As for Me and My House
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| As For Me and My House | |
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Sinclair Ross |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Reynal and Hitchcock |
| Publication date | 1941 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
As For Me and My House (1941), by Canadian author Sinclair Ross, was first published by the American company Reynal and Hitchcock, with little fanfare. Its 1957 Canadian re-issue, by McClelland & Stewart, as part of their New Canadian Library line, began its canonization, mostly in university classrooms. Set during the Great Depression in the (Canadian) mid-western prairies, it deals with the experiences of a minister's wife, her husband and their struggles and hardships.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Mrs. Bentley, a Protestant minister’s wife, writes journal (or diary) entries on a regular basis; the time span is just over a year. The couple has just moved to yet another small town, "Horizon." Mrs. Bentley, whose first name we never learn, despairs of Philip (her husband), who is becoming ever more remote. As she records her feelings, it is clear she, like her husband, has nothing but contempt for her husband's flock. They themselves are frustrated artists, whose attitudes are eventually parsed by the townsfolk. She loves music and is an accomplished player, and he writes and paints.
Her journal tells mostly of her efforts to win her husband's affections, yet he appears to withstand her efforts, which are conflicted and subtly evasive. She strikes up a friendship with Paul, a local philologist, while Philip engages the affections of Judith. They attempt to adopt a Catholic child, Steve, who seems to fulfil Philip's desire for a child that Mrs. Bentley cannot apparently deliver; but it all goes wrong. Eventually, under pressure from an increasingly hostile congregation, they prepare to move to a large city. Judith, who mysteriously has become pregnant, dies shortly after giving birth and the Bentleys adopt her child.
[edit] Characters in "As For Me and My House"
- Mrs. Bentley - a Protestant minister's wife.
- Rev Philip Bentley - her husband, the reserved minister.
- Paul - the town philologist
- Judith - a young woman who befriends the Bentleys
[edit] Literary significance and reception
Claims have been made about its significance, including M&S's own claim, in 1957, that this book was (and is) a "classic." What made it a "classic," though, was never disclosed; certainly, its poor initial sales, in 1941, would argue the opposite. Nevertheless, its courted ambiguity and classically unreliable narrator make it an object for boundless speculation and argument.
Paul Denham's 1980 summary of the novel still stands as a reasonable assessment:"There are some very good reasons why the novel has come to be so important to the Canadian tradition. It is a study of the failed artistic imagination, and of an eroding puritanism; it is also . . . a good example of Frye's concept of the garrison mentality, in its exploration of the peculiarities of the Canadian experience of nature and its relation to civilization. It is, then, a powerfully mythical novel in which many of the characteristic themes and attitudes of Canadian literature are sharply focused. Also, the patterns of imagery through which much of the novel's meaning is conveyed are densely and carefully worked. . . . If we approach the novel as a poem, through its imagery, or as a model for the Canadian identity, we are likely to find it a very important work indeed." [1]
[edit] Publication details
- 1941, USA, Reynal & Hitchcock, Pub date 1941, hardback (First edition)
- 1957, Canada, McClelland & Stewart, Pub date 1957, paperback; reprinted since, by M&S, U of Nebraska
[edit] References
- Denham, Paul (8 June 2005). Narrative Technique in Sinclair Ross's As For Me and My House. Studies in Canadian Literature.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Paul Denham, "Narrative Technique..." 2nd para.
