Bought at the St. Vital Library book sale. This is the New Canadian Library edition #70.

I never knew that Margaret Laurence had lived in Africa or that she wrote short stories about Africa. This unexpected find was my choice for my July Canadian classic read and it was terrific.

The stories take place in Ghana just before and after it gained its independence from Britain. The expatriate experience is revealed in The Drummer of All the World, The Perfume Sea, The Merchant of Heaven and The Rain Child. The African point of view is explored in the other stories. Of them all I think the title story is the best but they are all great and well-written.

I will be reserving this book for the 2007 Canada Day challenge.

Given as a RABCK by gypsysmom on a trip to Ottawa. Thanks!!

From the publisher:
"The ten stories gathered together in The Tomorrow-Tamer are Margaret Laurence’s first published fiction. Set in raucous and often terrifying Ghana, where shiny Jaguars and modern jazz jostle for eminence against fetish figures, tribal rites, and the unchanging beat of jungle drums, the stories tell of individuals, European and African, trying to come to terms with the frightening world brought about by the country’s new freedom.

With the same compassion and understanding she would bring to her later fiction set in Canada, Laurence succeeds brilliantly in capturing the atmosphere of a continent and of individual men and women struggling for survival under the impact of the wind of change."

I really enjoyed these stories of West Africa at the twilight of European colonialism. They are filled with ambivalence as old beliefs and traditions die away as the modern world invades/is embraced. It's a very difficult situation (and we see it everywhere, not just in the colonies of Europe). With modern science and the global monoculture, we are all in a continual process of loss, as languages, stories, beliefs, habitat, tribal (or rural) lifestyle are replaced with what's new, modern, clean, intelligible, monolithic, American (often). This is a theme that Alistair MacLeod explored in his books, though his focus was on the Gaelic culture of Cape Breton.

I'm looking forward to reading more of Margaret Laurence (coming soon to my CanLit Challenge).

Sending this out on a ring.

1. bibliotreker (Pennsylvania, USA)
2. ldpaulson (California, USA)
3. Red-Ram (Alabama, USA)
4. mrsgaskell (Manitoba, Canada)
5. brewster13 (Alberta, Canada)
6. ajsmom (British Columbia, Canada)
7. molekilby (Wales, UK)
... Back to Ibis3 (Ontario, Canada)

You know the drill: journal when you get it, read it within a month, contact me if you take longer than a month to let me know the status, make a journal entry when you send it to the next person. Thanks and have fun reading!

Arrived in PA today. These look like interesting short stories by Margaret Laurence. I haven't read anything by her, so this should be a good introduction.
Thanks ibis3 and gypsysmom.

What a great selection of short stories at dawn of independence in the African countries. There were European expats. who, all of a sudden, found themselves having to leave Africa and to turn it over to the natives Africans. There were the Africans who wondered what exactly was this thing called "Free-Dom" meant. It expounds on gaps between the educated, city dwelling more sophisticated black African and the so called bushmen Africans and the conflicts between their two worlds. There were the missionaries who tried to introduce their God on a population that had their own religious practices. Kind of reminiscent of the current novel Poisinwood Bible.

Even though these stories were written in the 50's and 60's I still find them refreshing. In a way, we're ahead of the game since we now know what follows.

My husband grew up in Central Africa around this time. His family was one of the many European families that had to leave with the pre-independence struggles. So this book connected me with the world of his childhood.

I've contacted ldpaulson, the next person on the list.

4/26/07
Sending this out tomorrow to ldpaulson
who asked me to hold on to it for while. It's better on her to TBR pile than with me where it might get lost since I finished reading it a while ago and might forget I still have it. Besides, I hate to hold on to anything too long when I know other people are waiting to read it.

Mailed to ldpaulson 4/27/2007

(sent to ldpaulson) ISO ldpaulson: Did you get this book? If so, please journal it and let me know its status. Thank you.