Shifting Currents A Memoir
Shifting Currents: A Memoir by Paula Dunning, published by Blurb, Incorporated on October 3, 2016, offers an insightful exploration of life on a northern Ontario farm. Spanning 292 pages, this memoir captures the complexities of rural living, where the idyllic visions of pastoral life confront stark realities. Dunning reflects on her experiences as a farm wife, navigating the tension between traditional expectations and her desire for personal fulfillment amid the challenges of her environment.
Readers will find a rich narrative that delves into the personal conflicts and societal pressures faced by those transitioning from the counter-culture of the 1960s into middle adulthood. The memoir highlights the clash between conventional measures of success and alternative lifestyles, as well as the struggle between academic knowledge and practical skills. Set against the backdrop of rural northern Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s, Shifting Currents presents a nuanced perspective on identity and belonging, inviting readers to reflect on the complexities of self-image and community.
Official synopsis Publisher
On 300 acres of fields and bush, in the harsh climate of northern Ontario, fantasies of pastoral serenity clash with reality, as visions of a family goat in the field morph into the sight of a dead cow in the barn. Traditional middle-class measures of success battle counter-culture alternatives, as the narrator struggles with her emerging self-image as “just” a farm wife. A cacophony of voices urges her to fulfill her potential as an educated, liberated woman, while she commits myself to baking bread and churning butter. The arrogance of book-knowledge butts heads with traditional, first-hand knowledge, when the first hay crop threatened to burn down the barn. And as a newcomer to a community where prevailing attitudes collide with her own deeply held beliefs, she searches for a way to fit in.
Shifting Currents, is more than a story about going back to the land. With rural northern Ontario in the 1970s and 1980s as a backdrop, it delves into the personal conflicts and social pressures afflicting the generation of the 1960s as they moved into middle adulthood. In the harsh climate of northern Ontario, fantasies of pastoral serenity clashed with reality, traditional middle-class measures of success battled counter-culture and feminist alternatives, and the arrogance of book-knowledge butted heads with traditional, hands-on competence.
“Beautifully written, by turns wry and poignant, Shifting Currents turns a landscape into a heartscape you will never forget.” -Bill Roorbach, author of Temple Stream, Writing Life Stories, Life Among Giants and The Remedy for Love
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