Reading is my favourite pastime and periodically, I go through my bookshelves to see which one I'd like to read again. As I was browsing my shelves today, I thought it would be nice to share some of my very favourite books that I am willing to lend out, but definitely want back.
First comes W.O. Mitchell's Who Has Seen the Wind, written in 1947. When I finished it, I believed it to be the most poetic story I'd ever read. I remember sighing and reveling in the memory of the words that had flowed across the pages to bring me the story of a boy named Brian and the prairie wind (God). Mitchell brings images of the realities of birth, hunger, eternity, and death in this story of a boy's struggle to understand what defeats mature and educated men. It is the story of the ultimate meaning of the cycle of life. The book ends with:
The wind turns in silent frenzy upon itself, whirling into a smoking funnel, breathing up top soil and tumbleweed skeletons to carry them on its spinning way over the prairie, out and out to the far line of the sky.
If you are not familiar with W.O. Mitchell, you must check out this book. Mitchell was born in 1914 in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, but moved to California and then Florida after suffering from tuberculosis. He received his B.A. (1942) from the University of Alberta and began teaching while publishing short stories. Mitchell then became fiction editor of Maclean's in Toronto until 1951. After that, he moved to Alberta, writing and teaching. He became director of creative writing at the Banff School of Fine Arts from 1975 to 1986 and also taught at the University of Windsor. He died in Calgary, Alberta, in 1998.
It would be wonderful if you would share your thoughts, feelings, and learning experience after reading this remarkable novel.
4 comments:
Leslie, I remember reading Who Has Seen The Wind and I just loved it. A few weeks ago it was featured on "By the Book" on the Knowledge Network.
W.O. Mitchell was a fabulous writer.
I'm going to find the book and read it again...!
Josie
We should read it together (i.e. at the same time) and compare notes. I just think that how Mitchell puts words together is so poetic and the images are so beautiful.
this is a new title to me, but it sound great. I already told Josie this, but I thought I should mention that I quoted you (and linked)in Part IV of Why Bloggers Blog Sunday night. Hope you don't mind.
W.O. Mitchell actually lived in High River not far from our farm just outside of Calgary. My dad knew him...has all his books and said he was a wonderfully unique man. I too have read and love his books.
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