The Best Canadian Books in English (as of 1925)

One hundred years ago today, the Toronto Globe published a short article about a YMCA book contest. The Association had asked participants to provide a list of "the twelve books in English, which together give the best picture of life and development in Canada." Just how many participated is a mystery. What we do know that these lists of twelve included a total of 108 books by 85 different authors.

The three most common titles were:

The Golden Dog - William Kirby

Maria Chapdelaine - Louis Hémon [trans W.H. Blake]

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town - Stephen Leacock

All three are in print, though I dare say only the Leacock would be recognized by any measurable percentage of YMCA members today.

Seven titles are tied for the fourth position, which suggests limited participation. What follows are the fourth place titles and authors aspresented in the Globe article:

Sam Slick - Judge Haliburton 

Lords of the North - Agnes Laut

Roughing It in the Bush - Susanne Moodie 

Anne of Green Gables - L.M. Montgomery

Seats of the Mighty - Sir Gilbert Parker

Chez Nous - Revard

The Prairie Wife - Arthur Stringer

Three observations:

• Judge Haliburton (Thomas Chandler Haliburton) never published a book titled Sam Slick;
• "Susanne Moodie" is actually Susanna Moodie;
• the surname of the man who write Chez Nous is Rivard not "Revard." I have no idea why his first name is absent. 

Chez Nous
Adjutor Rivard [trans W.H. Blake]
Toronto: McClellend & Stewart, 1924

The Globe story does not provide the title of the book that placed eleventh. Given the seven-way tie for fourth place, I suggests there were many.

Judges Dr George H. Locke and Vernon Mackenzie awarded first place to May Knowlton of Montreal for her list of twelve:

The Foreigner - Ralph Connor

The Habitant - Dr Drummond

Flint and Feather - Pauline Johnson

The Golden Dog - William Kirby

The Right of Way - Gilbert Parker

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town - Stephen Leacock

Romance of Western Canada - R.G. Macbeth

Montcalm and Wolfe - Francis Parkman

Pioneer of France in the New World - Francis Parkman

Trail of '98 - Robert W. Service

The Prairie Wife - Arthur Stringer

The Life of Sir William Van Horne - Walter Vaughan

No prize is mentioned.

I wonder what the judges would've thought of mine:

The Devil's Die - Grant Allen

For Maimie's Sake - Grant Allen

Les Anciens Canadiens - Phillipe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé

[trans Charles G.D. Roberts]

Revenge! - Robert Barr

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder

- James De Mille

A Daughter of To-Day - Sara Jeanette Duncan

"Cattle" - Winnifred Eaton

Pagan Love - John Murray Gibbon

Wild Geese - Martha Ostenso

The Wine of Life - Arthur Stringer

The Heart of Hyacinth - Onoto Watanna [Winnifred Eaton]

The Untempered Wind - Joanna E. Wood

There's a good chance that Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, Anne of Green Gables and  Sara Jeanette Duncan's The Imperialist would bump off three, but it's been forty years since I've read any of them.

You don't want to trust that kid's opinions.

Related posts:

Canada's 100 Best Books? 102? 111?

Why You Shouldn't Feel Bad about the 100 Novels That Make You Proud to Be Canadian List (and why the CBC should)

CBC's Awful List, Radio-Canada's Disheartening List

and Perhaps the Best Book List I've Ever Seen

Remembering la Corriveau

Executed 250 years ago today, Marie-Josephte Corriveau – la Corriveau – was a survivor. Just thirty at the time of her death, she'd long outlived her ten brothers and sisters, all of whom died in childhood. Marie-Josephte also survived her first husband, Charles Bouchard, the father of her three children. Widowed at twenty-seven, in 1761 she married Louis Étienne Dodier who, like Charles,was a farmer from St.Vallier on the St. Lawrence, just south of Ile d'Orléans. A little over eighteen months later, poor Louis was found dead in the barn, his head nearly caved in. The horse was to blame... or so it was thought at first. Then the rumours began to circulate.

In the spring of 1763, Marie-Josephte and her father, Joseph, were brought before a military tribunal. Joseph was found guilty of the murder and was sentenced to death. Marie-Josephte would've been flogged and branded as an accessory had it not been for her father's confession to a priest. Seems she'd been more than willing to see dear old dad swing for a crime she had in fact committed. At a second trial she confessed.

After Marie-Josephte was hanged, her body was placed in a gibbet – quite possibly the one pictured above! She was then transported across the St Lawrence and was suspended for five weeks from a post at the intersection of what are today Rue St-Joseph and Boulevard de l'Entente in Lévis.

Now, watch those property values soar.

An Anglo Quebecer, I first read of la Corriveau as a teenager in Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé's Les Anciens Canadiens. Her presence in English-language Canadian literature is negligible, though she did get off to an early start; William Kirby featured Marie-Josephte in his 1877 novel The Golden Dog. Here la Corriveau is a poisoner for hire, a direct descendant of Catherine Deshayes, the 17th-century serial killer known as la Voisine.

The Golden Dog: A Romance in the Days of Louis Quinze in Quebec
William Kirby
Toronto: Musson/Montreal: Montreal News Co, n.d.

Others, historians included, have added to the legend. Charles, her first husband, has come to be seen as one of her victims; in some tales,  five more ill-fated husbands are added to the mix. And what about the ten dead siblings?

The 20th-century brought more novels, a ballet, and plays by Victor-Lévy Beaulieu, Anne Hébert and Guy Cloutier.. She lives on in this century:

There's even something for the kiddies:

Were I not so far away, I'd make the effort to attend this evening's Marie-Josephte Corriveau Commemoration in Quebec City.

As it is, I'll be raising a glass, if only in recognition of the contribution she made – unwittingly – to the country's literature.

A black oatmeal stout with ruby highlights, la Corriveau seems the obvious choice, but like the lady herself, it's rarely seen in Upper Canada.

A bonus:

Just look at what the sorry souls at VDM Publishing have on offer: