James Reaney
James Reaney | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | September 1, 1926 Easthope, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | June 11, 2008 London, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | Writer, Artist, Poet, Playwright, |
| Language | English |
| Notable works | Poems (1972), The Donnellys |
| Notable awards | Order of Canada, FRSC, Governor General's Award |
| Spouse | Colleen Thibaudeau |
| Children | James Stewart, John Andrew, Susan Alice Elizabeth |
| Relatives | James Nesbitt Reaney, Elizabeth Henrietta Crear |
| Website | |
| jamesreaney | |
James Crerar Reaney, OC FRSC (September 1, 1926 – June 11, 2008) was a Canadian poet, playwright, librettist, and professor,[1] "whose works transform small-town Ontario life into the realm of dream and symbol."[2] Reaney won Canada's highest literary award, the Governor General's Award, three times and received the Governor General's Awards for Poetry or Drama for both his poetry and his drama.
Life
Reaney was born on a farm in Easthope near Stratford, Ontario[3] to James Nesbitt Reaney and Elizabeth Henrietta Crerar.[4] Almost all of Reaney's poems, stories, and plays are articulations of where he grew up.[4] At a young age he was interested in theatre, and created a puppet show for children while in his early teens.[5]
Poet and story writer
Reaney studied English at
Reaney married fellow poet Colleen Thibaudeau on December 29, 1951 in
After teaching English at the University of Manitoba from 1949 until 1956, Reaney returned to the University of Toronto to complete a doctorate awarded in 1958; Northrop Frye was his thesis supervisor.[6] Also in 1958 Reaney released a second book of poetry, A Suit of Nettles, which again won the Governor-General's Award.[8]
During the 1940s and 1950s Reaney also wrote and published short stories. While not published in book form until years later, his stories were influential in establishing the style of writing later called Southern Ontario Gothic[6] (later made world-famous by Alice Munro).
In 1960 Reaney began teaching in the
Playwright
For Reaney, the new decade also coincided with "a shift of emphasis from poetry to the public and communal form of drama," starting with The Killdeer.[8] "Though he had been interested in drama since childhood, he was encouraged by a friend to write a piece for the University of Toronto's Alumnae Theatre and the work he created, The Killdeer, launched his drama career (and won a prize in the Dominion Drama Festival)."[9] In 1962 he won the Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama a third time, this time for both his newest book of poetry, Twelve Letters to a Small Town, and his first book of plays, The Killdeer and Other Plays.[8]
Reaney "followed up The Killdeer with
From 1973 to 1975 Reaney wrote the trilogy The Donnellys, which the Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia calls "one of the nation's most important dramas." The three plays debuted at Toronto's
As well, Reaney coauthored several operas with musician John Beckwith, including Night-Blooming Cereus (1960), The Shivaree (1982), and Crazy To Kill (1988).[3]
Other notable Reaney plays include Names and Nicknames, which premiered at the
Reaney also enjoyed painting and drawing and his art works, from the 1940s to 1990s, were put on exhibit at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in
Reaney died on June 11, 2008, in London, Ontario.[7]
Writing
Reaney's complex symbolic and poetic regional drama defies categorizing. Reaney's plays are a combination of symbol, metaphor, chant, poetic incantation, choral speaking, improvisation, miming, and child play. Reaney depends on the concept that we, the audience, are all "children of an older growth" and his audience have responded to this expectation. The symbolic quest as the children search for truth and end in reconciliation with the adult world are the basis of Reaney's plays.[14] Critics have called him a colonial, a rationalist and internationalist, a rabid nationalist, a symbolist, and a poet with the myth of coherence who is yet able to say something in an age of the random.[4]
