The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1974, Qupperneq 54

52
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SPRING 1974
during recent sojourns in Iceland.
The tale itself is almost epic in pro-
portions. It opens in Brittany, with an
account of the young knight Kane-
langres, who was to be Tristram’s
father. It ends in Brittany as well, as
Tristram expires from his fatal wounds,
mistakenly believing that his beloved
has abandoned him to his fate and
refuses to forgive him for his ap-
parent infidelity to her. Other events
take place in Ireland, and many in
England (at the court of King Mark,
of Cornwall). Many of the incidents
in the story involve personal combat,
others are more fanciful—struggles
with dragons, giants ,etc. But under-
lying it all is the theme of love passion
of Tristram and Isond and the tragic
sense of fate which dominated their
relationship.
The language used throughout in
this translation is generally direct and
forceful, with a certain dignity which
is obviously most in keeping with the
subject of the story. The medieval
romance stands somewhere between
the epic poem of ancient times and
the modern novel. This work combines
a good many of the qualities of both.
—G. Kristjanson
A NEW PUBLISHING VENTURE
A new publishing firm may be
born in Winnipeg in the near future,
although it is still in the embryonic
stage. Queenston House is the brain
child of Mrs. Joan Parr, (daughter of
the late Mr. and Mrs. Jon and Oddny
Asgeirson, of Winnipeg), who sees a
need for an outlet for writings by
Manitobans who often find it difficult
to compete in the eastern and United
States markets In an effort to raise
funds for the venture, on February 9,
an evening of reading of their own
works by Winnipeg authors was held
at a spacious home on Grosvenor
Avenue. Participating writers were
Don Bailey, David Williamson, John
Parr, Edward Kleiman, Dr. “Sheppy”
Hershfield and the inimitable Maara
Haas, of “This Country in the Morn-
ing” radio fame. Approximately one
hundred and fifty attentive listeners
formed the audience, which spilled
over into hall-ways and the kitchen.
The readings reflected the diversity
of writing activities in Winnpeg, and
ranged from Bailey’s poignant captur-
ing of a lonely childhood to Maara
Haas’s brilliantly humorous tales of
ethnic inter-mixture in Winnipeg’s
north end, and from David William-
son’s raunchy description of a meeting
between two middle-aged people who
had once been “old flames” to Ed
Klieman’s sensitive handling of an up-
wardly mobile young man in the
academic world, taken from his novel
Mister Golden Boy. Dr. Hersfield’s
sentimental recollections of his youth
on Main Street added a touch of yeast,
and John Parr explored the theatrical
fantasies of an usher in a movie theatre,
who dreams that he is on the stage
himself.
The evening was enjoyable, even if
it did serve inadventently to remind
us that many writings by Winnipeg
writers are possibly too auto-biograph-
ical in nature. We look forward to
the birth and healthy growth of
Queenston House.
John S. Matthiasson