The Emily Carr Omnibus - Hardcover

This mammoth omnibus by Canadian painter/writer Carr (1871-1945) is a discovery and a delight. Carr's modernist paintings of Northwest Indian peoples and their totems and of nature have won comparisons with Georgia O'Keeffe. Her seven books, all reprinted here, range from Klee Wyck (1941), spare stories of her forays into remote Native villages, to autobiographical recollections of growing up in pristine British Columbia and rebelling against her Victorian family, to Hundreds and Thousands (1966), her posthumous artistic journal. This vast scrapbook includes travel sketches on England and Paris, blackly comic vignettes based on Carr's 13 years as a harried landlady, a record of her 18 months in an English sanitorium, anecdotes, philosophical musings and uncanny psychological portraits of her beloved dogs, parrots, monkeys and other pets. Embraced in Canada as a feminist icon, Carr should gain many readers with this volume, even though, as art historian Shadbolt notes in her introduction, Carr often patronized native peoples, projecting on to them her romantic longings. Carr is a magical wordsmith whose gorgeous prose reflects a desire for simplicity even as it sensually mirrors life in its teeming complexity.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Carr (1871-1945) was an artist and writer beloved in Canada as much for her paintings of Indian villages, totem poles, and the forests of the West Coast as for her engaging literary sketches. Toting a sack of artist's tools, accompanied by a dog, birds, and assorted wildlife, she would venture into isolated Indian communities to observe and sensitively portray their lives and customs. This collection contains Carr's seven books of autobiographical anecdotes and vignettes (none is currently in print), including The Book of Small , where she reminisces with childlike innocence about stern British parents and a passion for the outdoors; Growing Pains , which addresses rebellion; Klee Wyck , which provides astute observations of the Indians; and The Heart of a Peacock , which will delight bird lovers. Inherent in the lyrical passages are prophetic concerns for ecology and civil rights. This welcome addition to public libraries is strongly recommended.
- Joan Levin, MLS, Chicago
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.