Going Some Place: Creative Non-Fiction Across Canada

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, the co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, and the author of The Salvation
Army and the Public.

Despite Van Luven’s inability to define creative nonfiction (except to
let us see what it is by observing it in action), her rather flimsy
justification of the book’s thematic rationale (location/dislocation),
and an implied belief that across Canada means British Columbia to
Ontario, Going Some Place is an eminently worthwhile venture. It
verifies the fact that nonfiction writing in Canada (creative or
otherwise?) is alive and well, that the diversity of such writing
(memoir, reflection, meditation, and so forth) is its salient feature,
and that Canadian writers bring to their craft a wealth of international
and local experience. In 25 often brilliant pieces, we share, both
experientially and aesthetically, in a variety of life
experiences—“childhood memories, growing old, geographical
displacement”—that enrich our own lives.

I particularly like the “Honeycomb of Memory” section, which
contains such memorable pieces as Caroline Woodward’s “Choir: A
Tribute,” Margaret Hollingsworth’s “Deaf Music,” and Daniel
Coleman’s “Not My Home.” Standouts in the other two
sections—“Question of Identity” and “Breathing
Spaces”—include Caterina Edwards’s “Under My Skin,” Myrna
Kostash’s “The Ballad of Frank Little,” and Wayne Grady’s
“Heart Failure.” From personal memoir to literary travelogue, this
excellent collection has something for everybody.