Of his poetry, The
Reaney's fiction of the 1940s and 1950s (collected in the 1994 book The Box Social and Other Stories, was "influential in establishing the style of writing that has since become known as ‘Southern Ontario Gothic’. Margaret Atwood has remarked that ‘without "The Bully", my fiction would have followed other paths'.... Playing sophisticated games by switching voice, he achieves a kind of ‘magic realism’, often through the distorted perspective and sense of disproportion of his child narrators."[6]
Awards
James Reaney won a number of awards in his lifetime:
- elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1978[3]
- invested as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1975)[6]
- Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama in 1949 for The Red Heart[8]
- Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama in 1958 for A Suit of Nettles.[8]
- Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama in 1962 for Twelve Letters to a Small Town and The Killdeer and Other Plays[8]
- Honorary doctorates from Carleton University(1975), McMaster University(1979), Brock University(1991), and the University of Western Ontario(1992)[3]
- Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award in 1975 for The St. Nicholas Hotel[6]
- University of Alberta National Award in Letters for The Donnellys trilogy.[3]
Publications
Poetry
- The Red Heart. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1949.[15]
- A Suit of Nettles. Toronto, Macmillan, ISBN 0-88984-330-9
- Twelve Letters to a Small Town. Toronto: Ryerson, 1962.[15]
- The Dance of Death at London, Ontario. London, ON: Alphabet, 1963.[15]
- Poems. Toronto: New Press, 1972.[15]
- Selected Shorter Poems Germaine Warkenton ed. Erin, ON: Porcepic, ISBN 0-88878-063-X
- Selected Longer Poems. Germaine Warkenton ed. Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1976.ISBN 0888780915
- Imprecations: The Art of Swearing. Windsor, ON: Black Moss, ISBN 0-88753-123-7
- Performance: Poems. Goderich, ON: Moonstone, ISBN 0-920259-32-4
- Souwesto Home. Stan Dragland, ed. Brick Books, 2005.[15] 9781894078436
- The Essential James Reaney. Brian Bartlett, ed. Porcupine's Quill, 2009).[3]
Plays
- The Killdeer and Other Plays. Toronto: Macmillan, 1962.[15]
- Names and Nicknames (1963) Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1978.ISBN 0-88922-154-5
- Geography Match (1967) Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1978.ISBN 0-88922-153-7
- Ignoramus (1967) Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1978.ISBN 0-88922-155-3
- ISBN 0-88922-001-8
- Masks of Childhood. Toronto: New Press, 1972.[15]
- Listen to the Wind. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1972.[15]
- Apple Butter and Other Plays for Children. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1973.ISBN 0-88922-043-3
- Wacousta! Wingham, ON: Jubilee, 1974. Erin, ON: Porcépic, 1979.ISBN 0-88878-175-X
- Sticks and Stones: The Donnellys, Part I Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1975.[15]
- Baldoon, with C.H. Gervais. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1976.ISBN 978-0-88984-016-4
- The St. Nicholas Hotel, Wm. Donnelly, Prop: The Donnellys, Part II. Erin ON: Porcepic, 1976.ISBN 0-88878-051-6
- Handcuffs: The Donnellys, Part III. Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1977.ISBN 0888780532
- The Donnellys. Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1977.ISBN 0-88878-117-2
- The Plays of James Reaney. ECW P, 1977. ISBN 978-0-920763-30-8
- The Dismissal ISBN 0-88878-147-4
- Gyroscope Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 1983.ISBN 0-88754-321-9
- King Whistle! (1980) — about the Stratford General Strike of 1933[17]
- Plays of James Reaney. ECW P, 1985. ISBN 978-9996512667
- Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass adapted for the stage. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1994.ISBN 0-88984-147-0
- Scripts: Librettos for Operas and Other Musical Works John Beckwith, ed. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2004.ISBN 978-1-55245-149-6
- Reaney Days in the West Room. (drama — 7 plays) David Ferry, ed. (Playwrights Canada Press, 2009)
