How Goes the Battle?

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

In the 19th century, American humorist Mark Twain immortalized one of
America’s great rivers in Life on the Mississippi. In the 1990s,
Alberta author Alan Arthur introduces readers to the Battle, a minor
river that flows through northern Saskatchewan and Alberta, in these two
short story collections. Arthur begins both books with introductory
regional briefings and then tells a series of colorful tales about the
locals. A certain persona emerges, a seasoned rustic who champions rural
life and values.

The author’s personal code balances moralistic and picaresque
tendencies. Lazyhead and Flipper, the young protagonists of
“Mini-Deliverance,” are viewed as future “bullshitters.” On the
other hand, the euphemism “the ‘s’ word” is used in “The Power
of Clams.” Little Jimmy’s mother teaches her son empathy toward a
“weird fat” farmer, enabling him to realize why “Marvin’s First
Fish” means so much to the poor “Hillbilly.” In “Elmer Saves the
Day,” children learn a different lesson: it is okay to rob an illegal
fish trap if you can get large youngsters to intimidate the poachers,
especially if the crooks happen to be Métis layabouts.

Arthur’s storytelling skills are inconsistent. In the cleverly
constructed “The Initiation,” a would-be flight student who endures
a daredevil pilot’s maneuvers turns the tables on his tormentor by
suggesting a dangerous stunt. But “Corn Man” fails: its “man pigs
out and throws up” plot is neither original nor engaging.

Although these books will not make the Battle River part of our
literary heritage, they may turn up in prairie souvenir stores.