William Arthur Deacon : A Canadian Literary Life / Clara Thomas, John Lennox.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thomas, Clara, Author.

Lennox, John, Author.

Series:

Heritage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Deacon, William Arthur.

Critics--Canada--Biography.

Critics.

Authors, Canadian (English)--20th century--Biography.

Authors, Canadian (English).

Canada.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (397 pages)

Place of Publication:

Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

William Arthur Deacon was an intellectual patron and prophet in Canadian writing. For forty years, as literary editor of Saturday Night (1922-8), The Mail and Empire (1928-36), and The Globe and Mail (1936-60) he contributed vast amounts of time and energy to building a readership and a sympathetic climate for Canadian writers and writing. His correspondence put him in touch, as no other reviewer before him, with virtually every English- and French-Canadian author of his time. Based on his correspondence, books, and review columns, the biography views Deacon's life in terms of this involvement and in the context of the cultural and political forces of his time. Deacon's early years as a lawyer, his self-imposed literary apprenticeship, and his break with the law as a profession concurred with the sense of mission and destiny that were part of his Methodist family background and his personal theosophical beliefs. Coming to Toronto in 1922, he quickly established himself as the country's premier literary reviewer and poured his energies into that role. In that decade he also published Pens and Pirates, Poteen, The Four Jameses, and the appreciative monograph Peter McArthur. Deacon's dismissal from Saturday Night and the Depression years tempered his zeal and broadened his awareness beyond literary horizons, although they were still the focus of his energies. His nationalism and pacifism were articulated in My Vision of Canada (1933). He also found himself more aware of the importance of literary community as he became deeply involved in the survival of Canadian writers and publishers. Deacon's years with the Canadian Author's Association, first as member, then as Toronto branch president, and finally as national president, witnessed the establishment of the Canadian Writers' Foundation, the Governor-General's Awards, the Standard Writers' Contract, and the recognition by the federal government of special tax arrangements for Canadian writers. The list of those who enjoyed Deacon's friendship and support reads like a who's who of Canadian literature, and his associations with French-Canadian writers after the Second World War broadened the cultural awareness of his readers. His service to both reader and writer and to the culture on which both depend was without parallel - as this volume vividly reveals.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PROLOGUE

CHAPTER ONE. A Man with a Mission

CHAPTER TWO. Apprenticeship and Choice

CHAPTER THREE. Saturday Night 1922-8

CHAPTER FIVE. Writings of the Twenties: Pens and Pirates, P oteen, and Peter McArthur

CHAPTER SIX. The Four Jameses

CHAPTER SEVEN. The Survival Game: Journalism in the Thirties

CHAPTER EIGHT. A Community of Letters 11: 1930-45

CHAPTER NINE. Writings of the Thirties: Open House, My Vision of Canada, and The Literary Map of Canada

CHAPTER TEN. The Canadian Authors' Association

CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Globe and Mail Years

CHAPTER TWELVE. A Community of Letters 111: 1946-60

CHAPTER THIRTEEN. The Retirement Years

Selected Writings of William Arthur Deacon

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Nov 2019)

ISBN:

1-4875-7501-7

OCLC:

1129180878