Fresh Tracks: Writing the Western Landscape

Lynne Perras teaches communication arts at the University of Calgary.

After attending the Writing the Land conference in Eastend,
Saskatchewan, English professor Pamela Banting wanted to create an
anthology that celebrated Western Canada and its people, and that
examined the ways in which the land affected its inhabitants and vice
versa. In Fresh Tracks, a collection of short stories, memoirs, essays,
and poetry by both established and beginning writers, Rudy Wiebe, Sid
Marty, Myrna Kostash, Fred Wah, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Lorna Crozier, and 40
others vividly explore the interrelationship between the natural world
and us. The book has nine sections, each dealing with various approaches
to the land and each containing several selections. A thorough
introduction by Banting begins the collection, and a lengthy list of
suggestions for further reading concludes it.

Taken together, the pieces communicate intriguing messages about the
land and our attitudes toward it. The vastness and beauty of the four
western provinces come through clearly, as does the complex nature of
the land (it can be frightening as well as comforting, threatening yet
life-affirming). There is also a great deal of humor to be enjoyed in
the West. No matter what the subject—the weather, the geography, the
animals—it is as if the land has left on its inhabitants an indelible
impression that time and space cannot diminish. As Myrna Garanis writes,
“been on course tried therapy / even clawed on stones / still can’t
ditch / that home-canned sound / that prairie tone.”

Fresh Tracks is recommended for anyone who wishes to absorb or become
reacquainted with the flavors and nuances of Western Canada.