Looking for Country

Merriken, Ellenor Ranghild

ISBN 10: 1552380076 / ISBN 13: 9781552380079

Published by University of Calgary, Calgary, 1999

About this Item

SUBTITLED : ` A Norwegian Immigrant's Alberta Memoir '. The author of this 175 page volume - includes INDEX - is a rather prolific writer. This work was originally self-published (1960) as `The Nose Hills Country' . It speaks of her family's migration to Canada in 1910; and their settling in the area of Castor, Alberta where they lived in a `soddy'. She speaks of her personal relationships with the farm animals, the storms, the threat of fire, the building of Avonlea School, and her own experiment with higher education - until marriage got in the way. B/W photographs assist text. Read about : Veteran, Johana Hemnes, waterglass for eggs, nonce art, hoarfrost, and horse traders. Cond : Paper wrapper is light green and brown. Front cover features a cameo of the author as a young woman set against an archive image of the Big Gap Stampede. Volume is bright, tight, square and clean. It's downfall is that a teacher has gone through it with a pen to mark several passages for their instructional value. Marginalia ! ! Store sticker verso front cover. Excellent prairie reference with a 33 page introduction including references.Quote (p. 64) : " We called and called, but got no answer and no cow could we find. Finally we decided to cross the creek and take a look at the bunch over there. We found a place where the water was quite shallow and enough rocks had been rolled into ._._._. ." Size: 8vo.

Seller Inventory # 007357

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Looking for Country
• Publisher: University of Calgary, Calgary
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1552380076
• ISBN 13: 9781552380079
• Binding: Soft cover
• Illustrator: B/W Photographs
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good +
• Seller catalogs:
  • Biography

About this title

Synopsis

"Looking for Country" refers to the thought process of animals bent on escape. A stampeding herd, or a spooked horse running away with its rider, may be described as "looking for country." It could also be applied to this memoir in another sense―immigrants were looking for land, a piece of new country and, perhaps, an escape from their old country. This memoir documents the experiences of a young woman growing up as a pioneer in Alberta. Although for many people, immigration brought great sadness, Ellenor loved Alberta and took tremendous pride in the years spent there. She did not deny the struggles, as shown in her writing, but was amply rewarded by "the satisfaction of knowing that I have had a part in the making of a great country."

About the Authors

Ellenor Ranghild Merriken was the youngest daughter of the Olsen family. Immigrants from Norway, they were new to the prairies of east-central Alberta, and unprepared for the challenges that faced them in their new country.

Dr. Janice Dickin is a Professor in the Faculty of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary, and is Chair of the Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board. Her areas of study include medical history, life writing, and Canadian social history.