The Wild Rose Anthology of Alberta Prose

Description

409 pages
$34.95
ISBN 1-55238-079-3
DDC C810.8'097123

Year

2003

Contributor

Edited by George Melnyk and Tamara Palmer Seiler

Emily Walters Gregor is a graduate student in 20th-century American
literature and an ESL writing tutor at the University of Minnesota.

Review

George Melnyk and Tamara Palmer Seiler are both instructors at the
University of Calgary. Their purpose in compiling this anthology was not
to provide a comprehensive history of Albertan literature, but rather to
show the various influences and styles that make up a collective sense
of Albertan literary identity.

The anthology begins with a transcription of a Blackfoot oral myth by a
Dutch scholar and ends with a postmodern interpretation of the Native
oral tradition by Thomas King. The pages between cover various genres of
Albertan writing. One such genre is “Pioneering Narratives,” which
involves articulating the differences between the American and Canadian
pioneer experiences and mapping the transformation from the Aboriginal
way of life to agrarian, European dominance.

The “Prairie Gothic” is also represented, depicting the era
immediately following the Depression. These stories portray the growing
tension between the old world and the new while conveying details of
small-town life.

Mountain and urban settings each receive their own section in the
anthology, embodying the conflict in Albertan culture between the
mystical and mythologized presence of rural mountain life and
Alberta’s rapid urbanization. These themes of change and resulting
tension are also present in the section devoted to “Voices of
Resistance,” which provides a forum for writers concerned about the
social changes that arrived with the oil boom. Finally, the anthology
returns to “Aboriginality,” a showcase for minority writers
attempting to find their place in Alberta culture and literature.

Though this anthology does not present a complete literary history of
Alberta, it does provide an illustration of many facets of Alberta
identity, and its various sections and selections come together to
create a clear representation of what the editors believe to be the
defining characteristics of that identity. The Wild Rose Anthology of
Alberta Prose contributes some voices and perspectives to the field of
Alberta and Canadian literary history that might otherwise be
overlooked.

Citation

“The Wild Rose Anthology of Alberta Prose,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed February 16, 2025, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/17871.