The Tightrope Walker : : Autobiographical Writings of Anne Wilkinson / / Anne Wilkinson; ed. by Joan Coldwell.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter ACUP Complete eBook-Package Pre-2010
• VerfasserIn: Wilkinson, Anne,
• HerausgeberIn: Coldwell, Joan,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [1992]; ©1992
• Year of Publication: 1992
• Language: English
• Series: Heritage
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (275 p.)

Anne Wilkinson (1910-61) was one of the most celebrated Canadian writers of her time. Her success as a poet came against all odds: nothing in her background, from geography to genealogy, would have suggested a literary career. She lived her life and practiced her art in Toronto at a time when the nerve centre of Canadian poetry was unquestionably Montreal. She was born into the highest levels of Toronto society, a daughter of the very distinguished Osler family. And yet she wrote poetry, and was published to great acclaim, through decades of marriage, child-rearing, divorce, and illness.From December 1947 to July 1956, the years during which she wrote her most successful poetry, Wilkinson kept journals; in due course she also wrote an autobiography, part of which appeared in a literary magazine shortly after she died. Joan Coldwell brings together the complete text of the autobiography with the poet’s journals, some samples of her poetry, and a moving exchange of letters between Wilkinson and her mother.The journals vividly reveal the inner workings of the writer’s mind and her struggles to create in a difficult environment. With an immediacy and power that only journals can achieve, these writings explore the nature of the creative process in a context of daily realities that are often harsh and sometimes heart-breaking. The autobiography tells the story in a different way, rearranged to fit the forms of a 'legitimate' genre.Together with Coldwell’s introduction, these writings present a unique and moving self-portrait of a poet who died too young, at the peak of her career. This volume celebrates Wilkinson’s life and work, and the spirit that informed them.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Editorial Note -- Acknowledgments -- Chronology -- The Journals -- Poems -- The Autobiography -- Notes -- Glossary of Persons -- Index