At the end of the 1998–99 season, Wayne Gretzky retired after 21 years of professional hockey. Many think that the records he set will never be broken. The league retired his number and as his banner was raised the announcer’s voice broke and a sob escaped.
A while after Finnie’s death, I sat down and read Moby Dick in an attempt to figure out Ahab and Mr. Starbuck and that damn whale. I’m not quite sure what to make of it. Maybe Finnie was Captain Ahab, a madman obsessed with a singular purpose, a purpose that brought him to his own demise. Or maybe he was Starbuck, brought to his unfortunate end by the folly of others. Whatever Finnie Walsh was, I would give anything not to have been Ishmael.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the faculty, students and alumni of the UBC Creative Writing Program, Carolyn Swayze, Joy Gugeler, the Galloway, Tayler and Haslett families, Chad Hunt, Lynda Milham and Helen’s Grill. Special thanks to Lara, whose love, tolerance and support enabled the writing of this book.
STEVEN GALLOWAY is the author of three novels: Finnie Walsh, Ascension, and The Cellist of Sarajevo. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and optioned for film. He teaches creative writing at UBC and SFU, and he lives with his wife and two daughters in New Westminster, BC.
VINTAGE CANADA EDITION, 2010
Revised Edition Copyright © 2010 Steven Galloway
Original Copyright © 2000 Steven Galloway
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Published in Canada by Vintage Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, in 2010. First edition published in Canada by Raincoast Books, in 2000. Distributed by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
Vintage Canada with colophon is a registered trademark.
www.randomhouse.ca
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Galloway, Steven, 1975–
Finnie Walsh / Steven Galloway.
eISBN: 978-0-307-39866-6
I. Title.
PS8563.A454F56 2010 C813′.6 C2009-904974-0
v3.0
Steven Galloway, Finnie Walsh
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