The Sasquatch at Home: Traditional Protocols & Modern Storytelling

By Eden Robinson and Paula Simons

In March 2010 the Canadian Literature Centre hosted award-winning novelist and storyteller Eden Robinson at the 4th annual Henry Kreisel Lecture. Robinson shared an intimate look into the intricacies of family, culture, and place through her talk, "The Sasquatch at Home." Robinson's disarming honesty and wry irony shine through her depictions of her and her mother's trip to Graceland, the Potlatch where she and her sister received their Indian names, how her parents first met in Bella Bella (Waglisla, British Columbia) and a wilderness outing where she and her father try to get a look at b'gwus, the Sasquatch. Readers of memoir; Indigenous literatures, histories and cultures; and fans of Robinson's delightful, poignant, sometimes quirky tales will love The Sasquatch at Home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The University of Alberta Press
• Release date: Jul 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9780888646101

Eden Robinson

Eden Robinson is a member of the Haisla and Heiltsuk First Nations, and has become one of Canada’s first female Native writers to gain international attention. Her 2000 novel, Monkey Beach, was nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award; it was the first English-language novel to be published by a Haisla writer. Traplines, her first book, was a collection of short stories published in 1995; it was a New York Times Editor’s Choice as well as a New York Times Notable Book. Her third work of fiction, Blood Sports, was released in 2006. Robinson lives in British Columbia.

Book preview

The cover page of a book titled, “The Sasquatch at Home: Traditional Protocols and Modern Storytelling,” by Eden Robinson. Henry Kreisel Lecture Series.

The cover shows a close-up colour photograph of a woman's face as she pulls down the skin on the left side of her face with her left hand. Her dark brown eyes face the camera directly and every detail of her skin is visible. The title features in white at the bottom left half of the cover in large white letters. The author’s name is in the middle, slightly to the right. The subtitle is at the top of the cover, slightly to the right.

Henry Kreisel Lecture Series

EDEN ROBINSON

THE

SASQUATCH

AT

HOME

Traditional Protocols &

Modern Storytelling

An illustration of a fishTwo Logos. Canadian Literature Centre; Centre De Literature Canadienne and The University of Alberta Press.

Published by

The University of Alberta Press

Ring House 2

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E1

and

Canadian Literature Centre/

Centre de littérature canadienne

3–5 Humanities Centre

University of Alberta

Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E5

Copyright © 2011 Eden Robinson

Introduction Copyright

© 2011 Paula Simons

ISBN 978–0–88864–610–1

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Robinson, Eden

The Sasquatch at home : traditional protocols & modern storytelling / Eden Robinson ; introduction by Paula Simons.

(Henry Kreisel memorial lecture series)

Co-published by: Canadian Literature Centre/Centre de littérature canadienne.

Electronic monograph in ePub format.

Issued also in print format, ISBN 978–0–88864–559–3.

1. Robinson, Eden. 2. Robinson, Eden—Family. 3. Authors, Canadian (English)—20th century—Biography. 4. Haisla Indians—British Columbia—Kitimat—Biography. 5. Storytelling— British Columbia. I. Canadian Literature Centre II. Title. III. Series: Henry Kreisel lecture series ; 4

PS8585.O35143Z78 2011C813’.54C2011–900396–1

All rights reserved.

First edition, first printing, 2011. First electronic edition, 2012.

Digital Conversion by Transforma Pvt. Ltd.

Copyediting by Peter Midgley.

Cover design by Alan Brownoff.

No part of this publication may be produced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any forms or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the copyright owner or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free: 1-800-893-5777.

The Canadian Literature Centre acknowledges the support of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for the Henry Kreisel Lecture delivered by Eden Robinson in March 2010 at the University of Alberta.

The University of Alberta Press gratefully acknowledges the support received for its publishing program from The Canada Council for the Arts. The University of Alberta Press also gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) and from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts for its publishing activities.

Three logos. The logo of Canada; Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des Arts du Canada; and Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Foreword

Liminaire

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Notes

Resource Material for the Curious

Henry Kreisel Lecture Series

About the Author

FOREWORD

THE KREISEL LECTURES constitute one of the most cherished programs of the Canadian Literature Centre, established in 2006 in the wake of a leadership gift by Edmonton’s noted bibliophile, Dr. Eric Schloss. Published within the Kreisel Series, these public annual lectures set out to ensure Professor Henry Kreisel’s legacy, offering a forum for open, inclusive critical thinking.

Author, University Professor and Officer of the Order of Canada, Henry Kreisel was born in Vienna into a Jewish family in 1922. Henry Kreisel left his homeland for England in 1938 and was interned, in Canada, for eighteen months during the Second World War. After studying at the University of Toronto, he began teaching in 1947 at the University of Alberta and served as Chair of English from 1961 until 1970. He served as Vice-President (Academic) from 1970 to 1975, and was named University Professor in 1975—the highest scholarly award