BOOKS
COVER
Chief's
House Torched in Kanesatake
BIOGRAPHY
A
Christmas Story: Sharon Greyeyes' Original Bannock Shop
BOOKS
Carr's
Native Experience Reprinted
Telling
It Like It Is
BUSINESS
Diamond
Search Leads to Conflict-of-Interest Probe
ENVIRONMENT
Blueberry
River First Nations Launches $7.5 Million Lawsuit Against Gas Development
HUMOUR
Bee
in the Bonnet: Ten, Happy, New, Years
Bee
in the Bonnet: Point the Arrow
POLITICS
Wounded
Leaders, Wounded Nations
Ottawa
Announces New Fast Track for Residential School Survivors
The
2004 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards (NAAA)
Klee Wyck
By Emily Carr, Introduction by Kathryn Bridge
Reviewed by Chiara
Snow
Emily Carr's book, published in 1941, was titled Klee Wyck, which means
Laughing One, in honour of the name that the native people of the west
coast gave to her. This collection of twenty-one word sketches about native
people describes Carr's visits and travels as she painted their totem
poles and villages.
Stories recounting experiences from her childhood are also included. Filled with First Nations characters, who often speak in a pidgin English, each story offers rich and honest insights into the relationship between white man and natives.
In a diary entry (June 24, 1937) published in The Journals of Emily Carr, Carr wrote about her insecurities as a writer, which also described her (unknown) strengths as a writer:
"Probably
when people do not know the places or people… [the stories will be
flat] but they are true and I would rather they were flat than false.
I tried to be plain, straight, simple and Indian. I wanted to be true
to the places as well as to the people. I put my whole soul into them
and tired to avoid sentimentality. I went down deep into myself."
This collection holds true to Carr's intent. Although her writing style can seem brisk and overly factual at times, the rhythm of her language conjures a vivid scene in the reader's mind.
Klee Wyck marked Carr's debut as a writer, shortly before she died in
1945. This reprinting recaptures the book in its entirety including the
forewords to the 1941 and 1952 editions by Ira Dilworth. Winning the Governor
General's Award for non-fiction in 1942, Klee Wyck has been translated
into French and Japanese.
Kathryn Bridge, an archivist well acquainted with the work of Emily Carr,
wrote the introduction that places Klee Wyck in historical and literary
context and provides interesting new information.