Robert and Frances Flaherty: A Documentary Life, 1883-1922 (Volume 45) (McGill-Queen's Native and Northern Series)

The early careers of acclaimed documentary filmmaker Robert Flaherty and his wife, Frances, deepen our understanding of the classic film Nanook of the North. Robert Flaherty's groundbreaking __Nanook of the North__ (1922) was the first full-length anthropological documentary in cinematic history. Drawing from the unpublished diaries of Flaherty and his wife, Frances, Robert Christopher's biography fills in crucial background in the emergence of a documentary film legend. Robert Flaherty's groundbreaking Nanook of the North (1922) - the chronicle of one year in the life of an Inuit hunter and his family in the Hudson Bay region - was the first full-length anthropological documentary in cinematic history. Before Nanook , Flaherty endured a number of failures, disappointments, and false starts. Drawing from the unpublished diaries of Flaherty and his wife, Frances, Robert Christopher's biography fills in crucial background in the emergence of a documentary film legend. Previous biographical emphasis on Nanook has not only obscured Flaherty's early career but also neglected the critical contributions Frances made to his development as an artist. Robert and Frances Flaherty charts her transformation from a Bryn Mawr bluestocking to the partner of a frontier explorer and offers her unique perspective as his collaborator and publicist. From iron prospector to photographer to filmmaker, Flaherty's early life is situated in the context of his explorations of the Canadian north and its peoples, the development of modern cinema, the rise of modernism, and his association with significant figures such as Alfred Adler, Franz Boas, Edward Curtis, and Alfred Steiglitz. Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922) was the first full-length anthropological documentary in cinematic history. Drawing from the unpublished diaries of the director and his wife, Frances, Robert Christopher's biography deepens our understanding of a film legend and his groundbreaking work. Previous biographical work has neglected the critical contributions Frances made to his development as an artist. Robert and Frances Flaherty charts her transformation from a Bryn Mawr bluestocking to the partner of a frontier explorer and offers her unique perspective as his collaborator and publicist.

Flaherty's early career - from iron prospector to photographer to filmmaker - is also situated in the context of his exploration of the Canadian north and its peoples, the development of the silent feature film, the rise of modernism, and his association with significant figures such as Alfred Adler, Franz Boas, Edward Curtis, and Alfred Steiglitz.

Contents Illustrations and Maps Introduction Acknowledgments 1 The Boy from Iron Mountain "The Islands That Were Not There," 1884–1904 2 The Violin, Camera, and Canoe Diary of Exploration of Lake Nipigon Region, Northern Ontario, 7 September – 5 October 1906 3 From Bryn Mawr to Lake Nipigon Diary of the First Mackenzie Expedition, 5 August 1910 – 14 March 1911 4 Through Canada's Northland Diary of the Second Mackenzie Expedition, 6 June 1911 – 8 August 1912 5 Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society Diary of the Third Mackenzie Expedition, 15 June 1913 – 3 October 1914 6 Frances and the Book of the Heart Diary of Frances Hubbard Flaherty, 17 December 1914 – 22 February 1916 7 Flaherty Island Diary of the Fourth Mackenzie Expedition, 11 August 1915 – 21 September 1916 8 Nanook of the Barren Lands The Port Harrison Diary, August 1920 – August 1921 9 Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W "Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922) was the first full-length anthropological documentary in cinematic history. Drawing from the unpublished diaries of the director and his wife, Frances, Robert Christopher's biography deepens our understanding of a film legend and his groundbreaking work. Previous biographical work has neglected the critical contributions Frances made to his development as an artist. Robert and Frances Flaherty charts her transformation from a Bryn Mawr bluestocking to the partner of a frontier explorer and offers her unique perspective as his collaborator and publicist."--Résumé de l'éditeur "Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922) was the first full-length anthropological documentary in cinematic history. Drawing from the unpublished diaries of the director and his wife, Frances, Robert Christopher's biography deepens our understanding of a film legend and his groundbreaking work. Previous biographical work has neglected the critical contributions Frances made to his development as an artist. Robert and Frances Flaherty charts her transformation from a Bryn Mawr bluestocking to the partner of a frontier explorer and offers her unique perspective as his collaborator and publicist."--BOOK JACKET. This biographical study of the filmmaker Robert Flaherty and his wife Frances reveals, through unpublished diaries, their lives and careers prior to the release of his film 'Nanook of the North' in 1922 Robert Flaherty is best known as the maker of Nanook of the North, a film now regarded as seminal in American cinema history.