BOOKS
COVER
Grand
Opening of the Smithsonian
National Museum of the American Indian
BIOGRAPHY
I
Have a Story To Tell
BOOKS
New Editions From Carr Collection
COMMUNITY
Ask a Cop
CULTURE
Canada's Gift to the National
Museum of the American Indian
Defenders
of our Sacred Mother
HUMOUR
Bee
in the Bonnet: Enough to Drive an Injun Crazy!
ENVIRONMENT
Joint
Stewardship Project for Luna Reached on Vancouver Island
HISTORY
Stoney
Point History Reveals Burial Site in Provincial Park
POLITICS
Aboriginal
Leaders Meet with Ministers on Health Care
Book
Reviews
Reviewed
by Chiara Snow
Book
of Small
Author: Emily Carr, Foreword by Sarah Ellis
The House of All Sorts
Author: Emily Carr, Foreword by Susan Musgrave
Fans of Emily Carr's work will be happy to know that two of the artist's seven classic books have been republished with new introductions.
This famous Canadian woman first gained recognition as an author. She wrote seven critically acclaimed books about her journeys to remote Native communities and about her life as an artist-as well as her life as a small child in Victoria at the turn of the last century.
The Book of Small is a collection of thirty-six short stories about a childhood in a town that still had vestiges of its pioneer past. Emily Carr tells stories about her family, neighbours, friends and strangers-who run the gamut from genteel people in high society to disreputable frequenters of saloons-as well as an array of beloved pets. All are observed through the sharp eyes and ears of a young and ever-curious girl. Carr's writing is charming and frank at once.
The book is introduced by Sarah Ellis, a writer and children's librarian. Through a collection of facts on Carr's life, Ellis provides an important perspective to the fictionalized memoir. For example, she reminds the reader that despite the fact that Carr wrote these stories in her middle age, she was able to write through the eyes of a child (Small's); not an adult's. Although a sense of innocence is felt throughout the memoir, Ellis writes that Carr "avoids the clichés of an idealized childhood" and "conveys a kind of somber matter of factness."
Carr's attention to human behaviour is what makes her stories interesting and endearing. In a story entitled East and West, Carr explains the roles the "Chinaman" and "Indian" played in the young city of Victoria. After comparing and describing the behaviours of these two separate peoples, Carr further explains how the "white man" understood them.
Before winning recognition for her painting and writing, Carr built a small apartment building with four suites that she hoped would earn her a living. But things turned out worse than expected, and in her forties, the gifted artist found herself shoveling coal and cleaning up other people's messes.
The House of All Sorts is a tongue-in-cheek name Carr gave to her building, and the title of her book, first published in 1944. This collection of forty-one stories recounts the hard-working days and the parade of tenants-young couples, widows, sad bachelors and rent evaders - are sad yet sometimes funny. The introduction, by writer Susan Musgrave, describes the history of the book and lessons Carr learnt from this challenging period in her life.
According to Musgrave, Carr hated "her lot in life" writing
that "the weight of the house crushed me… tenants tore me to
shreds." Carr became depressed and was unable to paint, believing
her artist career was over. In the 1930s, after renovations and numerous
attempts to rid herself of the "burdensome house" Carr turned
the Hill House into artist's gallery. Unsuccessful, Carr traded the house
for a bungalow where she would return to her artist's calling.