FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1999. All Rights Reserved
| Books by Harry Vandervlist From Frisco to Xanada Towards the end of 49th Parallel Psalm, Wayde Compton quotes a 1969 history of Salt Spring Island which alleges that ever since the first black immigrants to the area found "the freedom they had never known in their own land," their descendants "wisely do not look back." Well, Compton has a different idea of wisdom, and looks hard at both past and present in this multi-genre tale of pilgrimage from the U.S. to Canada’s West Coast. Here's the historical backbone: in 1858 James Douglas, the first governor of the B.C. and Vancouver Island colonies, encouraged black immigration from California. Labourers, sick of being disenfranchised at home, came north – to a supposed Zion, a Xanadu. Fat chance. With the help of black arrivals, governor Douglas managed to solve his problem and stem a labour shortage caused by the gold rush. But that didn't mean Victoria's Colonial Theatre wasn't segregated. Compton's verse and prose allude to the Old Testament, to dozens of pop songs, to loas and Legba, to Franz Fanon and Chinua Achebe and Dionne Brand. In fact, Brand's book Land to Light On makes an interesting comparison to 49th Parallel Psalm. Brand began by emphasizing introspection, inviting readers to learn how to interpret the meditative, exploratory interior language of her book's early poems on the strangeness of arrival. Compton starts out loud, with poems that manhandle language to evoke the dance clubs where they're set. This provides an apparently familiar present that becomes a curtain for Compton to rip away, revealing seldom-told histories and asking unsettling questions. Such as: is arrival ever really complete? As the first title to appear under Michael Turner's new Advance Editions imprint, 49th Parallel Psalm comes with a smart, respected editor's seal of approval. So it's no surprise that the book shows Compton to be skilled, word-savvy and politically aware. The book's accessibility to a first reading, and the sheer fun and pleasure in the way it unfolds, then folds back upon itself, are extra treats. |
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