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Great Heart: The History of a Labrador Adventure
Great Heart
The History of a Labrador Adventure
By James West Davidson and John Rugge.
McGill-Queen's University Press, 389pp $22.95
ISBN: 0-7735-1657-3
Review by MICHAEL PEAKE --
Che-Mun Editor
Canoelit Home Page
This is a re-issue of one of the great canoeing books of recent years. We originally published this review in Outfit 53 of Che-Mun.
The emergence of a book by the same authors of the wonderful Complete Wilderness Paddler is both a surprise and delight. Jim Davidson and John Rugge obviously only write about what really interests them - and the lure of the Hubbard-Wallace expeditions in the early years of this century proved irresistible.
There are two basic paths to take when doing a book concerning historical fact. You can either write a straight history or a "novelization". The former tends to be drier but usually offers more information. The latter is generally more "readable" but much trickier to do.
Davidson and Rugge chose the novelization route but had the good sense to make it appeal to both groups of readers. Those who want the straight historical story and any insights the authors may have gleaned through research and others who wish to be entertained by reading the words of the characters discussed.
The book tells the tale of the three expeditions involved; the original 1903 sortie with Leonidas Hubbard, Dillon Wallace and George Elson and the subsequent independent trips by Mina Hubbard with Elson, and Wallace alone. The first half of the book can be pretty depressing, for a tale of failure and starvation is not a happy one. The words of Elson, Wallace and Hubbard seem realistic and not out of place. The second half of Great Heart dwells on the later, and rival, journeys of 1905. This is the most interesting and revealing work in the book. There are many emotions at work in this story and each is carefully handled by the authors. The emotional interplay and undertones were a well-known facet of these trips and the exploration of feelings was as revealing as their exploration of the land. Great Heart builds to a wonderful finish and moving conclusion. In fact, on the final page, the meaning of the title is made clear - and when that happens it opens a flood of other observations carefully planted by the authors along the way. The story of these trips is compelling; and the work by Davidson and Rugge serves it well. We gain an informed - and hypothesized - insight into the make-up of the central cast of characters.
Great Heart can takes its place with pride on the bookshelf next to Complete Wilderness Paddler.
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