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Canadian Literature in English Teresa Gibert

Unit 1: The Pioneering Experience

INTRODUCTION Pioneer memoirs are realistic settlement narratives about the pioneers’ struggle against the natural environment in Canada, with particular emphasis on the hardships of life in the colony. The most prominent writer of pioneer memoirs at the time was William Dunlop, the author of Statistical Sketches of Upper Canada (1832), but nowadays the best-known and most influential writers of this non-fiction genre are the Strickland sisters, Catharine Parr Traill and Susanna Moodie, who are often studied together. Both of them published outstanding examples of pioneer women’s memoirs, which primarily addressed a female readership, in contrast with most accounts, which were written by men for men. Pioneer memoirs differ from both explorers’ and travellers’ stories. Anna Jameson is a special case, for she is generally acknowledged as a pioneer, although she was a traveller, not a settler. Her Winter Studies and Summer Rambles (1838), about her tour of Canada, provides a portrait of winter in Toronto and summer in south-western Ontario and upper Lake Huron. The book conveys her enthusiasm for the splendour of the Canadian landscape while it simultaneously makes readers aware of the difficulties of her journey. Just as American early captivity narratives inspired fictionalized versions which were to become extremely popular nineteenth-century novels (for instance, The Last of the Mohicans), the Canadian nineteenth-century pioneer memoirs were the source of early twentieth-century pioneer novels such as Martha Ostenso’s Wild Geese (1925). Pioneer women’s memoirs also created a mythology that has continued to stimulate the work of later novelists such as Margaret Laurence, whose protagonists metaphorically inhabit an inner, personal frontier rather than the physical one of their historical predecessors. Long after the figure of the pioneer woman had disappeared from the landscape of the country, new revitalized versions of her continued to emerge in Canadian literature because writers never ceased to draw upon this tradition of female characterization. The pioneer woman—strong, courageous, confident, self-assured, capable, active, pragmatic, and able to adapt herself to adverse circumstances—thus became an emblematic Canadian fictional character type which has persisted from the beginning of Canadian creative writing up to the present. Susanna Moodie was born in England, where she became a professional writer. In 1832 she emigrated to Canada with her husband and settled first on cleared farmland and later in the wilderness of the backwoods of what is now Ontario. Throughout her life she thought of herself not as a Canadian, but as a tragically exiled English lady, and felt compelled to write for her English audience about the harsh experiences she and her family endured in the bush farms of Upper Canada in the 1830s.1 She achieved great 1

The terms Upper Canada and Lower Canada refer to the period between 1791 (when the former province of Quebec was divided into two parts) and 1840 (when the two provinces were joined once again). Upper Canada was the precursor of modern-day Ontario.

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Canadian Literature in English Teresa Gibert

success in England and enjoyed brief popularity in the United States with her collection of sketches and poems entitled Roughing It in the Bush; or, Life in Canada (1852), which dealt with the “bush” experiences of an English gentlewoman in Upper Canada, laying special emphasis on her psychological tensions and feelings of isolation and exile. Its sequel was Life in the Clearings versus the Bush (1853), an amiable and optimistic portrait of Canadian society, in which she wrote about her experience after she left the backwoods. Moodie was one of the many nineteenth-century women writers who managed to make their female presence felt in spite of the social pressures that demanded their absence and silence. Rather than attempt a comprehensive analysis of Moodie’s work, we will concentrate on some selections from her collection Roughing It in the Bush, a book that contains miscellaneous elements of poetry, fiction, travel narrative, autobiography, and social analysis. The book has been praised as a “glowing narrative of personal incident and suffering” and a “study of human character.” It has also been considered a major piece of autobiography, with the author at the centre of her narrative, struggling to cope with a new world and a new self, and expressing herself with eloquence, lively language, humorous style and vividness. Its main themes are: the natural world, the complexity of human personality, the opposition and interaction of male and female roles, and the nature of society. Throughout the book, a series of contradictory patterns are presented: the New World vs. the Old World, courage vs. fear, anger vs. acceptance, and independence vs. imprisonment. We will also study the literary relationship between Susanna Moodie’s Roughing It in the Bush and Margaret Atwood’s volume of serial poems entitled The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), since Atwood’s reconstruction of Moodie’s experience from a twentieth-century perspective is so powerful that it has greatly affected how the nineteenth-century writer is interpreted today. This is an interesting example of what is called “false influence,” by which a later text transforms the way an earlier text is perceived. As an extremely gifted poet, Margaret Atwood has been praised for her acute perceptions, precise and striking images, vividness, exploration of paradoxes, verbal irony, word play, wit and humour. In her fourth book of poetry, The Journals of Susanna Moodie, Atwood recreated the experience of this nineteenth-century pioneer and provided Canadians with a literary foremother at a time when nationalism and feminism were gaining increasing attention in her country. In the afterword to her book, Atwood explained that she was attracted to Moodie’s personality because it exemplified Canada’s national mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia, in contrast with America’s megalomania. She saw Moodie as a woman pioneer whose personality was violently torn by contradictory desires to the point of being divided down the middle by a series of dichotomies in her vision of reality: both praising the Canadian landscape and accusing it of destroying her, simultaneously preaching progress and brooding over the destruction of the wilderness, and claiming patriotism while criticizing the country as a detached observer. Atwood herself indicated that the arrangement of her poems followed the course of Moodie’s life, with a “final appearance in the present, as an old woman on a Toronto bus who reveals the city as an unexplored, threatening wilderness” (64). Each of the three Journals deals with a different period. Journal I (1832-1840) begins with Moodie’s arrival in Canada and the difficult years she spent on a remote bush farm. Journal II (1840-1871) contains both reflections about the society of Belleville and memories of her experiences in the bush. The poems contained in Journal

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III (1871-1969), in Atwood’s own words, take Moodie “through an estranged old age, into death and beyond” (63).

SYNOPSIS 1. Pioneer memoirs: accurate depictions of Canadian settlers’ lives. Pioneer women’s memoirs: addressed to a female readership, they created a mythology. The pioneer woman character type: strong, courageous, confident, self-assured, capable, active, pragmatic, and adaptable. 2. Susanna Moodie (1803-1885). Early literary career in England enlarged by the challenge of New World subjects. Roughing It in the Bush (1852): the “bush” experiences of an English gentlewoman in Upper Canada; psychological tensions and feelings of isolation and exile. Life in the Clearings versus the Bush (1853): an amiable and optimistic portrait of Canadian society. 3. Roughing It in the Bush: miscellaneous elements. A “glowing narrative of personal incident” and a “study of human character.” A major piece of autobiography: the author at the centre of her narrative. The struggle to cope with a new world and a new self. Eloquence, lively language and vividness. Themes: the natural world, the complexity of human personality, the opposition and interaction of male and female roles, and the nature of society. Contradictory patterns: New World vs. Old World, courage vs. fear, anger vs. acceptance, independence vs. imprisonment. 4. Margaret Atwood’s recreation of the nineteenth-century woman pioneer experience and Moodie’s inner life in The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970): an icon of cultural schizophrenia provoked by dichotomies in Moodie’s vision of reality (“a violent duality”). Journal I (1832-1840): arrival in Canada and difficult years on a bush farm. Journal II (1840-1871): the society of Belleville and memories of the bush. Journal III (1871-1969): Moodie “through an estranged old age, into death and beyond.”

ACTIVITIES 1. Read the short introduction on “Pioneer Memoirs” (ANA, page 86; ACLE, page 101)2 and write a summary of the features of this genre, generally considered as non-fiction, although it includes some fictional elements.

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ANA refers to: Bennett, Donna, and Russell Brown, eds. A New Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. Toronto: OUP, 2002, ISBN-10: 0195416872, ISBN-13: 9780195416879. ACLE refers to: Bennett, Donna, and Russell Brown, eds. An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English. Third Edition. Toronto: OUP, 2010. ISBN-10: 0195427815. ISBN-13: 9780195427813.

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2. Read the introduction to Susanna Moodie (ANA, pages 93-94; ACLE, pages 108-09) and make a list of the most relevant biographical details, paying particular attention to her literary career. 3. Read the following selections from Moodie’s most famous work, Roughing It in the Bush: “Introduction to the Third Edition,” “A Visit to Grosse Isle,” “Uncle Joe and His Family,” “Brian, the Still-Hunter,” and “Adieu to the Woods” (ANA, pages 94-118 and 122; ACLE, pages 110-35 and 139). Read the texts first so as to become familiar with their content, and then read them once again so as to take notes. Finally, write a brief essay on one of the following topics: -

The portrayal of the pioneer woman in Moodie’s writings.

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The representation of eccentric characters in Moodie’s sketches.

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Susanna Moodie’s response to the sublime in Canadian nature.

