Almanac of Story Tellers: W.P. Kinsella

 Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of May 25th

 ___________________________________________________________________________

    It is the 145th day of the year, leaving 220 days remaining in 2022.

    On this date in 1935, the Canadian author W.P. Kinsella was born in Edmonton.

 

    Kinsella wrote his stories for the baseball fan who saw the game as he did -- as more than it was, with a touch of magic and grace that helped it rise above an ordinary game.

    He also wrote stories of the First Nations People of Canada, although his use of their native voice caused controversy amongst those who accused him of cultural appropriation. Kinsella shrugged them off, saying he wrote in the voice of the oppressed, mocking their oppressors, and he had the right to do so,

    But it was his baseball stories that made him the marvelous writer he came to be.

    He is best known for his novel, Shoeless Joe, an homage to Joe Jackson, who has the third highest average in the history of the game, and who played for the Chicago White Sox until being thrown out of the game after the 1919 Black Sox Scandal. The book was adapted into the classis movie, Field of Dreams, where the magically created baseball field that returned Hall of Famers to play catch is now used for an annual summer Major League game.

    In a touch of irony, the movie makers declined to use the book's title, fearing people would think the movie was about homeless people. Instead, they unknowingly almost used Kinsella's working title, Dream Field.

    Kinsella also wrote numerous short stories about baseball, again combining the game with his brand of magical realism. Among his best is Searching for January, in which a man strolling along a beach in 1987 comes across Roberto Clemente coming ashore. Clemente, killed in a 1972 New Year's Eve plane crash while delivering relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua, thinks it's a few days after the crash.

    The discussion about baseball and the oddities of life between the two men is captivating.

    Kinsella died in 2016 in Hope, British Columbia, by assisted suicide.