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The Foreigner, a Tale of Saskatchewan

by Ralph Connor, edited and afterword by Kirk Layton

277 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-0863; ISBN 1-4120-0494-2; US$23.95, C$29.95, EUR19.50, £13.50

Back by demand * The Foreigner, a tale of Saskatchewan. This 1909 novel by Ralph Connor is a must read for any fan of Canadian fiction. Turn-of-the-century Winnipeg is the scene for romance, murder, and intrigue.

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about the book      about the editor      excerpt      catalogue info

About the Book Ralph Connor was, in reality, the Rev. Charles W. Gordon. As a Presbyterian and United Church minister he had a concern about the political and religious life of Canadians. These concerns came to forefront in 1909 with the first publication of The Foreigner, A Tale of Saskatchewan. 1909 was a turbulent time for the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Immigrants from Europe were arriving in the city and, in the eyes of the politically active Gordon, upsetting the political agenda he wanted for the province. It is this political and racial situation that forms the background for The Foreigner. The central character of Kalman finds himself having to contend with murder, and the history of his father, while attempting to become a good Canadian. This novel shows the racial attitudes that were prevalent at that time in Canadian history. Klaman must convince others of his worthiness to marry a non-immigrant girl and overcome his own heritage. An afterward explains the attitude of Charles Gordon towards immigrants and Catholicism and questions the underlying motives for the publication of this novel in 1909.

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About the Editor Kirk Layton teaches literature and composition at Mount Royal College.

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Excerpt

from Chapter I: The City on the Plain Not far from the centre of the American Continent, midway between the oceans east and west, midway between the Gulf and the Arctic Sea, on the rim of a plain, snow swept in winter, flower decked in summer, but, whether in winter or in summer, beautiful in its sunlit glory, stands Winnipeg, the cosmopolitan capital of the last of the Anglo Saxon Empires,--Winnipeg, City of the Plain, which from the eyes of the world cannot be hid. Miles away, secure in her sea-girt isle, is old London, port of all seas; miles away, breasting the beat of the Atlantic, sits New York, capital of the New World, and mart of the world, Old and New; far away to the west lie the mighty cities of the Orient, Peking and Hong Kong, Tokio and Yokohama; and fair across the highway of the world's commerce sits Winnipeg, Empress of the Prairies. Her Trans-Continental railways thrust themselves in every direction,--south into the American Republic, east to the ports of the Atlantic, west to the Pacific, and north to the Great Inland Sea.

To her gates and to her deep-soiled tributary prairies she draws from all lands peoples of all tribes and tongues, smitten with two great race passions, the lust for liberty, and the lust for land.

By hundreds and tens of hundreds they stream in and through this hospitable city, Saxon and Celt and Slav, each eager on his own quest, each paying his toll to the new land as he comes and goes, for good or for ill, but whether more for good than for ill only God knows.

A hundred years ago, where now stands the thronging city, stood the lonely trading-post of The Honourable, The Hudson's Bay Company. To this post in their birch bark canoes came the half-breed trapper and the Indian hunter, with their priceless bales of furs to be bartered for blankets and beads, for pemmican and bacon, for powder and ball, and for the thousand and one articles of commerce that piled the store shelves from cellar to roof.

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Catalogue Information

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