海风中失落的血色馈赠

by Alistair MacLeod, 阿利斯泰尔·麦克劳德, 陈以侃 (Translator)

《海风中失落的血色馈赠》所收入的七个故事，有少年渴望摆脱家族在海岛世代挖煤的命运而在成年之际离家远行，有人到中年的大学教师回忆少年时他那心怀壮志但困居海岛打鱼为生的父亲，有散居各地的大家族在老祖母96岁生日之际齐聚老祖母寡居的海角……这些故事勾画了男女之间、父母与子女之间 紧密的纽带和难以逾越的鸿沟，既温柔又残酷。
这些故事都发生在新斯科舍省布雷顿角那些严酷的风景中，写的都是复杂、神秘的人心。它们被记忆和传说浸润，被海水和鲜血冲刷，而这些海水和鲜血，都曾流淌于同土地和海洋漫长的搏斗中；麦克劳德颂扬的是一种和自然世界的深情交融，以及面对变迁、面对爱与失去，多少世代之间某些一脉相承的东西。

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Canada, Canadian Literature, Literature, Literary Fiction, Anthologies

163 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

When MacLeod was ten his family moved to a farm in Dunvegan, Inverness County on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. After completing high school, MacLeod attended teacher's college in Truro and then taught school. He studied at St. Francis Xavier University between 1957 and 1960 and graduated with a BA and B.Ed. He then went on to receive his MA in 1961 from the University of New Brunswick and his PhD in 1968 from the University of Notre Dame. A specialist in British literature of the nineteenth century, MacLeod taught English for three years at Indiana University before accepting a post in 1969 at the University of Windsor as professor of English and creative writing. During the summer, his family resided in Cape Breton, where he spent part of his time "writing in a cliff-top cabin looking west towards Prince Edward Island."
-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I could give this book more than five stars. It's the best book of short stories I've read this year, by far. This is old school writing, where the author takes his time and establishes a mood and an atmosphere you can almost feel, taste, and touch. All the stories take place in the stark scenery of Cape Breton, which is on the Nova Scotia coast, and all the characters are miners, lighthouse keepers, fishermen, and farmers; all battling the harsh environment of the land they love and struggling with the elements, their families, and their destinies. Many of the stories are deeply moving in the way that watching the seasons change is moving. When you disengage from the present, zoom out on life and witness the small tragedies and quiet joys of others just scrambling to survive, it gives you a calm perspective on your own struggles, and this is what MacLeod accomplishes with these eleven short stories. It's almost as if he's showing the reader that ordinary people, beset by vicissitudes, can be seen as stouthearted and courageous.

"In Alistair MacLeod's short stories one encounters the narrator as son, brother, husband, but above all witness; embarked upon a life's enterprise of forging not the conscience of his race, but being the means by which its conscience is expressed." -Joyce Carol Oates

[Kael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me want to move back home to the maritimes and get murdered by the ocean or some sort of family curse

[Smcalli1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my mind, Alistair MacLeod is one of today's best writers. He doesn't try to grab you with flashy techniques or weird storyline twists or profound social comment. Rather, he's a storyteller, pure and simple. This is a collection of some of his rare short stories that chronicle the lives of people in his native Nova Scotia. They are beautifully crafted and moving in their simplicity. If you enjoy a quiet, yet moving story, well told, I recommend anything written by Alistair MacLeod.

[Jakub · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is kind of raw power in these stories, the coarse beauty of the land it depicts. These are stories of the changing times and unchanging people, of their toil and the sway their legacy holds over them. MacLeod has a way with words which transports the reader right in the thick of the places he describes.

[Jeść treść · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alistair MacLeod zebrał wszystkich przy stole, rozdał wszystkim po kubku parującej herbaty, sam odpalił papierosa i zaczął opowiadać. A opowiada wspaniale.
"Utracony dar słonej krwi" to kolejna książka wydawnictwa Wiatr od Morza, która zachwyciła mnie w ten sam prosty, ktoś powiedziałby że wręcz surowy, sposób.
I gdziekolwiek byście jej nie czytali, zawsze będziecie nad morzem.

[Tymianek · Rating 3 out of 5]

That's so sad Alexa play despacito

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely a worthy read.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"It does not matter that some things are difficult. No one has ever said that life is to be easy. Only that it is to be lived." - p. 150 Macleod, The Road to Rankin's Point.

[Yingchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The urge to memorialize, the urge to sanctify.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad life short stories. The writing was wonderful the stories just a too much like life.

[Andrew Ziska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alistair MacLeod's writing is extremely vivid and full of deep emotion. While the stories are fiction, it is easy as a reader to relate to the characters' experiences of family dynamics, loss, loneliness, and mistakes. After finishing each story, it is necessary to reflect on the impact it has on your understanding of life-altering moments.
My favorite stories:
The Boat
In the Fall
The Lost Salt Gift of Blood
The Island
As Birds Bring Forth the Sun

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Karolina Sosnowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://tanayahczyta.wordpress.com/20...

[Sergio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un gruppo di racconti che svela, con una scrittura poetica e intimista, la vita difficile soprattutto per le estreme condizioni ambientali, delle famiglie che popolano Cape Breton, nella nuova Scozia, Canada. Racconti spesso basati su vecchi ricordi, sulla perdita delle antiche tradizioni gaeliche, sull'amore che lega questi abitanti al loro paese, alla loro terra, al loro mare. Un libro intriso di malinconia e di intimismo, a tratti molto emozionante.

[Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

"No one has ever said that life is to be easy, only that it is to be lived." Alistair MacLeod casually drops this observation in the final story "The Road to Rankin's Point." First, the reader is struck by its simplicity, next by its profundity, and lastly by the possibility that it is neither simple nor profound, but rather merely a summation. Whether of life or anthology, the question of attribution I shall leave in your hands.

MacLeod's writing floored me. His competency and use of language is authentic, sound, and beautiful. All of these stories possess a singular driving will, yet share the common taste of salt, earth, blood, and loss. I highly recommend reading this for the writing. The stories are good, some are great, but it is the writing that suspends time and unmoors the reader from earthly bonds.

The setting? A stony wind-torn Cape Breton and Nova Scotia. Snow, ice, an indifferent sea, loss, lighthouse keepers, miners, farmers, and fishermen pervade these stories. Life, death, and the inevitability of change are constant companions. So too is the repeating theme of semen, both that of man and animal. I suspect it is to offset the stroke of the Reaper's scythe, but I found the constant references to ejaculation a bit forced and at times, awkward. It never crossed into lewdness, but it does flirt with a redundancy that I imagine is intentional. And if so, I felt the volume of ejaculate was unnecessary.

The two stories that stood out the most to me:
* "In the Fall" (This story made me cry)
* "To Everything there is A Season"


Edited to add:
I just now noticed, after having written and posted my review, that another reviewer used the quotation with which I began my review. I find it amusing that we both clung to this quote.

[Marvin Goodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this in the way that lots of us semi-literate plodders find books, from an obituary. Before his death in April, 2014, I had not previously been aware of MacLeod or his work. The praise that accompanied his obituary sent me to Amazon, and the only one of his books available (at the time) in Kindle format.

Almost immediately, I found myself recalling E. Annie Proulx's "The Shipping News" as I immersed myself in the stark, bleak environment of MacLeod's North Atlantic coast. I particularly enjoy being there with them, in their stories, and even found myself nostalgically recalling an Alistair MacLean adventure novel set nearby.

I thoroughly enjoyed a few of the stories in this collection, but wonder now if I was damaged too much by the opening story, which disturbed and depressed me. I don't mind being depressed by a story, but I feel like I might be a sucker for some level of redemption, and the stories here have little of that. In "The Shipping News," Quoyle eventually found happiness, so maybe I was subconsciously expecting that for the characters in these stories, but they were repeatedly denied.

Now, that's a personal preference thing, and I wouldn't impose that on my friends who might love to be left disappointed that the unicorns didn't show up to carry the hero away. The characters here were interesting and well developed, and there was some true artistry in some of the descriptive writing, most particularly in the story "The Road to Rankin's Point."

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, I love to read original editions from the library stacks and see how an established - indeed, revered - Canadian writer was viewed before (s)he was known!

From the blurb of this first edition:
An exciting new discovery in Canadian fiction . . .
Born in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Alistair MacLeod grew up in the coal-mining areas of Alberta and the farming areas of Dunvegan and Inverness, Nova Scotia.
Educated at St. Francis Xavier University, the University of New Brunswick and Notre Dame University, he has worked as a school teacher, miner, logger and, most recently, as Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor. His short stories have appeared in magazines and journals . . . The present volume is the first full-length collection devoted to his work.

