The Way of the Sea

J.V. Rahilly was an engineering librarian in Ontario.

This is a photographic reproduction of a book originally published in New York in 1903. The ten tales here, conceived mainly for McClure’s, Harper’s, and the Atlantic Monthly, were fictionalized documentaries set in a mythical Newfoundland outport called Ragged Harbour. They are, indeed, based on three summers that Duncan spent at Exploits Island in Notre Dame Bay, part of the northeast coast, at the turn of the century. It is good to see these stories now returned to the world of print since they can be regarded as a landmark of sorts in Canadian literature, revealing the life of the Newfoundlanders — both the good and the bad sides of their existence and their fight with nature.

Duncan, born in Ontario and raised in New York, writes in a vivid, journalistic style with overtones of religious feelings. According to the introductory essay by John C. Adams, this has apparently detracted from the documentary style since Duncan writes as a close participant, as one being too close to the action. Adams has also furnished a biobibliography of Duncan, noting those materials “by” and “about” him.