The force of culture : Vincent Massey and Canadian sovereignty / Karen A. Finlay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Finlay, Karen A., author.

Series:

Heritage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Massey, Vincent, 1887-1967.

Massey, Vincent.

Massey, Vincent, 1887-1967--Political and social views.

Statesmen--Canada--Biography.

Statesmen.

Art patrons--Canada--Biography.

Art patrons.

Art and state--Canada--History--20th century.

Art and state.

Politics and culture--Canada--History--20th century.

Politics and culture.

Nationalism--Canada--History--20th century.

Nationalism.

Canada--Cultural policy.

Canada.

Canada--Intellectual life--20th century.

Canada--Politics and government--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (364 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Toronto, [Ontario] ; Buffalo, [New York] ; London, [England] : University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

A misunderstood and sometimes maligned figure, Vincent Massey was one of Canada's most influential cultural policy-makers and art patrons. Best known as Canada's first native-born Governor General, he chaired the landmark Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences that led to the creation of the Canada Council. The Force of Culture examines Massey's notion of culture, its conflicted roots in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Canadian Protestant thought, and Massey's transformation into a champion of culture as a bastion of Canadian sovereignty.Karen Finlay's study goes beyond existing literature by examining the role of Massey's Methodist upbringing in instilling an education gospel as the bedrock of culture and the foundation of a national citizenry. The study also reassesses Massey's reputation as a supporter of the fine arts. Steeped in Methodism, his attitudes towards the arts were ambiguous. He never adopted a purely art-for-art's sake doctrine, but came to understand that the arts, without being moralizing, could serve a moral and cultural purpose: the expression and affirmation of national character and sovereignty.As well as charting Massey's evolving attitudes towards culture and the arts, Finlay attempts to redress the common charges of sexism, elitism, and anglophonism levelled against him. Finlay stresses Massey's contradictory views on issues relating to gender, race, and class, outweighed by the ongoing legacy of his belief in Canadian cultural diversity. Above all, Massey valorized the principles of excellence and diversity as twin antidotes to the anathema of conformity and cultural homogenization. The tenet Massey sought to honour, pertaining deeply to the collective and moral nature of humanism in Canada, Finlay argues, was community without uniformity. The Force of Culture shows that Massey was, in certain respects, a democratizer and even a populist, who believed that difference need not divide. Disclaimer: Images removed at the request of the rights holder

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword: The 1951 Report of Canada's Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences / Moore, Mavor

Preface

Introduction: Character, Citizenship, and Culture - Massey's 'Other Canada'

Part One: Culture and Education

1. A Methodist Educator, 1908-1921

2. A National Platform for Education, 1920-1926

Part Two: Arts of Resistance

3. Becoming 'Art-Minded,' 1902-1930

4. Nationalizing the Arts, 1922-1935

Part Three: Forging a New Framework

5. The State and the Arts: British Models, 1935-1946

6. Arm's Length: Culture, the State, and Canadian Sovereignty, 1946-1951

Conclusion: The Force of Culture

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4426-5825-8

1-4426-2087-0

OCLC:

1013948492