A few acres of snow : literary and artisic images of Canada : Conference on "Literary and artistic images of Canadian landscapes" : Revised selected papers

In 1759, Voltaire in Candide referred to Canada as "quelques arpents de neige." For several centuries, the image prevailed and was the one most frequently used by poets, writers, and illustrators. Canada was perceived and portrayed as a cold, hard, and unforgiving land. this was not a land for the fainthearted. Canada has yieled its wealth only reluctantly, while periodically threatening life itself with its displays of fury. Discovering its beauty and hidden resources requires patience and perseverance. A Few Acres of Snow is a colletion of twenty-two essays that explore, from the geographer's perspective, how poets, artists, and writers have addressed the physical essence of Canada, both landscape and cityscape. "Sense of place" is clearly critical in the works examined in this volume. Included among the book's many subjects are Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy, Lucius O'Brien, the art of the Inuit, Lawren Harris, Malcolm Lowry, C.W. Jefferys, L.M. Montgomery, Elizabeth Bishop, Marmaduke Matthews, Antonine Mailet, and the poetry of Japanese Canadians. Frontmatter Contributors (page ix) List of Illustrations (page xi) Acknowledgments (page xiii) 1 No Vacant Eden (GLEN NORCLIFFEE and PAUL SIMPSON-HOUSLEY, page 1) 2 Hugh MacLennan: Literary Geographer of a Nation (MARI PEEPRE-BORDESSA, page 16) 3 "The Kindling Touch of Imagination": Charles William Jefferys and Canadian Identity (BRIAN S. OSBORNE, page 28) 4 Theory in Literary Geography: The Poetry of Charles Mair (E.M. GIBSON, page 48) 5 Moral Frames for Landscape in Canadian Literature (RONALD BORDESSA, page 58) 6 In a Hard Land: The Geographical Context of Canadian Industrial Landscape Painting (GLEN NORCLIFFE, page 71) 7 Human Encroachments on a Domineering Physical Landscape (LINDA JOAN PAUL, page 86) 8 The North and Native Symbols: Landscape as Universe (JACQUELINE A. GIBBONS, page 99) 9 The Forest Landscape in Maritime Canadian and Swedish Literature: A Comparative Analysis (L. ANDERS SANDBERG, page 109) 10 Elizabeth Bishop from Nova Scotia: "Half Nova Scotian, Half New Englander, Wholly Atlantic" (BRIAN ROBINSON, page 122) 11 Ways of Seeing, Ways of Being: Literature, Place, and Tourism in L.M. Montgomery's Prince Edward Island (SHELAIGH J. SQUIRE, page 137) 12 La Mer, La Prairie: Pointe-aux-Coques by Antonine Mailler (ALEC PAUL and PAUL SIMPSON-HOUSLEY, page 148) 13 Picturing the Picturesque: Lucius O'Brien's Sunrise on the Saguenay (ELLEN RAMSAY, page 158) 14 Revisioning the Roman Catholic Environment: Geographical Attitudes in Gabrielle Roy's The Cashier (JAMIE S. SCOTT, page 171) 15 Monumental Buildings: Perspectives by Two Montreal Painters (PAULA KESTELMAN, page 180) 16 Augurs of "Gentrification": City Houses of Four Canadian Printers (JON CAULFIELD, page 189) 17 Drawing Earth; Or Representing Region Niagara: An Approach to Public Geography (KEITH J. TINKLER, page 203) 18 The Manitoba Landscape of Martha Ostenso's Wild Geese (ALEC PAUL and PAUL SIMPSON-HOUSLEY, page 217) 19 Deriving Geographical Information from the Novels of Frederick Philip Grove (O.F.G SITWELL, page 225) 20 "Cloud-Bound": The Western Landscapes of Marmaduke Matthews (ELIZABETH WILTON, page 235) 21 Structured Feeling: Japanese Canadian Poetry and Landscape (AUDREY KOBAYASHI, page 243) 22 A Loving Nature: Malcolm Lowry in British Columbia (J. DOUGLAS PORTEOUS, page 258) Index (page 271) "In 1759, Voltaire in Candide referred to Canada as "quelques arpents de neige." For several centuries, the image prevailed and was the one most frequently used by poets, writers, and illustrators. Canada was perceived and portrayed as a cold, hard, and unforgiving land. this was not a land for the fainthearted. Canada has yieled its wealth only reluctantly, while periodically threatening life itself with its displays of fury. Discovering its beauty and hidden resources requires patience and perseverance. A Few Acres of Snow is a colletion of twenty-two essays that explore, from the geographer's perspective, how poets, artists, and writers have addressed the physical essence of Canada, both landscape and cityscape. "Sense of place" is clearly critical in the works examined in this volume. Included among the book's many subjects are Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy, Lucius O'Brien, the art of the Inuit, Lawren Harris, Malcolm Lowry, C.W. Jefferys, L.M. Montgomery, Elizabeth Bishop, Marmaduke Matthews, Antonine Mailet, and the poetry of Japanese Canadians."--Back cover These 22 essays explore how poets, artists, and writers have addressed the physical essence of Canada