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Moodie’s comic vision: The Canadian experience as a source of humour.

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The effectiveness of Moodie’s writings. How effectively do you think that Moodie achieved her declared purpose of warning prospective immigrants and deflating the illusions about life in Canada spread by unscrupulous land-agents in Europe? If you are hesitant about choosing one particular topic for your essay or if you think that you need more material than you have gathered so far, you may find some help in the “Further Reading” section. Remember that an essay should start with a clear introduction containing a thesis statement, and it should end with a conclusion that follows from your proposition and the ideas developed in the body of the essay. In order to write a good paper, you should select relevant evidence and organize information to formulate your thesis and support your argument. 4. For a recent literary response to Moodie’s Canadian chronicles, read the selection of five poems from Atwood’s collection entitled The Journals of Susanna Moodie (ANA, pages 783-88; ACLE, pages 818-22). Note how Atwood was fascinated by Moodie’s divided personality, which led the nineteenth-century writer to express herself in contradictory voices. Then, you may write a brief essay on one of the following topics: -

To what extent do The Journals of Susanna Moodie exemplify Atwood’s interest in the psychological dimension of the immigrant experience in Canada?

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In her afterword to The Journals of Susanna Moodie, Atwood asserted the autonomy of her artistic creation when she observed that “although the poems can be read in connection with Mrs Moodie’s books, they don’t have to be: they have detached themselves from the books in the

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same way that other poems detach themselves from the events that give rise to them” (63). However, since you have already read some selections from Roughing It in the Bush, you may want to write about Atwood’s poetic use of the nineteenth-century text, perhaps concentrating on how “Dream 2: Brian the Still-Hunter” (ANA, pages 786-87; ACLE, page 821) was inspired by Moodie’s “Brian, the Still-Hunter” (ANA, pages 112-18; ACLE, pages 129-35).

FURTHER READING Apart from the compulsory readings indicated in the preceding section, there is another selection from Roughing It in the Bush in the Anthology (“The Fire,” ANA, pages 11822; ACLE, pages 135-39), together with information on Catharine Parr Traill and two letters from her work, The Backwoods of Canada, written in epistolary form (ANA, pages 86-93; ACLE, pages 101-08). In the UNED Main Library, you will find the following editions of Moodie’s works: Moodie, Susanna. Roughing It in the Bush. New Canadian Library. Toronto: McClelland, 1993. Signatura: 820 (73) - 94 “18” MOO.3 —. Life in the Clearings versus the Bush. Toronto: McClelland, 1989. Signatura: 820 (73) - 94 “18” MOO. If you have access to the full version of Roughing It in the Bush either in the New Canadian Library edition mentioned above or in the Internet edition mentioned below, you will realize that in the Anthology you have read the full text of the “Introduction” and “Uncle Joe and His Family” (except for the song “The Sleigh-Bells” at the end of the chapter), but only an excerpt from “A Visit to Grosse Isle,” the first half of “Brian, the Still-Hunter,” and the last two paragraphs of “Adieu to the Woods.” Note also that the New Canadian Library edition is based on the first Canadian edition (1871), whereas the Internet edition is based on the English publication (1852), which contains four chapters by Susanna Moodie’s husband (who gave up his project of writing a travel book about his adventures in Canada) and one poem by her brother, Samuel Strickland. Other editions include only the chapters by Susanna Moodie. Part of the literary production of Catharine Parr Traill, Susanna Moodie’s sister, can be found in the following volume at the UNED Main Library: Traill, Catharine Parr. The Backwoods of Canada. Toronto: McClelland, 1989. Signatura: 820 (73) - 94 “18” TRA.

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Note that the “signatura” at the end of each reference is the shelf mark that will help you to locate each book in the UNED Main Library.

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Canadian Literature in English Teresa Gibert

