewhere. Probably we don't see it, not as quick as you'd see it or some other stranger. I'm born and reared here, and whatever I got is me own. Now, if I had to go to St. John's and start paying rent, that would be a binder. You take here, I get up in the morning, go out and around with the rest of the men, talking about stuff — about the fish or lumber or something like that. But up there, I wouldn't be able to do that; they'd all be strangers. I'd be right astray.
All the same, people around here don't agree very much about running this town. If you go down to the harbour in the morning, more than likely you'll find all hands talking and nobody listening."
-N.Q. Back to Online Exclusives main page. |
