THEN & NOW
/WEST END WRITERS
by Daryl Nelson
(click images to enlarge)
When I thought about writing a piece about West End writers, I had two criteria – that the writer had to have lived in the West End at some point in their life and that they had been published. This resulted in a list of dozens of well-qualified writers, but too many for an article. In the end, I selected three that I felt were head-and-shoulders above the rest in terms of the quality of their work. It is a subjective list which you may disagree with, but it is heartening to know that the West End has been home to so many first-rate writers.
MALCOLM LOWRY
Malcolm Lowry was born on July 28, 1909 in New Brighton, England.
In May 1927, Lowry set sail on a freighter bound for the Far East. This five-month experience was the basis for one of the only two works published during his lifetime -- Ultramarine, which was published in 1933.
MALCOLM LOWRY.
After returning to the UK Lowry enrolled at Cambridge University, graduating in 1933. By 1936 he had moved to Mexico and began writing his masterpiece Under the Volcano, a novel about one day – the Day of the Dead -- which was published in 1947. In August 1937 he had moved to Vancouver. When war broke out, he tried to enlist but was rejected. During this time, he wrote several articles for The Vancouver Province -- no doubt in an attempt to make ends meet. At this point Lowry and his wife lived in a shack in Dollarton on Burrard Inlet. By 1944, the shack burned down. It is worth noting that Lowry Lane in Deep Cove is named in his honour.
Now the West End connection. In the early 1950’s Lowry and his wife moved to Caroline Court at 1058 Nelson Street. This seems to be a relatively peaceful and productive period of Lowry’s life, even though he continued to drink heavily. I like to think the sleepy quality of the 1950’s West End helped him to focus on writing. In any case, this continued until 1954 when Lowry and his wife eventually wound up back in England.
In June 1957, Lowry died in England as the result of a combination of sleeping pills and liquor.
In 1961 he was posthumously awarded the Governor General’s Award for English-language fiction for his collection “Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place.”
In 1976, The National Film Board of Canada produced an Oscar-nominated documentary of Malcolm Lowry entitled “Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry.” It contains interviews with friends, family, and associates who knew him personally and is available on YouTube. Highly recommended viewing.
ETHEL WILSON
Ethel Wilson was born in South Africa in 1888 and moved to England in 1890 after the death of her mother. In 1898 her father died and she was sent to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, B.C. In 1907 Wilson received her teacher’s certificate after graduating from the Normal School at 12th and Cambie, and for 13 years she taught in local elementary schools. In 1921 Ethel married Wallace Wilson, who was the president of the Canadian Medical Association. After their marriage, Ethel and her husband moved into Apartment 42 of The Kensington Place Apartments at 1386 Nicola Street, where they remained until the death of Wallace in 1966. In 1970 she was awarded an Order of Canada for her contribution to Canadian literature and in 1980 Ethel Wilson passed away.
ETHEL WILSON.
Ethel Wilson writings have a strong sense of place – she clearly loved the people and places of British Columbia. The Canadian writer George Woodcock wrote: “No other writer has more successfully evoked British Columbia as a place or its inhabitants as a strange and unique people than Ethel Wilson.”
In her final book Mrs. Golightly and Other stories (1961) she wrote a story about “Fog”:
“For seven days fog settled down upon Vancouver. It crept in from the ocean, advancing in its mysterious way in billowing banks which swallowed up the land. In the Bay and the Inlet and False Creek, agitated voices spoke one to another. Small tugs that were waylaid in the blankets of fog cried shrilly and sharply ‘Keep away! I am here!’
“Fishing boats lay inshore. Large freighters mooed continuously like monstrous cows. The foghorns at Point Atkinson and the Lions’ Gate Bridge kept up their bellowing. Sometimes the fog quenched the sounds, sometimes the sounds were loud and near. If there had not been this continuous dense fog, all the piping and boo-hooing would have held a kind of beauty; but it signified danger and warning.”
What West Ender hasn’t lain awake during some fall or winter’s night and listened to the fog horns? Thank you, Ethel Wilson -- for reminding us what a special and unique place the West End is.
PIERRE BURTON
Pierre Berton wrote a staggering 50-best selling books. He is mostly remembered as making Canadian history interesting and exciting. Although usually associated with Ontario – Berton had a significant association with the West End.
Pierre Berton.
Born in 1920 in The Yukon, Pierre’s boyhood was spent in Dawson City where his father had moved during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. In 1957 Berton narrated an Oscar nominated short film entitled City of Gold, which can be viewed on YouTube and is still shown at the Visitors Centre in Dawson. The home he grew up in is now a writer’s residence and interestingly is directly across the street from Robert Service’s cabin.
In 1932, Berton’s family moved to Victoria and eventually he obtained a history major from the University of British Columbia. By 21 he was the youngest city editor of any Canadian daily, the Vancouver News-Herald.
In his single days, Pierre lived at Stanley Park Manor at 1915 Haro Street and is quoted as saying he proposed to his future wife, Janet Walker, on a “bench overlooking Lost Lagoon” which I assume was one of the benches on Lagoon Drive above the tennis courts. In 1947 he moved to Toronto to become the managing editor of Maclean’s Magazine.
In the late 70’s Roedde House on Barclay Street was in danger of being demolished. Berton was fully supportive of restoring Roedde House and the other heritage buildings in Barclay Heritage Square. The Roedde House Museum has a photo of Pierre leaning out Mrs. Roedde’s sewing room on the top floor.
Perhaps Berton’s finest hour came in 1994 when he appeared in B.C. Supreme Court where he spoke in defense of Little Sister’s Book and Art Emporium battle over Canada Customs censorship rules. In his testimony, Berton said:
“Well, I’m a member of a large constituency. It is a constituency of people who write books and read books. We believe that books are the essence of our culture, that without a literature, a country has not only no soul, it has no reason for being. Literature will be the basis on which we are judged as a civilized community, and we are very upset when people try to infringe upon our freedom either to write or to read.”
Berton’s defense of civil liberties was fierce and we as a country are stronger for it.
Pierre Berton was a Companion of the Order of Canada and passed away on November 30, 2004.
AND OTHER FOLKS AS WELL
Editor’s Note …
With thanks to Daryl Nelson for throwing a spotlight on the West End connections of these three important writers, we’d like to note that the West End is still a hotbed of literary talent. Two of our neighbours are launching new books this month. They are:
Kevin Spenst: Author, poet, teacher, Spenst launches his latest volume, Stanley Park Manor: a Collective Memory. Find out more about the author and the book here, and in this month’s “Artists Among Us” in The West End Journal.
Wendy Sarkissian: Another West Ender, Sarkissian this month launches her Twilight River Trilogy three powerful books about personal and climate grief, our changing climate, and the healing power of Nature. Find more about the books and the launch here.
