Andrew Mercer's Blog

I knew that I was taking on a huge undertaking in attempting to read from front to back D.W. Prowse’s A History of Newfoundland and I knew that I might not, OK probably would not, make it through, so I’m not surprised that I’ve decided to back away for now. The book is a valuable resource and I think it is best suited for me right now as a reference when reading books written about Newfoundland history or culture. I’m still reading, although I’ve been leaning more towards watching films and writing up summaries (to keep the writing juices flowing – small, but better something than nothing in this case). Here is what is on my plate for the next week or so:

Shadows and Echoes: The Man and His Poetry by R.A. Parsons
How To Read Slowly: Reading for Comprehension by James W. Sire

The first book is part of my Newfoundland reading list, but the second is a book that I have had since 2006 and have really wanted to read it, but have never gotten around to it. I saw it two nights ago on my bookshelf, realized that it was only less than 200 pages in length and decided to read it finally. Hoping to have it finished by end of tomorrow night.

Here are some movies that I have watched recently and have written summaries up about:

Shutter Island
Adventureland
Rendition
The Losers
Yes Man

Maybe I’ll post some of those summaries up, but maybe not. Will have to see.

OK, so now that I’ve finished Ferryland: The Colony of Avalonia by B.D. Fardy (which was a very entertaining read; will revisit that one in the near future I think) it’s time to move on to the next book in my reading list; I think I will start the exhaustive, highly recommended work of D.W. Prowse: A History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial, and foreign records. At first glance it appears to contain approx 700 pages of late 19th century/early 20th century English prose so I hope that I can make it through! I know that the value of the historical and culture content found inside is worth the extra work needed to get past any personal aesthetic hindrances that might arise so I shouldn’t have a problem …

My son and I were relaxing outside today when he slouched down in his patio chair and playing with his Nana’s bracelet, put it on top of his knee said, “Look Daddy, my knee is King!  King of the world!”

So that’s who’s in charge.  That explains a lot.

The history of Ferryland, much like the rest of Newfoundland, is genuinely surprising me with the calibre of the events that have taken place there.  I’ve just read a bit about Bouys Island or Isle aux Bois, just off the coast of Ferryland harbour and its use as a defense against attacks.  The island was heavily fortified starting at around 1743 and ending at around 1815, after the War of 1812.

The event that most caught my attention was during the year 1762.  The French had attacked and captured St. John’s and were headed for Ferryland to do the same; the governor of Ferryland put the women and children onto Bouys Island, instructed them to defend the settlement if needed and the men started off for St. John’s to fight the French there.  Sure enough, two French ships appeared in the harbour and what did the women do?  They opened up the cannons, damaged one of the ships with their fire and forced the ships to leave!  Amazing.

There is some part of me that knew there was a group of people (other than native Indians of course) that lived in this manner at some point time in Newfoundland, and now I’ve been enlightened a little bit about who they were!  Apparently, the Society of Masterless Men was begun around the year 1750 on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula in and around Ferryland on the southern shore.  It was started by a deserter from the British Royal Navy named Peter Kerrivan who with his society of  men are said to have lived in the wilderness (lots of tuckamore!) surrounding the Butterpot Barrens for roughly 50 years.  They lived off the land and traded with the settlements, but it is said that some times they raided and stole.  However, they never stole from the poor or less wealthy, which is why they became known (probably due to legends) as akin to Robin Hood.  Very interesting – I would definitely love to read more about these guys.  Anyone know of any other books or resources that mention the Society of Masterless Men from Ferryland?

While reading Ferryland: The Colony of Avalonia by B.D. Fardy, I came across a mention of the massacre at Shenectady in New York in 1690 by Pierre le Moyne Sieur d’Iberville’s posse of French-Canadian and Huron Indians.  It is reported* that along with virtually the entire town being destroyed, there was also a lot of casualties including 10 women and 12 children.  This is an event that I would like to know more about, only I can’t seem to find any books that go more into depth on the subject at the moment.  (Maybe the History of Canada by William Kingsford, but his books are getting rare as far as I can tell).  Any suggestions?

