Newfoundland and Labrador

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta. He is co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, author of The Salvation Army and
the Public, and editor of “Improved by Cult

Look at the front cover, where John Sylvester’s magnificent Atlantic
puffins photo fills the 26 x 26 centimetre space, or even at the back
cover that features his captivating picture of a quiet morning in
Hart’s Cove, its quaint houses basking in the sun and cathedral
icebergs in the background. Those alone are enough to tempt even the
most fastidious tourist. And when one browses through the interior, with
its impressive two-page photo of “The Battery,” or the row of
jellybean houses, or move farther alongshore to the picturesque town of
Rose Blanche, or up the Northern Peninsula to the majestic Gros Morne
mountains, or even across the Strait of Belle Isle to Labrador, the
overall impression of a province unique in its lifestyle and beauty is
forcefully portrayed. For it is a pictorial made for browsing—just an
album of Newfoundland pictures. It does not pretend to thematic unity,
or even to thematic categories; nor does it offer the viewer an
intelligent written commentary on the culture or history of the
province. In fact, the captions to the pictures are scanty and often
irrelevant (or sometimes ludicrous) as when that of the final picture, a
lonely house with a wide expanse of ocean behind it with not a living
soul in sight, states that “More than half a million people call
Newfoundland and Labrador’s 404,520 square kilometres their home.”
What we really want to know is: Where is this lonely place so we can get
away from the half million people? But, that quibble aside, the
pictorial is handsome, the photos impeccably prepared, and the colour
beautifully reproduced. An ideal tourist companion.