Martha Ostenso (1900–1963)

This novel is said to have marked a change in the style of Canadian literature in favour of realism over romanticism, and was considered groundbreaking when it was written in 1923. To me, reading it for the first time in 2012, it is a novel that has stood the test of time. The story remains intriguing and the characters ring true even today.

This novel examines what holds people together: love, fear, loyalty. It also examines the sense of self, and how much we can or should deny ourselves. And, in Lind (the school teacher) and Judith Gare (youngest daughter of the tyrannical Caleb Gare, we see the tension between freedom and family ties.

Well written; worth reading as an examination of Canadian literature and as simply a good story.… (plus d'informations)

The Gare family lives in northern Manitoba - a cold, lonely place. They are ruled by Caleb Gare, the patriarch who controls his clan with cruelty and hard physical labour. Caleb holds a deadly secret over his wife Amelia, a secret that could ruin the entire family. This binds their children, Martin, Ellen, Charlie, and Judith, to a monotonous life working the land. Into the Gares' world comes Lind Archer, a young woman contracted to teach at the local school. Lind brings with her a more delicate way of life, and encourages Judith to break away from her cold existence.

Wild Geese marked a change in Canadian literature. Here, we have the meeting of romance and realism, of the old and the new. Juxtaposing the romantic, idealistic notions of Lind with the raw, gritty passion of Judith, Ostenso moves Canadian writing away from its Victorian past firmly into the modern era. Written in the 1920s, Wild Geese was the first novel by a woman who succeeded in becoming very popular. Ostenso has since fallen out of fashion, and I only discovered this novel through a chance encounter with the clearance shelf of my alma mater's used book store. Evidently, some Canadian Lit grad student had not found Wild Geese worthy of keeping, and so I snagged it for $1. Boy, am I glad that that grad student had such poor taste in literature. Wild Geese truly was an unexpected gem of a novel.

Ostenso's writing is stark, much like northern Manitoba, and the character of Judith is far from the Victorian norm. She is wild, abrasive, and a totally compelling entity. Caleb Gare is a villain worth hating, and the rest of his family, along with Lind, make for an interesting cast.

I love when novels take you by surprise, just as this one did. As a mixture of early and modern Canadian writing, it contains the best elements of both eras. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the development of Canadian Literature.… (plus d'informations)

“Lind wondered, as she had wondered time and again since her coming to Oeland, if there was any means in her power by which she might bring a little happiness into the lives of the Gares. And then in a moment, she was overwhelmed by her helplessness against the intangible thing that held them there, slaves to the land. It extended back farther than Caleb, this power, although it worked through him. Lind found herself longing for someone of her own world to talk with, someone to whom she might escape from the oppression of the Gares.”

“That’s a country for you. If there’s a God, I imagine that’s where he sits and does his thinking. The silence is awful. You feel immense things going on, invisibly. There is that eternal sky – light and darkness – the endless plains of snow – a few fir trees, maybe a hill or a frozen stream. And the human beings are like totems – figures of wood with mysterious legends upon them that you can never make out. The austerity of nature reduces the outward expression in life, simply, I think, because there is not such an abundance of natural objects for the spirit to react to. We are, after all, only the mirror of our environment. Life here at Oeland, even, may seem a negation but it’s only a reflection from so few exterior natural objects that it has the semblance of negation. These people are thrown inward upon themselves, their passions stored up, they are intensified figures of life with no outward expression – no releasing gesture.”… (plus d'informations)