Special Collections: Canadian Literature
About This Collection
Ethel Wilson was born in 1888 at Port Elizabeth, South Africa. At the age of ten she joined her grandmother in Vancouver, Canada where she received her education. She obtained a teacher's certificate in 1907; she taught until 1920 at several Vancouver public schools. She wrote her first novel, Hetty Dorval, in 1947. Other notable works include Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories, The Innocent Traveller, The Equations of Love, Swamp Angel, and Love and Salt Water. In 1961, in recognition of her contribution to Canadian Literature, she was awarded a special medal by the Canada Council. She was later also distinguished as an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Rare Books and Special Collections has a small collection of the works of Ethel Wilson (1888-1980), with a complementary collection of works about her. This collection complements the Ethel Wilson fonds, a collection of archival material related to Ethel Wilson.
Image Source: Ethel Wilson signing honorary degree register. May 17, 1955. Part of the Norman McKenzie fonds [PDF 824 KB]; featured in UBC Archives Photograph Collection.
Featured Materials
Hetty Dorval by Call Number: PR9337.I4 H3 2008ISBN: 9780771088896Publication Date: 2008-08-12Seeking refuge from her mysterious past, the beautiful Mrs. Dorval arrives in a small British Columbia town at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. As Frankie Burnaby, the young schoolgirl Mrs. Dorval befriends, pieces together Hetty’s story, she begins to realize that her enigmatic idol is also a treacherous opponent. Hetty Dorval, Wilson’s first novel, is a wise and expertly crafted tale of innocence and experience. From the Paperback edition.
Swamp Angel by Call Number: PR9337.I4ISBN: 1550413147Publication Date: 1997-05-01Swamp Angel is the story of Maggie Lloyd, struggling to find certainty in a world that has deprived her of family and trapped her in a second marriage that has proven a terrible mistake. One spring evening she abandons her petty husband and her old life, escaping to work at a B.C. fishing lodge. But the serenity she finds in the harsh and breath-taking wilderness is short-lived, as new conflicts emerge with a jealous lodge-owner's wife. Ethel Wilson's novel is hard to forget - her unique and delightful style appears artless, yet betrays hidden depths.
The Innocent Traveller by Call Number: PR9337.I4 I6 2008ISBN: 9780771088889Publication Date: 2008Precocious in childhood, irrepressible in old age, Miss Topaz Edgeworth's singular accomplishment is to live out an entire century in unflagging - and mostly oblivious -
optimism. At once outmoded and unconventional, tyrannical and benign, Topaz leads a largely unexamined life. But the magical quality of her consciousness, revealed through stunning narrative technique, makes her into one of the most delightful characters in Canadian literature.
Ethel Wilson by Call Number: PR9337.I4 Z87 2003ISBN: 0802087418Publication Date: 2003When Ethel Wilson published her first novel, Hetty Dorval, she was in her sixtieth year. With her subsequent books, among them the widely read Swamp Angel (1954), she established herself as one of Canada's most important writers.
The other side of silence : a life of Ethel Wilson by Call Number: PR9337.I4 Z588 1988Publication Date: 1988
Related Archival Holdings
- Ethel Wilson fondsThe fonds consists of correspondence (both personal and business), manuscripts of novels, short stories (some untitled), and poetry, as well as reviews of Ethel Wilson's work, contracts, photographs, awards, diaries (1938-1942) and subject files. Files created by MacMillan Company of Canada relating to the publication of some of Ethel Wilson's novels have been added to the fonds. Included are subject files relating to "Hetty Dorval", "The Innocent Traveller", "The Equations of Love", "Love and Salt Water", and "Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories" as well as articles of short works and articles, clippings, and correspondence regarding Ethel Wilson (1944-1972)
- Ronald Hambleton fondsThe fonds consists of eleven undated letters from Ethel Wilson to Ronald Hambleton and two handwritten manuscripts by Wilson, "At what point do I grow old?" (12 p.) and "In defense of a little learning" (15 p.). Also included are three taped interviews with Wilson conducted by Hambleton for the CBC (1955, 1967).
- Nan Cheney fondsThe fonds consists of 71 holograph letters from Ethel Wilson to Cheney, as well as correspondence from Wallace Wilson, Mary [Dodds] and Dorothy McNair.
- Andrew Family fondshe fonds consists of 33 original letters free Ethel Wilson to Margaret Andrew, undated, ca 1950 - 1970, 2 original letters from Ethel Wilson to [Margaret Ae_lrew] n .d . and 3 original letters from Ethel Wilson to Geoffrey Andrew, n.d. Also included is one photocopied letter from Ethel Wilson to Mary [McAlpine Dobbs], and an obituary for Lilias Torrance Newton.
- MacMillan Company of Canada Ltd.The fonds consists of subject files pertaining to the publication of some of Ethel Wilson's novels, including Hetty Dorval, The Innocent Traveller, The Equations of Love, Love and Salt Water and Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories. The fonds also includes manuscripts of other short works as well as articles, newsclippings, and correspondence regarding Ethel Wilson.
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Subject Headings
Wilson, Ethel, 1888-1980--Criticism and interpretation
Wilson, Ethel, 1888-1980--Bibliography
Wilson, Ethel, 1888-1980--Congresses
Wilson, Ethel, 1888-1980--Correspondence
Wilson, Ethel, 1888-1980--Philosophy
Vertical Files
These are often smaller documents like pamphlets which are not assigned a call number in the library system. See the vertical files associated with this collection.