More about Sui Sin Far

I’ve discovered a new potential friend: Alexandra Abletshauser at the University of Glasgow. I haven’t yet asked her is we could share information with each other, but she did tell me I could repost her guest blog on Transatlantic Literary Women blog, Sui Sin Far and the Making of the Chinese North American Identity, so here it is. Note the description of Alexandra at the end. You can see why our projects need to collaborate…

Alexandra’s research focuses on English- and French-Canadian prose writing from 1880 to 1914. She examines how Canadian women writers use emotions to manipulate readers’ responses to political and social issues, such as women’s suffrage, alcoholism and temperance. Alexandra is also a Hunterian Associate at The Hunterian Museum in Glasgow where she explores the biographies of Native North American artefacts.

“Marget: A New Years Memory,” by Faith Fenton

Fenton, Faith. “Marget: A New Year’s Memory.” Green Holly: Sing Heigh-ho Unto the Green Holly [Stratford, ON? : s.n., 1895?]: 37-41.

This is a rather morose story for a holiday eve, but I suspect the pathos and sentimentality is intended to make us reflect on our lives at this moment of transition into a new year. I hope your evening is far better than this family’s, especially Marget’s. I really wonder what exactly it was that she felt she had to atone for…

 

“Candy Man,” by Evelyn Craig Rusby

Here is the second of the Evelyn Craig Rusby clippings from the Toronto Globe and Mail; this one is on page 14, on Tuesday, 18 May 1954.

“Lines to Mrs. Margaret Dixon McDougall,” by Thomas Higginson

Higginson, Thomas Henry. “Lines to Mrs. Margaret Dixon McDougall.” Poetical Works of Thomas Higginson. Vankleek Hill, ON: A.W.Otto, 1888. 77.

A couple of weeks ago, we were contacted by Nancy Guppy, the great-great-granddaughter of Margaret Dixon McDougall, who had some minor edits to make to our original entry, in the static database at SFU. We had not yet revised the entry for inclusion in the new database, so I took on that task. What a complicated family! But between us we have figured it out, I believe.

In searching for information, I came across this poem by Irish-Canadian poet Thomas Higginson, an encomium to Margaret Dixon McDougall, who by this time had moved to Michigan to live with her parents and her half-brother’s family. She subsequently moved to Washington state, and died on a visit to Seattle in 1899.

 

 

“The Last Man,” by Helen C. MacDonald

MacDonald, Helen C. “The Last Man.” Crucible (Autumn 1936): 10.

Over the Top; or, The Taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadians (1917), by Mary Ann Sutton

Sutton, Mary Ann. Over the Top; or, The Taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadians, and Official Report in Rhyme (Author, 1917).

“Ross House,” by Isabel Elizabeth Henderson

Winnipeg remains at the top of my list of places still to visit in Canada. It will likely be a long time before I get there, if ever, so it pleases me when I stumble across writing by one of our authors that makes me delve that little bit more into the fascinating history of the Red River Valley: in this instance, what is now Ross House Museum. Isabel Elizabeth Henderson, about whom we know next to nothing, published this piece in the Winnipeg Free Press on 27 June 1949.

 

 

“Silver and Jade,”

We no absolutely nothing about Muriel L. Sheppard, although it is likely she lived in Vancouver. There was a student, Edith Muriel Sheppard, living at Roseberry and 25th in North Vancouver with her parents (Mr. & Mrs. William H. Sheppard) in 1940, but that is the closest I have come.

Sheppard, Muriel L. “Silver and Jade.” Vancouver Sun (3 July 1943): 2.

Les Mouches Fantastiques 2.1

In 1918, Elsie Gidlow and Roswell George Mills, arguably the first lesbian and gay activists in Canada, founded Canada’s (and perhaps North American’s) first LGBTQ magazine, Les Mouches Fantastiques (initially called Coal from Hades). The magazine was lambasted by H.P. Lovecraft, with whom Elsie had worked previously, but not all response was negative. Graeme Davis, at least, wrote a positive review for The Lingerer in 1919. On the other hand, he was not a completely unbiased reviewer: having read early issues of Les Mouche Fantastiques, Davis took a leave of absense from his religious life in the United States and visited Montreal, where he had a brief affair with Mills.

According to other sources, there are only four issues of Les Mouches Fantastiques extant, and only one in Canada, held in the Quebec Gay Archives/Archives gaies du Québec. Here is a copy of that issue, in searchable pdf as well as jpg images.

“Christmas Song,” by Isa Grindlay Jackson

Jackson, Isa Grindlay. “Christmas Song.” Lethbridge Herald (22 December 1945) 13.