Back cover: To an outsider the stories in The Lost Salt Gift of Blood seem to belong to Cape Breton because they are stubborn, reflective, melancholy, and overflowing with the energies of family life. There are seven stories in the book; it took seven years to write them: a good part of the life of a young writer. But with this superb collection, as anyone will know who reads it, Al MacLeod’s career is just beginning. (My note, one story is set in Newfoundland and another concerns a family from Kentucky living in Indiana.)

In The Road to Rankin’s Point pg 181
“It does not matter that some things are difficult. No one has ever said that life is to be easy. Only that it is to be lived.” (90-something grandmother)

Lovely, just lovely!

[Andrew Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very slim volume of seven short stories, all set in Nova Scotia. It took seven years to write, but with what result. Pity the author has passed away as he deserved a Noble prize in literature. One of the best collections of short stories I've read. Someone called this set stunning. I don't think it was any exaggeration.
Three of the stories deserve special mention:
- In the Fall - a story of friendship between an ex-mine horse and the miner and his family. Description of the animal's trust towards his owner made this story great.
- The Vastness of the Dark - a story of a young man and his realisation of his affinity with his parents and grandparents, his roots and inheritance that he carried within himself.
- The Boat - a story of old fisherman and his son who decides to stay with his father till the end. They work together and eventually the father disappears one moment taken by the waves.
The other stories are also very beautiful.
Alistair MacLeod wrote only one more set of short stories and a novel. Will need to organise and read them as well.

[王浩 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I relate a lot to the second story for that I also come from a small place thought as poor and undeveloped. I'm lucky to leave there and come to the capital of my own country. But I never felt any sense of belonging during my 4 years here in this big city.
The last part the the second story on how you view outsiders touched me deeply and I can feel an urge to go back.

[Grace Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over a decade ago I was introduced to Alistair MacLeod.

His writing is sparse, but richly woven. The stories are about the everyday wonders and weaknesses.

A piece of his about a coal mining horse, is something like a meditation on life.

Look him up, read him, he is a good beacon in these dark days. A small goodness.

[Boreal Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

newfie soul baby scots irish fisherfolk and those just holding on to whatever humans everywhere hold on to
ice snow heaving ocean rocky coast salt of the earth masterworks by a living author

met him at the Voices conference in Northern Maine

lovely quiet humble gentleman

[Liên]

Marvelous prose, unaffected yet lyrical. The emotions in these stories are so beautifully layered.
On my first read, unfathomable sadness hit as the mysteries unravelled. The reread only felt vaguely melancholic, even comforting - like a grief that has mellowed into peace.

[Allison ༻hikes the bookwoods༺ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories aren't usually my genre of choice, but this is a powerful collection to be sure.

[Jeannette McCalla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big thank you to Charles for recommending and lending this collection. Every story stayed with me for some time. I couldn't read more than one story a day because they are so powerful.

Amazing.

[linzy16 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very poetic and moving.

[Bill S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

MacLeod would write the last sentence of each story first. What do you want to leave the reader with, is the most important question. Then, this sentence would serve as a lighthouse for the rest of the story.

The stories are not much for plot, but the beauty of the language, the people and the setting keep you reading on. MacLeod's subjects are the fishermen, the coal miners, and the farmers of Cape Breton. The most common theme is the lure of the island as people grapple with staying where there is family and tradition, or striking out for a more economically secure life but losing everything else.

My favorite story is "The Boat" which features a father who fishes by day, but retires at night to read as much as he can, something his wife feels is a waste of time. She feels betrayed that her daughters all went off the college, married, and left the island. She wants everyone to remain at sea. The son decides to remain and fish with his father so long as he is alive. He finds it "much braver to spend a life doing what you really do not want rather than selfishly following forever your own dreams and inclinations." Once his father is washed off deck and dies, he goes to college to pursue the life that his father always actually wanted. "And it is not an easy thing to know that your mother looks upon the sea with love and on you with bitterness because the one has been so constant and the other so untrue."

I was also especially affected by "In the Fall" in which an impoverished family is forced to sell their loyal, elderly horse to be butchered because they cannot afford to feed him that winter. Sadly, the father, who only reluctantly could accept this, is forced to bring the horse onto the truck that takes it away. I kept hoping that some spectacular idea would be hatched to save the horse. Not the case. One of the saddest stories I have ever read.

