A New Account of Western Canadian Authorship: The Poetry of Margaret Laurence’s Mother-in-Law
What models of being a writer were available to the young Margaret Laurence (1926–87) in the years leading up to her breakthrough novel, The Stone Angel (1964)? What structures of publishing and authorship were in place to support such an achievement by a woman from the Prairies? Among the Western Canadian authors of the Depression and the interwar period was one whom Margaret particularly acknowledged as a mentor – her husband Jack’s mother, Elsie Fry Laurence (1893–1982). Examining Elsie’s books and periodical contributions sheds new light on the possibilities and limits of being an author in Western Canada. This talk will trace Elsie’s life and career – through her romantic novel written as a governess in imperial Russia, her contributions to the Edmonton Journal and Alberta Poetry Year Book, her Ryerson Poetry Chap-Books, and her later fiction – to show how she carved out a practice of imagining the key roles played by women in rural Canada, a theme that would deeply inspire Margaret. In addition to her books, this account draws on interviews and correspondence with Elsie’s surviving children and grandchildren, thereby assembling an archive for a talented poet whom literary criticism has until now overlooked.
Presenter Biography
Eli MacLaren teaches poetry, Canadian literature, and the history of books and publishing in the Department of English at McGill University, where he is currently the director of graduate studies. He is the author of Dominion and Agency: Copyright and the Structuring of the Canadian Book Trade, 1867–1918 (2011) and Little Resilience: The Ryerson Poetry Chap-Books (2020). He is the vice-president of the Bibliographical Society of Canada and a co-researcher at the Groupe de recherches et d’études sur le livre au Québec. As the director of the Montreal International Poetry Prize, he co-ordinates a team of students and colleagues in building the international network for contemporary poetry.
The event will be hybrid.
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This event is made possible thanks to support from the Government of Canada.
