The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.2003, Blaðsíða 15

Vol. 57 #4
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
151
the trenches during WWI to talk about
what happened and my grandmother too
caught up in the struggle to make ends
meet. As well, they were Protestant Irish
and not part of the blarney and beer in the
pub that goes with being Catholic Irish.
On his website (Do look it up:
http://www.finearts.uvic.ca/~wvalgard/),
Bill says something that for me and many
of us who love his work, reveals the reason
for his great success:
This vibrant, passionate world of the
Interlake of Manitoba, of varied cultures,
histories, and languages, was the world into
which I entered. It was a world of people
who were distinct and easily identifiable. It
contained all the characters, all the con-
flicts, all the local colour I needed for a life-
time of writing. My daily experience with
farmers and fishermen, with trappers and
storekeepers, plus the influence of the
Icelandic sagas, made it clear that the lives
of ordinary people were worthy of art. In
school we studied Shakespeare. We read
about kings and queens, about courtiers
and nobles, but I knew no kings and
queens, dallied at no court. I knew the
dreams and tragedies of people who strug-
gled against poverty, who cleared stones
from their fields by hand, who risked their
lives on Lake Winnipeg to feed their fami-
lies. Economically and socially they may
not have been members of the nobility, but
they were noble. When they failed, their
tragedies were every bit as great as those of
the upper class.
And when they succeed, as has William
Dempsey Valgardson, we are proud to say:
Well done, good and noble native son.
984 Portage Avenue
at Aubrey St.
Ph: (204) 949-2200
Fax: (204) 783-5916
www.nbardal.mb.ca
Serving Winnipeg
& Rural Manitoba

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t^e&ct to- (re/ msuzcle/ . . .
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