Living in Harmony: Nature Writing by Women in Canada

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Living in Harmony is an unusual and delightful volume comprising more
than a score of personal essays by as many contributors. Writers include
Anna Jameson, Catharine Parr Traill, Laura Berton, Chris Czajkowski, and
others. A few, such as Emily Carr, are represented by more than one
essay.

In an excellent introduction, editor Andrea Pinto Lebowitz notes that
all of the contributors to this book wish to live in harmony with nature
and act as stewards of the land. As a genre, she observes, nature
writing is marked by “a personal voice, keen observation of the
natural world, speculation on the science that explains the observation
and a fervent delight [in] and concern for the environment.”

Lebowitz questions the myth, set going by Northrop Frye, of a garrison
mentality and a fear of nature. Canadians may be awed, even frightened,
by nature, but many also find it “a place of beauty, solace and
home.” Her rationale for a focus on women writers includes the reasons
that drove women to come to Canada in the 19th century—reasons such as
curiosity and a desire to escape the confines of Victorian social
roles—and the fact that women at that time were commonly trained in
botanical drawing. This encouraged a particular interest in nature, and
a way of knowing beyond the reach of verbal description.

Emily Carr, in an excerpt from The Book of Small (1942), writes
animatedly of the beauty of a corner of her family’s garden called
“New Field.” Sharon Butala’s contribution taken from The
Perfection of the Morning (1994), admires the perceptions of rural
people who have spent their entire lives in natural surroundings.
Amateur naturalist Louise de Kiriline Lawrence’s excerpt from The
Lovely and the Wild (1987) explores the connections between animals and
humans, and the ethics involved in these relationships.

Anyone interested in the environment and our relationship to it will
enjoy Living in Harmony. Many perceptions can also be drawn from the
focus on women. Fine writing.