Lifelines: Marian Engel's Writings

287 Pages·1995·17.682 MB·English

by  Christl Verduyn

Lifelines
Marian Engel's Writings
Before her death in 1985 at the age of fifty-one, Marian Engel had
published seven novels, two collections of short stories, and numer-
ous essays and articles. Despite this impressive output and various
literary honours, including a Governor General's Award for her 1976
novel Bear, Engel's work has not received the critical attention it de-
serves. Lifelines fills a major gap in Canadian literary criticism.
Christl Verduyn analyses Engel's work from a feminist literary per-
spective, exploring Engel's investigations of women's experiences
and perception of the world, female identity and the social con-
straints on its development, female subjectivity and self, the mother-
daughter relationship, and forces opposing women's artistic self-
expression. She not only presents in-depth readings of the novels but
relates them to Engel's reflections on her experiences as a woman and
a writer as found in her personal notebooks and other writings.
Verduyn demonstrates the extent to which Engel's work enriches
our understanding of women's experiences and broadens our view of
women's worlds. Lifelines will make a significant contribution to Ca-
nadian literature, women's studies, and the recently acknowledged
genre of life writing.
CHRISTL VERDUYN is chair and professor of Canadian Studies, Trent
University.
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Lifelines
Marian Engel's Writings
CHRISTL VERDUYN
McGill-Queen's University Press
Montreal & Kingston • London • Buffalo
© McGill-Queen's University Press 1995
ISBN 0-7735-1337-x (cloth)
ISBN 0-7735-1338-8 (paper)
Legal deposit fourth quarter 1995
Bibliotheque nationale du Quebec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen's University Press is grateful to the Canada Council for
support of its publishing program.
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Verduyn, Christl, 1953-
Lifelines: Marian Engel's writings
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7735-1337-x (bound) -
ISBN 0-7735-1338-8 (pbk.)
i. Engel, Marian, 1933-1985 - Criticism and interpretation. 2. Women in
literature. I. Title.
PS8559.N5Z941995 0813'.54 095-900486-6
PR9199-3.E5Z94 1995
This book was typeset by Typo Litho Composition Inc. in 10/12 Palatine.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 3
1 Lines of Inquiry: The Tattooed Woman 8
2 Between the Lines: Marian Engel's Notebooks 21
3 Scratching Around: Early Writings and Unpublished
Work 44
4 The Texture of Women: Sarah Bastard's Notebook and The
Honeyman Festival 62
5 Instincts and Lessons: Monodromos 93
6 Transformations: Bear 117
7 Translated without Transubstantiation: The Glassy Sea 138
8 Ambivalence towards Completion: Lunatic Villas 162
9 In the Golden City: Conclusion 181
Notes 201
Bibliography 261
Index 271
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Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the Social Sciences and Humanities Re-
search Council for its support of this project and thank several people
who played a part in its completion. Warm thanks go to Drs Charlotte
Stewart, Carl Spadoni, and Kathy Garay, archivists at McMaster Uni-
versity Research and Archives Division, where Marian Engel's papers
are located, and to Dr Robert Brandeis of Victoria College, University
of Toronto, who was helpful at the outset. I am especially grateful to
Dr Garay, who catalogued Marian Engel's papers and with whom I
spent many enjoyable hours talking about the material. Her finding
guide to the Marian Engel Archive1 was very useful in my research,
as was Annette Wengle's "Marian Engel: An Annotated Bibliogra-
phy."
Joe'lle Favreau was a stellar research assistant from beginning to
end, and Jennifer Gillard an energetic graduate student assistant in
the final stages. Marlene Kadar's invitation to contribute to her col-
lection Essays on Life Writing: From Genre to Critical Practice with an es-
say on Marian Engel's notebooks was a welcome opportunity for an
early exploration of the author's cahiers. Joining John Burbidge's
Trent University Canadian Studies class in a discussion of The Glassy
Sea was both stimulating and helpful in clarifying several references
to hymns and saints. Audiences who listened to paper presentations
of early parts of this book (at the University of Edmonton in April
1990 and at Montreal's Simone de Beauvoir Institute in January 1992)
provided encouraging positive reaction. So, too, did a variety of indi-
viduals to whom I spoke of this project and who willingly shared
viii Acknowledgments
their memories and observations of Marian Engel.2 Friends and col-
leagues Patricia Smart, Kathy Garay, Laura Groening, Marlene Kadar,
Julia Gualtieri, and Lynda Morrisey kindly read and commented on
early or later drafts or parts of the manuscript. The text benefited
greatly from the comments of anonymous assessors, particularly
"Reader A," and from the experienced editorship of Philip Cercone
and his staff.
For permission to quote from several personal letters used in this
research, I am very grateful to Mr Shirley Woods, literary executor for
Hugh MacLennan (letters from MacLennan to Engel), to Pamela Rus-
sell Jessup (letters from Diarmuid Russell to Engel), to Dennis Lee
(letters relating to Monodromos), and to {Catherine Punch (letter of 18
February 1974). For permission to include the photograph of Marian
Engel from his papers at McMaster, I would like to thank Peter Such.
And for allowing the reproduction of The Honeyman Festival's original
1970 Anansi House jacket, alongside the cover of Nicole Brossard's
L'amer (1977), I would like to acknowledge Stoddart Publishing Com-
pany Limited and VLB Editeur.
The cooperation of members of the Engel family throughout was
most appreciated, and I would especially like to thank Charlotte En-
gel for her patience and trust and for much-appreciated meetings
over coffee along Bloor Street. Finally, I would like to thank Robert
Campbell for his practical assistance, encouragement, and interest in
my work, despite the demands of his own research and publications
in the field of political science. I dedicate this book to him and to our
four young children - sons Malcolm and Colin, daughters Lachlan
and Frances - lifelines of another kind.
Lifelines