Gaffer

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
the co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British Views
of Canada, 1880–1914.

“She bided her time for him. Bundled in the tall beach grasses.
Grasses the near-colour of her hair. Ethereal blue eyes fixed through
the shifting stalks. Himself rose from the water, to shoulder height,
from the barnacled backside of Shag Rocks. A grievous lunge of his
flaccid limbs

to make it to the beach. He sank into the sludge sand and water and sat,
head limp between his knees.”

In this poignant and beautifully poetic novel, Kevin Major dramatizes
issues of great importance to Newfoundlanders. Through Gaffer, a
land-sea creature and an embodiment of the Newfoundland spirit, we
experience the island’s past and future, its greatness and possible
shame. Gaffer’s encounters with the past (Cabot, Beothuks, and even
Brigitte Bardot) and with present realities (a cod moratorium, lack of
employment, and a mass exodus to the mainland) force us to face the
anguish that confronts every modern Newfoundlander. Though there are no
definitive answers, there is a sense that there may still be a purpose
to it all. The spirit that is Gaffer is strong in its will to survive,
to take in “the air of the place, the air that penetrated to the core
of him” and “cleared his head of all that tried to clog his
brain.”