Buffaloberries and Saskatoons

Laurence Steven is Chairman of the English Department at Laurentian
University and author of Dissociation and Wholeness in Patrick White’s
Fiction.

This poetry and short-stories anthology of the Canadian West was written
by Canadians of Dutch descent. It conveys, often wonderfully, both the
beautiful and unforgiving qualities associated with Western Canada, and
the newness that accompanies immigration.

The two poetry contributors provide a high-quality body of work that
ranges in style from nicely blocked and contained short-stanza pieces to
more experimental single-stanza poems and a lone prose poem. Sarah
Klassen’s poems clearly reflect her Mennonite background and the work
ethic associated with it. Her poems are earthy and readable, dealing for
the most part with her feelings about the plight of the immigrant farmer
and the lack of congruence between alien cultures (with a healthy dose
of childhood nostalgia thrown in for good measure). “Geography” is a
particularly effective prose poem, a style Klassen should perhaps
experiment with more frequently: “She serves tea nervously with cream
in good chipped cups on a frayed tablecloth. Her fear shatters my summer
dreaming under blue sky, the cool shade of poplars.”

Alice van Wart’s often excellent poetry is based on the feelings that
prairie landscapes and interaction with nature can inspire: “We pass
through yellow land / disfigured by wind, waterless / creeks and farms
huddled / into windswept fields.

This theme is explored further in Dick Dekker’s short stories of the
Yukon and his quest for the elusive wolf call, which seems to symbolize
the wild and defiant (though not fearsome) qualities of the Canadian
North. His stories, despite the detached, analytic qualities sometimes
evident, are effective and for the most part provide a vivid picture of
both his quest and his surroundings. Other short stories’ themes range
from nostalgic recollections of pre-immigration familiarities to
genuinely charming and extremely readable descriptions of new immigrant
experiences in different environments.

Although there are exceptions, on the whole the collection is free of
the limitations that can manifest themselves in the writing of a
distinct cultural group: unclear traditions, elusive references, and so
on. Generally, one can empathize with the immigrant feelings of the
contributors, as well as travel with them through regions of both land
and mind, exploring boundaries, abilities, and conflicts.