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Outside the BoxThe Life and Legacy of Writer Mona Gould, the Grandmother I Thought I Knew |
eBook Available
A moving portrait of a Canadian writer and broadcaster that raises questions about how we shape and are shaped by the past.
When poet and broadcaster Mona Gould died in 1999, she left behind thirty-eight boxes of papers. Her war poem, "This Was My Brother," was still a staple of textbooks and anthologies, yet Mona - well known in her youth - had fallen into obscurity in the 1960s. Born at the very time Mona's career was faltering, Maria Meindl became a captive audience for her grandmother's extravagant stories of the past.
Years later, Maria took on the daunting task of sorting through Mona's mountain of papers to create an archive for the University of Toronto's Fisher Rare Book Library. The chaotic state of the boxes reflected Mona's flamboyant and demanding personality, yet they also drew an important picture of the life of a Canadian freelancer in the twentieth century. Mona had begun publishing poetry and features in newspapers in the 1920s and published three books of poetry in the 1940s. In the 1950s, at a time when many women were retreating from the public sphere, she had a successful radio career. Her later journals and letters recount, in agonizing detail, a downward spiral into self-doubt, poverty, and addiction. Maria soon discovered that the truth of Mona's life was even more fascinating than her stories.
Outside the Box brings to life a thinly documented era in Canadian letters through the story of one passionate and conflicted woman. It also charts the journey of an unwilling archivist, coming to terms with family secrets, forgotten history, and the stories that are never told.
Years later, Maria took on the daunting task of sorting through Mona's mountain of papers to create an archive for the University of Toronto's Fisher Rare Book Library. The chaotic state of the boxes reflected Mona's flamboyant and demanding personality, yet they also drew an important picture of the life of a Canadian freelancer in the twentieth century. Mona had begun publishing poetry and features in newspapers in the 1920s and published three books of poetry in the 1940s. In the 1950s, at a time when many women were retreating from the public sphere, she had a successful radio career. Her later journals and letters recount, in agonizing detail, a downward spiral into self-doubt, poverty, and addiction. Maria soon discovered that the truth of Mona's life was even more fascinating than her stories.
Outside the Box brings to life a thinly documented era in Canadian letters through the story of one passionate and conflicted woman. It also charts the journey of an unwilling archivist, coming to terms with family secrets, forgotten history, and the stories that are never told.
Details
320 Pages, 6 x 9
20 b&w photos
ISBN 9780773539112
August 2011
Formats: Cloth, eBook
"Not content merely to provide an account of Gould's life and times, Maria Meindl probes the complexities of her own relationship with this remarkable woman. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it rewarding on multiple levels." Susan Olding, author of Pathologies: A Life in Essays
"Encompassing literary, social, and women's history, personal memoir, and media studies, Outside the Box is honest, revealing, and original." Elaine Kalman Naves, author of Shoshanna's Story
"Meindl is masterful at exposing the many Monas dumped inside these boxes. Meanwhile, she comes up with some surprises about herself. It's a good read; at times it's a great read. But the best writing is Meindl's, not Gould's." Noreen Shanahan, Herizons
"How to balance the subject with one's own history? How to position oneself in the story? I think [Meindl] does it brilliantly and that it is one of the great accomplishments of this beautifully written book." Diana Minna, theaccordiandiaries.com
"Her remarkable life has just been celebrated in a biography written by her granddaughter, Maria Meindl, Outside the Box: The Life and Legacy of Writer Mona Gould, the Grandmother I Thought I Knew (McGill-Queen's University Press)." The London Free Press
"Outside the Box is a story of inheritance, of coming to terms with where we've come from and who we are. In exquisite prose and with a fascinating mastery of chronology, Meindl makes this her own story as much as Mona's, the story of how becoming settled in her own life and happiness required her to make peace with her family's past, to unpack the metaphoric baggage that was as heavy as all those boxes and boxes her grandmother had left her." Kerry Clare, picklemethis.com
"Meindl has written a fascinating history of her grandmother's brave attempts at living the life of a poet, and her own thoughts on life and freelancing." Anne Lagacé Dowson, Montreal Review of Books
"Encompassing literary, social, and women's history, personal memoir, and media studies, Outside the Box is honest, revealing, and original." Elaine Kalman Naves, author of Shoshanna's Story
"Meindl is masterful at exposing the many Monas dumped inside these boxes. Meanwhile, she comes up with some surprises about herself. It's a good read; at times it's a great read. But the best writing is Meindl's, not Gould's." Noreen Shanahan, Herizons
"How to balance the subject with one's own history? How to position oneself in the story? I think [Meindl] does it brilliantly and that it is one of the great accomplishments of this beautifully written book." Diana Minna, theaccordiandiaries.com
"Her remarkable life has just been celebrated in a biography written by her granddaughter, Maria Meindl, Outside the Box: The Life and Legacy of Writer Mona Gould, the Grandmother I Thought I Knew (McGill-Queen's University Press)." The London Free Press
"Outside the Box is a story of inheritance, of coming to terms with where we've come from and who we are. In exquisite prose and with a fascinating mastery of chronology, Meindl makes this her own story as much as Mona's, the story of how becoming settled in her own life and happiness required her to make peace with her family's past, to unpack the metaphoric baggage that was as heavy as all those boxes and boxes her grandmother had left her." Kerry Clare, picklemethis.com
"Meindl has written a fascinating history of her grandmother's brave attempts at living the life of a poet, and her own thoughts on life and freelancing." Anne Lagacé Dowson, Montreal Review of Books
Maria Meindl writes about health care and the arts and has created series for CBC Radio's Ideas. She lives in Toronto and this is her first book.
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
1 Spring Cleaning 3
2 Past Forgetting 11
3 The Vicissitudes of Life 30
4 Introducing Mona Gould 47
5 Full Circle 65
6 A Grand Surprise 73
7 This Was My Brother 84
8 Demobilization 99
9 Daily-ness 119
10 A Good, Wide Wonderful Business 125
11 Did You Notice? 144
12 A Talent to Amuse 149
13 This Bleak Design 167
14 Social Pages 173
15 Diminished but Not Licked 182
16 Liberty Hall 196
17 The Heart Alone 205
18 Displaced 223
19 Who Sink and Rise, and Sink Again 237
20 The Walnut-Shell Game 245
21 Everest 259
22 Bones 275
Afterword 279
Notes 281
Bibliography 299
Preface xi
1 Spring Cleaning 3
2 Past Forgetting 11
3 The Vicissitudes of Life 30
4 Introducing Mona Gould 47
5 Full Circle 65
6 A Grand Surprise 73
7 This Was My Brother 84
8 Demobilization 99
9 Daily-ness 119
10 A Good, Wide Wonderful Business 125
11 Did You Notice? 144
12 A Talent to Amuse 149
13 This Bleak Design 167
14 Social Pages 173
15 Diminished but Not Licked 182
16 Liberty Hall 196
17 The Heart Alone 205
18 Displaced 223
19 Who Sink and Rise, and Sink Again 237
20 The Walnut-Shell Game 245
21 Everest 259
22 Bones 275
Afterword 279
Notes 281
Bibliography 299
Winner
OHS Alison Prentice Award
The Ontario Historical Society (2012)
OHS Alison Prentice Award
The Ontario Historical Society (2012)
