Must Write: Edna Staeblers Diaries (Life Writing)

313 Pages·2005·2.85 MB·English

by  Edna Staebler

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Those who read Edna Staebler’s diaries will discover the quali-
ties her friends already know: here is a woman whose words u
reveal a growing self-discovery, an independent spirit, and the s
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stubborn courage to be true to herself.
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– Wayson Choy,
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Trillium award-winning author of The Jade Peonyand
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All That Mattersand winner of the Edna Staebler Award t
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for Creative Non-Fiction forPaper Shadows
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n must write
Long before she became the renowned author of the best-
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selling Schmecks cookbooks, an award-winning journalist for mag-
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azines such as Maclean’s, and a creative non-fiction mentor, Edna t
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Staebler was a writer of a different sort. e
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Staebler began serious diary writing at the age of sixteen and con- l Edna Staebler’s Diaries
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tinued to write for over eighty years. Must Write: Edna Staebler’s
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Diaries draws from these diaries selections that map Staebler’s con- s

struction of herself as a writer. They document her frustrations, D
struggles, and joy of life, together with her need to express herself i
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in writing. r
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She felt she “must write,” while at the same time she doubted the
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value of her “scribblings.” Spanning much of the twentieth cen- (cid:1)
tury—each decade is introduced by an overview of key events in
the author’s life during that period—the diaries illuminate both her
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intensely personal experiences and her broader social world. h
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Christl Verduyn teaches in the Department of English and Film r
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Studies and is the coordinator of the Canadian Studies Program at Wilfrid
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Laurier University, Waterloo. She is the editor of Marian Engel’s Note- y
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books:“Ah,mon cahier,écoute…” (wluPress, 1999).
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ISBN 0-88920-481-0
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Christl Verduyn, editor
FOLD FOLD PJWOODLAND | [email protected] |WLU Press | Verduyn, editor • Must Write | cmyk | spine = 18.9 mm
CYAN MAGENT YELLOW K
mustwrite
Edna Staebler’s Diaries

mustwrite
Edna Staebler’s Diaries
edited by Christl Verduyn
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing
program.We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada
through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing
activities.We acknowledge the financial support of the Waterloo Regional Heritage
Foundation.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Staebler,Edna,1906–
Must write : Edna Staebler’s diaries / edited by Christl Verduyn.
(Life writing series)
ISBN0-88920-481-0
1.Staebler,Edna,1906– —Diaries. 2.Authors,Canadian (English)—20th
century—Diaries. i.Verduyn,Christl,1953– ii.Title. iii.Series.
fc601.s69a3 2005 c818'.5403 c2005-903941-8
© 2005Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Waterloo,Ontario,Canada
www.wlupress.wlu.ca
Cover photograph courtesy of Edna Staebler.
Cover and interior design by P.J.Woodland.
“To Youth,”from InAmericanby John V.A.Weaver,1939.Used by permission of
Alfred A.Knopf,a division of Random House.
Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material
used in this text,and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately.Any errors
and omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.
∞
Printed in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system or trans-
mitted,in any form or by any means,without the prior written consent of the pub-
lisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access
Copyright).For an Access Copyright licence,visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call
toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
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Contents
Acknowledgments/ vi
Introduction “Life as Writing”/ 1
Edna’s Chronology / 17
Family Lines / 20
1 1920s Words to Express / 23
2 1930s Longing to Make Something / 41
3 1940s Must Write / 55
4 “Duellists of the Deep”1948/ 93
5 “How to Live without Wars and Wedding Rings”1950/ 105
6 1950s Writing / 121
7 1960s Must Work / 137
8 1970s Something to Write About / 165
9 “Cape Breton Harbour”(excerpt)1972/ 189
10 “The Great Cookie War”1987/ 201
11 1980s The Business of Publishing / 221
12 1990s Must Do / 237
13 2000 Still Interested and Interesting / 271
Bibliography / 285
Index / 291
v

