Saturday, December 09, 2006
SMALLWOOD
Richard Gwynn
1968
Wonderful. Really. Throughout the book I found I was in awe and amazed again and again. It's is simply a political biography. The biographer is fairly sympathetic to hi subject. He respects Smallwood's accomplishments and feels they should be widely known. He doesn't shy away from criticism though. Smallwood is portrayed variously in the book as stubborn, over-reaching, idealistic, and narrow minded. Yet, through it all he is driven. Which is from where most of the author's admiration seems to stem. Joey Smallwood gets and idea and follows it through. If it doesn't work out, he moves on, undeterred. He is able to draw from seemingly unlimited sources of enthusiasm and energy. Even suffering defeat or embarrassment will not deter him from proudly promoting a new innovation or idea the right next day. Canadian politics needs more like him. The book was written in 1963, before Smallwood's tenure was done. Everything major had passed, yet he lived for a long time after. A more recent biography, or Smallwood's memoirs, would be an interesting read. Smallwood also wrote a number of books, before and after politics, in particular: The Book of Newfoundland.
More.
Smallwood was in his forties before really entering politics. He was just so rooted in the community of his island, he felt such kinship (interestingly, he had no real attachment to the sea).
Richard Gwynn
1968
Wonderful. Really. Throughout the book I found I was in awe and amazed again and again. It's is simply a political biography. The biographer is fairly sympathetic to hi subject. He respects Smallwood's accomplishments and feels they should be widely known. He doesn't shy away from criticism though. Smallwood is portrayed variously in the book as stubborn, over-reaching, idealistic, and narrow minded. Yet, through it all he is driven. Which is from where most of the author's admiration seems to stem. Joey Smallwood gets and idea and follows it through. If it doesn't work out, he moves on, undeterred. He is able to draw from seemingly unlimited sources of enthusiasm and energy. Even suffering defeat or embarrassment will not deter him from proudly promoting a new innovation or idea the right next day. Canadian politics needs more like him. The book was written in 1963, before Smallwood's tenure was done. Everything major had passed, yet he lived for a long time after. A more recent biography, or Smallwood's memoirs, would be an interesting read. Smallwood also wrote a number of books, before and after politics, in particular: The Book of Newfoundland.
More.
Smallwood was in his forties before really entering politics. He was just so rooted in the community of his island, he felt such kinship (interestingly, he had no real attachment to the sea).
# posted by mz @ 3:24 PM 
