Aye Jesus,

esus God,

but we was drove

“Newfoundland is of the sea.”
And This Rock Within the Sea:
A Heritage Lost, written by
Farley Mowat and photographed
by John De Visser ($12.50, Little
Brown and Co.) is of the people
of Newfoundland. Not all the
people. The eight therfiatic sec-
tions in the book follow patterns
of work, play, birth and death
of Newfoundland’s out-port fish-
ing people who live on the
famous south-west coast.

This remarkable and beautiful
story is about a people sentenc-
ed to death by the wheeler-deal-

-er antics of tyrant Smallwood
and continentalist corporations
centred in Ontario whose only
use for Newfoundland is a mar-
ket for commodities and cheap
labor.

.. The book -has been criticised
by tourist-oriented St. John’s
business ‘men as depressing. To
this mentality. Newfoundlanders
ere the laughing half-wits who
star in Newfie jokes and pose
for Yankee camera nuts. It is
perhaps a depressing reminder
to Smallwood that his sell-out
ta U.S. oil trusts at Come-By-
Chance dooms a people.

But the creators of This Rock
Within the Sea incorporate more
in their vision of man than
tourist dollars or corporate pro-
fits. The book is not depressing.
.It’s true. And the truth is that a
form of cultural genocide is
being committed against the
out-port fishermen because Joey
and U.S. monopoly haven't
thought it profitable to extend

through modernization New-

foundlahd’s greatest asset, the
Grand Banks fishery:

Mowat and De Visser portray
this tragedy, glimpse at its his-
tory and sadden at its appar-
ently dismal future. The spirit
of the people is captured in

brilliant photo-portraits of the »

fishermen and their families,
portraits that rival “American
Gothic” in their stark, yet warn
presentation of a people whose
lives are a constant struggle but
not without humor and love. —

Mowat in turn captures some-
thing of their spirit with their
own words. One old schooner
skipper describes Newfound-
land’s struggle with the stormy
Atlantic, “Ah, me son, we don’t
be takin’ nothin’ from the sea.
We sneaks up on what we wants
—and wiggles it away.” But the
sea is not the adversary. Men
driven by power and profit poli-
tics are. A sense of this is con-
veyed by another fisherman,
who pleads with Mowat, “Could
you, do you think, say how it
was with us? We wouldn’t want
it though, you understand, that

we never tried the hardest as.

was in us to make a go of
things. We’d like for everyone to
know we never would have left
the places we was reared, but...

we. .was ... . drove! “Aye
Jesus, Jesus God, but we was
drove.”

Mowat describes the out-ports
as “small, strong worlds—bas-
tions of courage and endurance
wherein there dwelt a resolute
and prideful race.” As with

every destruction of a people,
the greatest tragedy is recorded
with the young. Over two mil-
lion people of Newfoundland
descent find themselves _scat-
tered over North America. Cos-
mopolitan culture cozens its way
by radio and television into the
lives of the young. Their herit-
age is denied, and denigrated as
an obsolete and hopeless way
of life.

But many of the young per-
sist with a dream to be them-
selves, to build on their culture
and their fishery through mod-
ernization. The last comment in
the book is from a young girl.
“The worstest thing I know is
that we got to go away. I
watches the gulls following the
boats out there and I wishes I
was a gull sometimes, because
nobody makes them go away
from where they belongs. Those
gulls are some lucky. They can
stay and live in Burgeo until
they dies. It won’t be very long
before they’s nobody here ex-
cept the gulls at all.’ And the
last photograph is of the con-
stant sea lashing the unmove-
able rock coast.

This Rock costs more than it
should. Smallwood backed out
of subsidizing it. He doesn’t
like Mowat. Neither do those
who rule Upper Canada and
would like to pass off New-
foundlanders with a racist joke,
rather than face the truth. And
you should buy This Rock pre-
cisely because it does tell the
truth. With a vengeance.

Charlie Boylan.

Winnipeg ballet WOW in USSR

Anna Ilupina, a ballet critic,
writes about the premiere of
the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, in
Leningrad, which began their
tour of the Soviet Union.

“On November 29, all ballet

people of Leningrad (the city
where Russian academic chore-
ography has been developing for
200 years), came to their first
meeting with the Canadian bal-
let company. Nowhere else does
the audience understand ballet
so well and nowhere does it
make such demands on ballet
as in Leningrad. And the first
night of the Royal Winnipeg
Ballet had the warm approval of
the audience.

“The program included ‘Aimez-
vous Bach’ and ‘Princess Naissa’
by Brian MacDonald, ‘Still Point’
by Todd Bolender and ‘Better
Weird’ by Agnes de Mille.

“All productions enjoyed a
good reception. The audience
liked the exotic nature of the
Scottish fairy-tale and the dra-
matic fate of characters in ‘Bit-
ter Weird.’ They were moved by
the history of the heroine’s love
in ‘Still Point’ and were inter-

~ ested in the theatricalized class-
es of daily training for ballet
dancers set to the music by
Bach.

But the humor, infectious

gaiety and grace of “Princess .

Naissa” eclipsed all the rest. At
any rate, while exchanging first
impressions with the famous
PACIFIC TRIBUNE—DECEMBER 13, 1

968—Page 10

Leningrad ballerina and famed
teacher Natalia Dudinskaya, I
heard her say:

“Good taste and a sense of
humior are a precious gift of any
choreographer. These qualities
were best reflected in the pro-
duction of ‘Princess Naissa’ by
Brian Macdonald. Prima balleri-
nna Christine Hennesy and the
choreography of her part are
fascinating. An Adagio with
four partners, unexpected paro-
dy supports, the astounding
aplomb of the ballerina, her
femininity and charm—all evoke
a merry smile and captivate you
with its grace and harmony.
Richard Rutherford, Detleft Hop-
mann, David Moroni, Winthrop
Corey are excellent dancers.
They are well trained, know
(true, to varying degress) the
techniques of virtuoso dancing,
and their variations had deserv-
ed applause.”

