Twine Loft

Stories and Sayings from the Oral Tradition

Rex Brown

• Publisher: Flanker Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781774570449
• eBook ISBN:
  9781774570456
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literature General
• Index: Literature

Twine Loft's sayings and stories date back as far as the 1950s, when the author was growing up in Tack's Beach, Placentia Bay, in the days before resettlement. There, words spoken caught his ear, as have other colourful phrases since. Some stories highlight what life was like in them days and, also, what life became after relocation. All tellings are based upon recollections, as factual as human memory allows. The stories are vignettes of a lifetime spent amongst diverse authors and artists in Newfoundland, a place unique, where the oral tradition no longer holds sway but where storytellers linger."Rex Brown nimbly captures the nuance and complexities of the Newfoundland character with an enviable glee that booms out across the pages of this enchanting collection. But don't be fooled by the inevitable belly laughs to come; Twine Loft is an exceptionally accomplished and essential offering." — Joel Thomas Hynes, author of We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night, Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction"Rex Brown's Twine Loft is full of cadence, rhythm and voice, larger-than-life characters, lightning-quick humour, and glittering insights. Here is the exacting detail capable of conjuring the past with transparent clarity. Here is the sheer, undiluted pleasure of storytelling—audience and author drawn together in the same circle, bringing to life a time when 'entertainment came free and from within.' An elegant, elegiac love song to Newfoundland." — Lisa Moore, author of Something for Everyone, Alistair MacLeod Prize for Short Fiction

Table of contents

• Praise for Rex Brown
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Introduction
• The Big Store
• Pop
• Walking on Water
• The Jack
• Lobstering with Uncle Ephraim
• Get Out of My Light
• Sons
• Black Skipper Brown
• Howard
• What Dogs May Be Thinking
• Green Baseball
• Christmas Eve on the Island
• Outport Principal
• Resettlement
• Not Found Sitting Down
• Gosse (for Elaine)
• Artists Alongside Athletes
• Smokey
• Al
• The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
• Highlight Reel
• Mr. D
• Liar
• Stencil Brown (for Stephanie)
• Time Trials
• Salt Beef and Sin
• Confederation
• My Three Grandmothers
• The Dory Story
• A Wonderful Accomplishment
• Five-Cent Santa
• The Way to Go
• Fuss-Bucket
• Fog
• World Views
• Afterword
• Acknowledgements
• Biographical Notes
• Visit Flanker Press