"The Road to Rankin's Point" is the other gem of the set. It concerns a family trying to convince their 96 year old grandmother to leave the isolation of her farm and go to a nursing home. Every year they come and every year she wins. This year, her strategy is to proclaim that everything is worked out, she will live with her grandson Callum to whom she has willed her farm. When all leave he informs here that he has but months to live. She dies that night. It would appear that she wandered into the night to die so that he could live his last months on the farm.

[Ebenmaessiger · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Boat" - 8.75
- Nice to read a short story that teaches for the heights with some otherwise antiquated methods, namely a conscious majesty of tone, poesie of movement, and unabashed nostalgic romance, which is not the same thing as some of the other watery elegies I’ve recently read, which are at once grimier and more pedantic in their lower-class honor trawling. Here the reverie is not social, but paternal, which doesn’t make it better (it is, actually, a bit treacly at times [the secretly literary blue collar man, intent-ish on saving his children from the uneducated toil to which he’s been subjected by life is not necessarily a novel approach]), but it does make it different. STORY: Newfoundland man reflects on his fishing father, and his death off the boat when the son was piloting it. Worth noting: the seeming superfluousness of the setup, him as older man, Midwest prof reflecting, which gives immediate way to straight childhood story, never to return. Yet, the image provided, of him getting up early, not sleeping, and trudging through the cold and dark to prepare for work is a near mirror of the image he then provides of his father's restless existence and be-drudged steps out every morning out of the house.

"In the Fall" - 6.75
- An altogether less-effective tale of cold northern rurality, uncertain exactly which of its characters was the protagonist and whose emotions exactly to plunder and thematize, even if there is some strong imagery of coast and animal and bluster scattered throughout. STORY: poor farm family needs to sell its old, loyal, but broken down horse to coarse neighbor, which triggers apoplectic fit from youngest son, destroying their chicken coop and no doubt requiring the expending of whatever meager monies they’d received from the sale.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I did not love many of the stories, but somehow the book adds up to a powerful reading experience overall.

two days after finishing the book, two stories stand out in my memory. "In the fall," about the fate of a horse named Scott, is so wrenching emotionally that my wife did not read it to the end; I did and was very moved. And the final story, "The Closing Down of Summer" is a masterpiece (to me anyway) expressing MacLeod's views on life.

I'm perhaps among the few non-Canadian readers who has actually been to Cape Breton Island, and it is indeed breathtaking, to some extent like California's Rte 1 but, back then anyway (this was a long time ago) without the tourists. The landscape and the weather are two of the main characters connecting the stories. The Gaelic language is another.

Thematically, the stories are linked by the realization that life in places like Cape Breton is hard. There is a lot of bucolic writing out there, and it is generally soothing and centering. MacLeod's tales, though, are fraught with death, illness, confrontations, and even lust. Taken as a group, they are effective in reflecting human experience as a whole, and it is moving, though also depressing.

The writing is meticulous, with words in settings like gems. But I found some of the stories hard to follow because several of them incorporate elements from different points in time (sometimes divided by a great many tears) and I had difficulty connecting the parts.

This collection is certainly worth reading and a moving experience. The high ratings by goodreads readers are as close to unanimous as they ever get, and this is no accident.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I feel myself falling back into the past now, hoping to have more and more past as I have less and less future. My twenty-six years are not enough and I would want to go farther and farther back through previous generations so that I might have more of what now seems so little. I would go back through the superstitions and the herbal remedies and the fatalistic war cries and the haunting violins and the cancer cures of cobwebs. Back through the knowledge of being and its end as understood through second sight and spectral visions and the intuitive dog and the sea bird's cry. I would go back to the priest with the magic hands. Back to the faith healer if only I had more faith. Back to anything rather than to die at the objective hands of mute, cold science."

[Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of Alistair MacLeod until Goodreads recommended one of his works based on my shelf. So I looked him up---he was a widely lauded 20th century Canadian writer who wrote two short story collections and one novel. "The Lost Salt Gift of Blood" is his first collection (1976) and is not a long read (7 stories, ~180 pages). The stories are principally set in MacLeod's homeland of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, home to the Gaelic-speaking descendants of Scottish immigrants. The setting really comes alive and is what makes this book special, as do the universal themes of the deceptively simple stories.