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Notes from a Century Before
Often regarded as a classic of B.C. literature, Edward Hoagland's journal of visiting British Columbia in 1966, Notes from a Century Before (1969), recalled his three-month excursion "into the wild country of British Columbia"; by focusing on characters he met while travelling to Telegraph Creek via the Stikine River.
Loggers, ranchers and miners were exotic creatures to someone born in New York City in 1932, and by that time Hoagland already had the self-confidence of a man who had sold his first novel, Cat Man, before he graduated from Harvard in 1954, along with several years of experience in the U.S. Army.
"It was an exuberant, staccato summer,"; he wrote. "Luck and events and kindnesses melded with one another. I rushed along eagerly, without any special introspection, just putting down what I found out.";
While living at Hazelton, Hoagland essentially went prospecting for stories, interviewing settlers and gleaning nuggets from written sources.
Hoagland's second visit to British Columbia in 1968 served as the grist for his fourth novel, Seven Rivers West, published in 1986. The journal kept by Hoagland that second visit will now be published as Early in the Season (D&M$24.95), edited by Stephen Hume.
Hoagland, who lives in Vermont, has contributed an epilogue. 978-1-55365-428-5
[BCBW 2008] "History"
Loggers, ranchers and miners were exotic creatures to someone born in New York City in 1932, and by that time Hoagland already had the self-confidence of a man who had sold his first novel, Cat Man, before he graduated from Harvard in 1954, along with several years of experience in the U.S. Army.
"It was an exuberant, staccato summer,"; he wrote. "Luck and events and kindnesses melded with one another. I rushed along eagerly, without any special introspection, just putting down what I found out.";
While living at Hazelton, Hoagland essentially went prospecting for stories, interviewing settlers and gleaning nuggets from written sources.
Hoagland's second visit to British Columbia in 1968 served as the grist for his fourth novel, Seven Rivers West, published in 1986. The journal kept by Hoagland that second visit will now be published as Early in the Season (D&M$24.95), edited by Stephen Hume.
Hoagland, who lives in Vermont, has contributed an epilogue. 978-1-55365-428-5
[BCBW 2008] "History"
Submitted on September 5, 2008 in By David.