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenectady_massacre

I’m currently reading Ferryland: The Colony of Avalonia by B.D. Fardy and I found it interesting that there is a connection between Ferryland, Newfoundland and Baltimore, Maryland – they were both founded by the same man: Lord Baltimore a.k.a. George Calvert (technically, George Calvert’s son, Cecil’s (the second Lord Baltimore) name appears on the title of Maryland [Mary's Land] because George, the first Lord Baltimore died days before the title was granted after years of petitioning for it). This is great because I’ve always been interested in the history of the Eastern United States (I read George Washington in the American Revolution by James Thomas Flexner and found it absolutely amazing!). This may gave rise to another theme in regards to my monthly reading list once I have finished with Newfoundland! Of course I don’t think I will be “finished” with reading books about Newfoundland anytime soon, so I may possibly be working on both at the same time.

Three months since my last blog post …. jeez.

I didn’t get through the books listed in my last reading-list-related blog post and I chose to back burner some of the titles listed in exchange for some different ones. I’ve decided to read a variety of books that I’m hoping will help me better understand Newfoundland history and culture so the new list of books together form a bit of a Newfoundland centred theme. Here is the new list:

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx (half-way finished)
A History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial, and foreign records by D.W. Prowse
Ferryland: The Colony of Avalonia by B.D. Fardy
A Question of Time by J.F. Cuff
Shadows and Echoes: The Man and His Poetry by R.A. Parsons
The Newfoundland Quarterly: Its Evolution Over an 85 Year Period

Books from March that I completed:
Death On The Ice by Cassie Brown*
The Sound And The Fury by William Faulkner
Random Passage by Bernice Morgan*
Haunted Shores: True Ghost Stories Of Newfoundland And Labrador by Dale Jarvis*

Hopefully I’ll get some time to review my trip back to Newfoundland because it was pretty amazing.

* Related to Newfoundland history and culture.

After I finished season one of Californication, I decided that I would watch it a second time and write down some notable quotes to use with UNIX’s fortune program so that I could get a Californication quote each time that I opened a terminal. If you’d like, you can download the file HERE. If you need a little help getting fortune to work, I’ve written a tutorial which you can find HERE.

Before you start reading this book, you may want to know a few things about it:

1. Stream Of Consciousness. The book’s narration style is stream of consciousness which means that the writer tries “to portray an individual’s point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character’s thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her actions.” (Wikipedia) This makes the book a difficult read. The book has three parts all written from the perspective of the three brothers of one Caddy Compson. The first part is written from the perspective of her mentally challenged brother Maury/Benjamin/Benjy, the second part her maladjusted brother Quentin and the third part her spiteful brother Jason. The first part is the most difficult to read and each successive part gets easier with Jason’s being the least difficult to read.

2. Timeline. Each part of the book takes place in the present – part one takes place on April Seventh, 1928, part two on June Second, 1910 and part three on April Sixth, 1928; however, there are many flashbacks throughout parts one and two with no indication that they are flashbacks (except for the words being in italics) and no way to tell how many years, days, months back these flashbacks take place, only that they have happened prior to the present (Beny’s flashbacks happen over a period of many years I think). Something that I didn’t do was search for/create a timeline which would have been helpful for keeping things organized.

3. Character Names. Caddy’s mentally challenged brother, Benjy (as he is most commonly called) is called three different names throughout the novel: Maury, Benjamin and Benjy. There are two characters named Quentin in the novel: Caddy’s older brother and her daughter who I assume she named after her brother (at one point in the book, I think during a flashback, Quentin is referred to as ’she’ which was quite confusing because I had no idea at that point that Caddy gives birth to baby girl, nor in fact that she had named her Quentin). There are also several servants/slaves employed or whatever by the Compson family (Roskus, Luster, T.P, Dilsey, Frony, Versh etc) and it is hard to keep track of who they all are especially in relation to each other apart from being in the employ of the Compson family.

Further Reading:

MCSR Faulkner Page
The Sound and the Fury – Hypertext Edition
Cummings Study Guides – Sound and the Fury