Badlands

by Robert Kroetsch

In 1916, scientist William Dawe leads a palaeontological expedition into the badlands of Alberta, obsessed with achieving world renown by discovering dinosaur fossils. Fifty years later, his daughter, Anna, enters these same badlands. In her visit to the expedition site, she exposes not only the absurdity of her father's work, but also the folly of his male ambition.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Canadian Literature, Literature

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Robert Kroetsch was a Canadian novelist, poet, and non-fiction writer. He taught for many years at the University of Manitoba. Kroetsch spent multiple years in Vancouver, British Columbia before returning to Winnipeg where he continued to write. In 2004 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Reviews

[Blair Stretch · Rating 4 out of 5]

My expectations for this were pretty misplaced so it was interesting to read something so unexpected. It was less surreal than other Kroetsch novels I've read. I forgot how pervy Kroetsch is (no wonder Universities love him so much). Badlands includes troubled themes surrounding race and sexuality without really addressing them. The descriptions of the landscapes were deeply evocative which I especially enjoyed having personally experienced the sights and sounds of the Red Deer River. So very Albertan. Hilarious and beautifully written. The photographs were a really nice addition!

[Mark Lisac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciated the ambition more than the execution. The style became tiresome. Kroetsch was trying for poetic language but too often landed on poetic miasma. The theory was, "Why use one word when three will do?" The nouns and adjectives pile up like driftwood, like rills of sand, like seaweed on a beach (yes, that's exactly how he would have written this sentence). The characters are vivid, though, except for Anna Dawe, who writes a parallel narrative decades after the main story and feels rather washed-out and artificial.
I kept thinking, "What's the point?" By the end I wasn't sure there was one aside from an observation about the possible futility of striving — although it isn't clear how firmly Kroetsch believed that. The story features repeated symbols that I wasn't sure I completely understood, although a number of them clearly involve death. The story is set in 1916. There are a few references to the First World War. If the whole novel was intended as a commentary on that and other wars, then it arguably has a certain grandeur or at least symbolic effect; but that is speculation. If Kroetsch did intend an oblique representation of the war, he kept that intent obscure enough to miss. (If he didn't, then any readers interpreting the book that way can see themselves as co-authors or editors.)
Recall liking this much better when it was first published. But then, it came out in the 1970s, when there were a lot of paisleys and bell bottoms around. Too bad the Bookreads entry for this edition does not show the fairly nice dust jacket illustration of a flatboat in the Alberta badlands.

[1.1 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely Canlit.

Margaret Laurence loved it, and she would love it. An interesting blend of historical fiction detailing an archaeological expedition to Alberta and contemporary commentary by the descendant of the main character, who reveals and details all their folly.

I didn’t so much pick up on the ‘wild humour’ that Margaret Laurence mentioned in her effusive praise for the book, but I suppose there were some lighter moments, some darker as well. It’s a book of rich imagery and description, written by a poet, in which all travails are ultimately made tragic due to pride and ambition meeting the immovable facts of life.

It’s a weird little novel with some bright and some rough spots, definitely from a different era, but not so bad for all that.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow, dreamy tale that encapsulated the true pace and magic of a real journey.

[Janet Barclay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Badlands is the tale of William Dawe, a man who sets out to look for dinosaur bones in 1916 along with a motley crew of companions: McBride, a family man who bails on the expedition fairly quickly; Web, a horny young man who was afraid of nothing; Grizzly, the Chinese cook (referred to as “the chinaman” because that’s the way people talked back then); and Tune, a teenager who worships the ground that Dawe walks on. Anna Yellowbird is a young Indian girl (or should I say “Native woman” to be politically correct?) who keeps showing up and ends up playing a key role. In fact, Dawe’s daughter , who narrates parts of the novel, is named after her.

Robert Kroetsch tells the story in a way that’s both humorous and exciting, and I think it would make a good movie.

(An excerpt from my blog post, The Canadian Reading Challenge: Alberta)

[Leonel Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not long ago I read one of his books called "What the crow said" so I was not surprised that this book had a few interesting turns, most of which, were not pleasant. For my personal taste, it fell in between the book "The man from the Creeks" that I loved and another called "What the crow said", a book that I was glad to finish and move on.

[Olivia Brisebois · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really don't like Kroetsch's writing, but I did slightly enjoy this book as I live in the Badlands and this references to certain locations was awesome as not a lot are written about that area of Alberta

[Susan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What did I miss?

[Gord Higginson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time favourite yarns, read 26 years ago and can still remember it.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1nge...