Fiction
- "The Box Social," Liberty (Toronto), July 19, 1947.[15]
- The Boy with an R in His Hand. Toronto: Macmillan, 1965. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1980. ISBN 0-88984-031-8 Juvenile.[15]
- Take the Big Picture. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1986. ISBN 0-88984-087-3 Juvenile.[15]
- The Box Social & Other Stories Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1996.ISBN 0-88984-173-X
Non-Fiction
- Halloween (Black Moss Press, 1976)
- 14 Barrels from Sea to Sea. Erin, ON: Press Porcepic, 1977. ISBN 0-88878-151-2
Edited
- Major Plays of the Canadian Theatre, 1934-1984 (Irwin,1984)
- Modern Canadian Plays (Talonbooks,1985)
Except where noted, Bibliography from JamesReaney.com.[3]
Discography
- Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD ISBN 1-55253-022-1 (CD#4) (with F. R. Scott)
- Souwesto Words: 25 poets in Southwestern Ontario Ergo Books 2002 (Poets on the CD: Penn Kemp, John Tyndall, Molly Peacock, Emily Chung, Paul Langille, Sheila Martindale, Roy McDonald, Sadiqa Khan, Jan Figurski, Jody Trevail, Beryl Baigent, John B. Lee, Cornelia Hoogland, James Reaney, Colleen Thibaudeau, Michael Wilson, Aimee O'Beirn, Jason Dickson, Marianne Micros, Skot Deeming, Victor Elias, David J. Paul, April Bulmer, Julie Berry, Don Gutteridge)
References
- Margaret Atwood, "Reaney Collected", Canadian Literature 57 (1973).
- Stan Dragland, "James Reaney's 'Pulsating Dance in and Out of Forms'", The Human Elements: Critical Essays, ed. David Helwig (1978).
- Stan Dragland, ed. Approaches to the Work of James Reaney (1983).
- Louis Dudek, "Problem of Meaning," Canadian Literature 59 (1974).
- Thomas Gerry, The Emblems of James Reaney (Porcupine's Quill, 2013).
- Manina Jones. "The Collage in Motion: Staging the Document in Reaney's Sticks and Stones." That Art of Difference: 'Documentary-Collage and English-Canadian Writing. (1993).
- W.J. Keith, "James Reaney's 'Scrutumnus' and the Critics: An Individual Response", Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews (1980).
- Alvin A. Lee, James Reaney (1968).
- James Stewart Reaney, James Reaney (1977).
- Richard Stingle, James Reaney and His Works (ECW Press, 1990).
- Craig Stewart Walker, "James Reaney: Metamorphic Masques,"The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition (2001).
- Ross G. Woodman, James Reaney (1971).
- Two Plays (Ergo Books, 2002) ISBN 0-920516-17-3
References
- ^ a b University of Waterloo
- ^ ""James Crerar Reaney," Encyclopædia Britannica," Britannica Online, Web, Apr. 11, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "JamesReaney.com". Archived from the original on 2011-02-03. Retrieved 2010-11-03.
- ^ a b c d e Richard Stingle, James Reaney and his Works (ECW Press, 1990)
- ^ everything2.com
- ^ a b c d e f g "James Reaney," Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, Answers.com, Web, Apr. 11, 2001.
- ^ a b CBC News
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Catherine Ross, "Reaney, James Crerar Archived 2010-02-02 at the Wayback Machine," Canadian Encyclopedia (Edmonton:Hurtig, 1988), 1831.
- ^ a b c "Reaney, James," Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, CanadianTheatre.com, Web, Apr. 11, 2011,
- ^ "Colours in the Dark (1967) production credits". Stratford Festival Archives. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
- ^ "The Donnellys," Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, CanadianTheatre.com, Web, Apr. 11, 2011,
- ^ "Alice Through the Looking Glass (1994) production credits". Stratford Festival Archives. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
- ^ "Alice Through the Looking Glass (2014) production credits". Stratford Festival Archives. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
- ^ University of Guelph website[permanent dead link]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Search Results: James Reaney, May 9, 2011.
- ISBN 0-88922-001-8.
- ISBN 9780773520752.
External links
- JamesReaney.com
- A Suit of Nettles on Google Books.
- Selected Shorter Poems on Google Books.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Other | |
