The Curse of Gutenberg: Storytelling with Dan Daniels

M. Wayne Cunningham is a past executive director of the Saskatchewan
Arts Board and the former director of Academic and Career Programs at
East Kootenay Community College.

Montrealer Dan Daniels created an interesting and impressive life as a
trade unionist, a labor organizer, a seaman, an accountant, a member of
the Communist Party of Canada, a social and political activist, an
author, editor, and playwright, a teacher, and a professional
storyteller known affectionately as “Dan the Storyman.” The Curse of
Gutenberg, published shortly before his death in January 2002, is a
collection of 31 of the favorite tales Daniels recited aloud in a
variety of settings to audiences ranging from elementary-school children
to senior citizens.

Most of the stories are fictional, while “a few are not, though not
necessarily absolutely autobiographical.” Commentaries appear at the
end of most of them. As befits the oral tradition of storytelling, the
pieces range in length from two to five pages. The language and style
are also characteristic of the genre. Characters and situations range
from an embarrassed teenage Romeo whose first date ends with him stuck
in a manhole cover, to an amorous tortoise with a fetish for nuns’
shoes, to an aggrieved youngster who “mistakenly” locks his father
in a tool shed, to a flustered young actor who guiltily basks in an
undeserving moment in the limelight. Sometimes, as in “The Quilt” or
in “Getting Away With It,” there is a moral to be learned;
sometimes, as in “Killing Pain,” there are tragic consequences
involved; and sometimes the story is one of sheer fantasy, as in
“Walking on Air.”

Equally enjoyable read aloud or silently, these well-crafted and
polished performance pieces are a fitting legacy for “Dan the
Storyman’s” legion of listeners.