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Acknowledgments
Iwould like to acknowledge and thank a number of individuals
and institutions for their support of this project.
First and foremost,thanks to Edna Staebler,whose diary writing is at
the heart of this book. I am extremely grateful for her permission to
publish material from her archives and for her generous cooperation
throughout.Thanks to Sandra Woolfrey,former director of Wilfrid Lau-
rier University Press,who introduced me to Edna and who encouraged
my conception of the project.Thanks as well to Brian Henderson,cur-
rent director of Wilfrid Laurier University Press,and to his staff at wlup,
in particular Jacqueline Larson,Carroll Klein,and Pamela Woodland,for
seeing the book through production to publication.
An agreement between the University of Guelph and Wilfrid Lau-
rier University,approved by Edna Staebler,enabled the transfer of her
diaries from the University of Guelph Library Archives to Wilfrid Lau-
rier University Archives during the summer of 2001.This arrangement
allowed for much easier access to the materials for transcription by two
student assistants,Lisa Butler and Sally Heath.For facilitating the agree-
ment,thanks to Lorne Bruce,Head of Archival and Special Collections
at the University of Guelph,as well as Tim Sauer,Head of Collections
Services,University of Guelph Library,and at Wilfrid Laurier Univer-
sity,Virginia Gillham,former University Librarian.For their helpful and
friendly assistance in the archives,thanks to Ellen Morrison and Darlene
Wiltsie at the University of Guelph and to Joan Mitchell and Cindy
Preece at Wilfrid Laurier University.
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viii Acknowledgments
For conversations about Edna’s diaries and for her help with photo-
graphs for the book,thanks to Kathryn Wardropper.Thanks as well as
to Sally Heath,who stayed on as a research assistant for the duration of
the project and to whose trusty transcription work I am enormously
indebted.Sylvia Hoang helpfully scanned Staebler’s journalism articles
for the volume and Kerry Cannon lent a welcome hand with some elu-
sive footnote material.Ann Wood and Sheila Bauman of the Kitchener
Public Library tracked down an obituary notice for Yvonne Craig.Early
on in the project,I spoke with Judith Miller,who excerpted a passage
from Edna’s diaries for the collection The Small Details of Life: Twenty
Diaries by Women in Canada 1830–1996,edited by Kathryn Carter (2002).
Last but not least,I would like to acknowledge Veronica Ross,whose
biography of Staebler appeared as I was nearing the end of my work and
presents a wonderful companion volume to this one.
A Wilfrid Laurier University short-term grant was helpful at the out-
set of this project and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Coun-
cil grant supported the completion of the work. I am grateful to the
council for its support of my work over the years and I sincerely hope
it will continue to fund research in the humanities for many years to
come.Throughout this and other research projects,I have had the steady,
good-humoured support of my family,and my final thanks and deep-
est appreciation belong as always to Robert Campbell and our four
children.
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Introduction
LifeasWriting
EdnaStaebler’sDiaries
Long before she became a renowned author of best-selling
cookbooks,an award-winning journalist,a published author,and
a mentor of creative non-fiction,Edna Staebler was a writer of a
different sort.She was a prodigious diarist.Staebler began serious diary
writing at the age of sixteen in 1922and continued for over eighty years
until she suffered a mild stroke in 2003.1Approaching her centenary in
2006,Edna Staebler is the author of a voluminous body of diary writing.
Housed in Archival and Special Collections at the University of Guelph,
the Staebler diaries comprise thousands of handwritten,single-spaced,
double-sided pages.This book presents excerpts from that substantial
literary corpus,creating a portrait of Edna Staebler as a writer and the
author of this volume of life writing.
It is tempting to see the Staebler diariesas biography,and indeed the
diaries contain a great deal of information about Edna’s life.2However,
they do not provide an uninterrupted record and this volume is not
presented as biography in the traditional sense of the genre. When
Staebler travelled to Europe,for instance,letters home replaced diary
writing. And when she was in the throes of her cookbook work and
journalism,her diary writing slowed down noticeably.Rather than biog-
raphy, this book proposes that the Staebler diaries constitute a com-
pelling example of life writing as well as the literary work that the author
longed to achieve throughout her life.This introduction briefly situates
Staebler’s diaries in the context of her published work and also within
the genre and practice of life writing as well asthe larger related frame
of autobiographical writing.It provides an overview of the material and
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