WEB Pages You are strongly encouraged to visit the various sections of the sites indicated below so as to practise your research skills using the numerous primary and secondary sources which are available online. Roughing It in the Bush (An on-line edition of the full text based on the English edition of 1852). http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/moodie/roughing/roughing.html http://openlibrary.org/works/OL2125276W/Roughing_it_in_the_bush Selected Poetry of Susanna Moodie (University of Toronto Libraries) http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poets/moodie-susanna The website “Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill” of the National Library of Canada provides reliable information about the biographies of the two sisters and their writings. It is illustrated with watercolours by Susanna Moodie herself, and it features original photographs of the period. This website makes available some of their letters and excerpts from their books, and contains material for further study on both writers. https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/moodie-traill/index-e.html The website “Women Pioneers in Peterborough County” is an exhibit about Susanna Moodie, her sister and four other women pioneers who emigrated to Upper Canada between 1822 and 1883. http://www2.trentu.ca/library/archives/zwommood.htm The “Athabasca University Canadian Writers Web Pages” devotes one of its pages to Susanna Moodie’s life and works, with useful links. http://canadian-writers.athabascau.ca/english/writers/smoodie/smoodie.php The website “The Poetry Foundation” provides a short biography of Moodie (by Carl Ballstadt) and some interesting information about her background. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/susanna-moodie https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/susanna-moodie The article by Elizabeth Thompson “Roughing It in the Bush: Patterns of Emigration and Settlement in Susanna Moodie’s Poetry” examines how some of the poems included in Moodie’s first book discuss the difficulties of emigration while others express an enjoyment of pioneer Canada. http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol40/roughing_it_in_the_bush .htm The article by Susan Johnston, “Reconstructing the Wilderness: Margaret Atwood’s Reading of Susanna Moodie” may be useful to study both Atwood’s

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Canadian Literature in English Teresa Gibert

recreation of Moodie’s pioneer experience and Moodie’s response to the sublime in Canadian nature. http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol31/johnston.htm For additional information on Margaret Atwood’s The Journals of Susanna Moodie, you can read the article by R. P. Bilan at: http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol02/bilan.htm the article entitled “Haunted: The Journals of Susanna Moodie,” by Jennifer Aldred, at: http://www.ucalgary.ca/hic/issues/vol1/5 and the article entitled “The Journals of Susanna Moodie: A Twentieth-Century Look at a Nineteenth-Century Life,” by Laura Groening, at: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/7995/9052

Selected Criticism Aldred, Jennifer. “Haunted: The Journals of Susanna Moodie.” History of Intellectual Culture 1.1 (2001): 1-14. http://www.ucalgary.ca/hic/issues/vol1/5 Atwood, Margaret. “Afterword.” The Journals of Susanna Moodie. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1970. 62-64. Signatura: 820(73)-1“19”ATW. —. “Introduction.” Susanna Moodie. Roughing It in the Bush. London: Virago, 1986. vii-xxi. Balasubramanian, M. “An Emigrant Archetypalized: A Study of Margaret Atwood’s The Journals of Susanna Moodie.” Essays on Canadian Literature. Ed. K. Balachandran. Bareilly: Prakash Book Depot, 2001. 23-33. Ballstadt, Carl. “Susanna Moodie and the English Sketch.” Canadian Literature 51 (Winter 1972): 32-38. http://canlit.ca/article/susanna-moodie-and-the-english-sketch/ —. “Editor’s Introduction.” Susanna Moodie. Roughing It in the Bush, or Life in Canada. Ottawa: Carleton UP, 1988. xvii-lx. Bilan, R.P. “Margaret Atwood’s The Journals of Susanna Moodie.” Canadian Poetry 2 (Spring/Summer 1978): 1-12. http://www.uwo.ca/english/canadianpoetry/cpjrn/vol02/bilan.htm Buss, Helen. “Pioneer Women’s Memoirs: Preserving the Past/Rescuing the Self.” Reflections. Autobiography and Canadian Literature. Ed. Klaus Peter Stich. Ottawa: U of Ottawa P, 1988. 45-60. Signatura: 820(73)-94.0REF. —. Mapping Our Selves: Canadian Women’s Autobiography in English. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 1994. Signatura: 820 (73) - 94.0 BUS. Floyd, Janet. Writing the Pioneer Woman. Columbia: U of Missouri P, 2002. Signatura: 820(73)-94.0FLO. Fowler, Marian. The Embroidered Tent: Five Gentlewomen in Early Canada: Elizabeth Simcoe, Catharine Parr Traill, Susanna Moodie, Anna Jameson, Lady Dufferin. Toronto: Anansi, 1982. Freiwald, Bina. “The Tongue of Women: The Language of the Self in Moodie’s Roughing It in the Bush.” Re(dis)covering Our Foremothers. Ed. Lorraine McMullen. Ottawa: U of Ottawa P, 1990. 155-72.

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Gerson, Carole. “Literature of Settlement.” The Cambridge History of Canadian Literature. Ed. Coral Ann Howells and Eva-Marie Kröller. Cambridge: Cambri...