Eric Minshall
December05 2005
Glace Bay Research Questions
1. -1964 “The Ballad of Charlie Dave” is written by Sheldon Currie.
-1976 “Glace Bay Miner’s Museum” is published in the Antigonish Review
- The short story is converted into a radio play.
-Sheldon Currie adds more body to the short story for Gerry Wexler and Mort Rancen to make the movie “Margaret’s Museum”.
-Short story is lengthened with the extra material for the movie to be published as the short novel “The Glace Bay Miner’s Museum – the Novel”.
-Stage drama written by Wendy Lill.
2.A memory play is obviously a play were the story is told with one of the characters reminiscing, and each of the different scenes are some relevant memory that the plays a part of the overall story.
Sutil Compania.19 October 2005 <
3. Neil is from St Andrew’s Channel. It is located west of Glace Bay, still in Nova Scotia.
4.A ceilidh is an Irish or Scottish social gathering with traditional folk music, dancing, and story telling. It is pronounced similar to “kay-lee”
Dictionary.com. 19 October 2005 <
5.Cape Breton, Nova Scotia was a busy part of the coal mining industry, and has a large Scottish population who emigrated from Scotland to escape persecution. The island constitutes the entire north end of Nova Scotia. Due to it’s isolation, the Gaelic heritage and language were slow to diminish, and CapeBreton remains one of the largest concentrations of Gaelic speakers outside of Scotland.
6.The isle of sky is and island off of the coast of Scotland. Many original CapeBreton settlers originated there.
7.A wake is a ritual where the body of a deceased person is watched over by his relatives or loved ones, sometimes carrying on deep into or through the night. Wakes are sometimes accompanied by festivities.
Dictionary.com. 05 December 2005 <
8.A colliery is a coal mine with all of its associated buildings.
Dictionary.com. 05 December 2005 <
9.A literary allusion is when an author refers to another literary work in their own. A reference to someone being like Adam and Eve for instance, would be alluding to the Bible.
10.The Gaelic language is a language in decline. Even in its native Scotland, it is not commonly spoken. Outside Scotland, CapeBreton has one of the hightest concentrations of Gaelic speakers in the world. Often, when emigrating, large numbers of people from the same district would travel together, and settle with each other. Coupled with the fact that CapeBreton, as an island, remains fairly isolated, much original heritage can still be found.