Konstantin Sergeyev, artistic
director of the world-famed bal-
let of the Leningrad Kirov Aca-
demic Theatre, added his com-
ments:

“Well done. It is not easy to
get such results with Arnold
Spohr’s small company.

“The persistence and_ tho-
roughness with which our Can-
adian colleagues work evoke ap-
proval. The diversity of the re-
pertoire is delightful. The fact
that among the spectacles are
quite a few vroductions to the
music of Russian classics —
Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Rakh-

maninov and Soviet composers
Asafiev and Kabalevsky — is
very pleasing. But we regret
that the program of the tour
does not include spectacles to
this music and also that we

shall not see dances of ourCan- .

adian friends to the music of
Delibes, Adam and Drigo. Rus-
sian ballet dancers dance so
much in ballets of these remark-
able authors that they would
particularly like to see how the
Canadians do this.”

Following Leningrad the Roy-
al Winnipeg Ballet will perform
in Odessa and then in Moscow.

Novosti.

Theodorakis re-arrested—

Greek composer Mikis Theo-
dorakis appeared briefly in an
Athens court Dec. 4, handcuffed
and heavily guarded.

The 43-year-old composer
was charged with insulting the
authorities in December, 1966,
four months before the army
seized power in Greece.

The case was adjourned in-

definitely because of the absence’

of several key witnesses. A
court official said the hearing
might take place in about six
weeks. :

Theodorakis was arrested at
his villa overlooking the Gulf

of. Corinth last summer and |

This Rock Within the Sea: A Heritage Lost |

Young Canadian poets on the
left tell where it’s at, in the
poetry supplement of the cur-
rent issue of Scan. Their
themes range from politics to
love, from the city to Chaucer’s
ghostly impression of anti-
monster campaigns. Their tech-
nical predilections go from free

verse to obsessions with rhyme. -

Consider the humanism of
the: poem by Jayne Morozoff,
who says: “Share this world
with the blind and sighted . . ./
. . . It is ours to share, share
it/all of it.” :

Or the impetuous rhythm of

“Then fall flowerspear fields
snow-under, snow, republic,
words: all fall, for... ./; = s.all

used up, blown, snown under in-—

archaism.” in Brian Mossop’s
poetry.

Look at the emphasis on the
killing pace of industry in
Charlie Boylan’s poem: At
Lasco / young men/ jump/ when
sheer / edge/ fails to cut through
or runaway/ bar/ collides the
deadhead/ showers/ sparks/ in
eerie light/ of speed-up sweat
and steel-heat.” Z

Or the emphasis on despair-
ing hope of Evert Hoogers,
when he writes “and what will

be on the morrow my dove/ with’

us and with gravity?/ why that
will go down with the sun my
love/ and a continent into the
sea.”

taken to a remote mountain vil-
lage in the Peloponnese.

He was surrounded by secur-
ity officers during the few
minutes he was in court.

Charged with him were five
other defendants, including
Elias Eliou, former Parliament-
ary spokesman .for the banned
United Democratic left (EDA)
Party, who is at present in a
prison hospital.

Mr. Eliou, 64, was arrested
immediately after the army
takeover in April, 1967, with all
the other deputies of his party.
_ An MP of the Left-Wing EDA
Party, Mikis Theodorakis escan-
ed arrest when the junta rounc:

ES

160 PAGES, WITH A TEXT BY FARLEY MOWAT AND 157 PHOTOGRAPHS BY JOHN DE VISE

— Our poets
~ learning poetry

c

Consider the delicacy of Fe
hours when talk like smokél *
curled and pungent/ about —..
mouths.” in Sharon Stevens |
poetry. she
And the robust humor of “so
older youth, Henry Meyer
far success, until it was \
covered that our giants ha@ =
devoured/ without discrill
tion, ninety guards/ ose
watched the pris’nors in wei
lonely parts./ And here
trouble started. First the iin] mT
the unlucky guardsmen % ait
a din/ their friends and CM),
ors joined the lament,/ ip
church, the press, a prophet
a tent./ And in a month OF a8
the demonstration/ of grief ¢
voiced by more than half
» nation.” atl
The poems show very Clete
the bitter-sweet of living 7 49:
temporary Canada. Similaf
those of the earlier Scan ine)
supplement of June, 1966 ee
represent the increasing if 1
in poetry among young Cre
dians, as well as the 8!
preoccupation of these Yo.
poets with social themes.
much contemporary is
which veers between lytic
unintelligibility, and te? i
tiousness, some of these Peace
manage to speak with = olf
about the graceless things © ats
society. It would seem our pe

are learnin oetry. : ;
B poe’ pail

ed up all progressives where

seized power in August,
but was later arrested. ger
He was reported to be “his”
ously ill while in jail, 2 py
illness was used as a prove?
the junta for not bringing, fel
to the court where he 2? 108
low progressives faced cha the
of seeking to overthrow
junta, although Theodo™ y,
himself said he wished to 4P ude
The junta refused to int
him in an amnesty annov’ ite
at the end of 1967, but 4
judges had upheld his ap he
against three jail sentence,j5
was released in January

ae ‘
a ; -