This and That: The Lost Stories of Emily Carr; Revised and Updated

by Emily Carr

A new edition of Emily Carr’s final writings, This and That is a collection of autobiographical stories that gives fans of her work insight into the artist’s childhood, education, and development as a painter and writer.

Written in the last two years of Emily Carr’s life, the stories collected in This and That (which Carr wrote under the working title “Hundreds and Thousands”) were buried in the BC Archives for decades after their author’s death, not published in book form until 2007. This revised edition includes five more stories and an updated introduction, and is illustrated with some of Carr’s own artwork.

Centred on the Carr home on Government Street, the collection includes vivid snapshots of family life, told from the frustrating but often comical position of being the youngest of four strong-minded daughters. We meet beloved family pets, a plant-loving father with a fearsome temper, a hated aunt, siblings, neighbours, shopkeepers, and local personalities.

In these pages Carr traces her beginnings as a writer, her time at art school in San Francisco, visits to places like Nootka and Skidegate, and the early reaction to the change in both her painting style and subject matter these trips brought about.

Carr’s stories conjure the world of folk tales with a generous dash of Nancy Mitford. Taken together these anecdotes comprise a slant-wise autobiography of an artist ahead of her time in Victoria at the turn of the twentieth century.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2007

About the author

Emily Carr (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the first painters in Canada to adopt a post-impressionist painting style, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until later in her life. As she matured, the subject matter of her painting shifted from aboriginal themes to landscapes, and, in particular, forest scenes. As a writer, Carr was one of the earliest chroniclers of life in British Columbia. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes her as a "Canadian icon".

Reviews

[David]

I thought I'd read all of Emily Carr's books, so I was pleased to find this one when we visited Victoria earlier this year (thanks to Ralf hosting AERC at U Vic). Tom got me an art book of her paintings, and i bought myself this book of her shorter writings about bits and pieces of her life.

Her art work is amazing, and if you've never seen it, go look it up (or go see it in a museum, if you have the opportunity). But I love her writing every bit as much, whether *The Book of Small* or *The House of All Sorts* or this one (all of it autobiographical). Perhaps because I just read them as I neared the end of the book, the pieces in this collection that stand out for me include: "The Round World," "Beckley Street," and "Hoarding for Old Age." Of course, many of the earlier ones about her childhood are wonderful, as she seems to have been herself, different and rebellious, from an early age. Highly recommended!

[Anne Farrer]

More snippets than stories, this is an odd collection of anecdotes Carr wrote in her last years. Not a "great" read, but still interesting to learn about her life as "Small" and some of the influences that shaped her as an artist.

[Greta]

Emily Carr has a lovely way of describing the world she grew up with in the collection of unpublished vignettes of the book, This and That. These short stories read like a diary of her growing up experiences in Victoria, BC, Canada. We toured her family home which is where most of these stories took place. Her art is displayed separately in many museums around the world.

[Danielle]

Happened to pick this up while a patient at the hospital she wrote it in. Pretty great.

[Katrin V]

Wonderfully atmospheric snippets of her own childhood and observations of places and people in her travels.

[Sebastian]

Little Women vibes in Canada! love it!

[Sirpa Grierson]

While these stories were not all completed to Carr's satisfaction before her death, for anyone who wants to know more about this artistic soul who was not only brilliant, fiercely independent, and talented, but was also one of a handful of modern women artists, these stories are a fabulous find. Emily Carr was one of my favorite painters as an art major in the early 1970s. I even completed a project on her at that time for my amazing professor, the Canadian painter, Gordon A. Smith. Carr was introduced to me by Professor Smoth as a part of the Canadian Group of Seven. She was an acquaintance of Georgia O'Keefe's, and equal to her in vision as well as to Frida Kahlo. Currently Emily Carr's work is on exhibit at Germany's prestigious Documenta art show.

While I love her artwork, much of which documents the coastal landscapes and First Nations life in turn of the century British Columbia, Canada, my heart is most attracted to her stories. The Book of Small, Klee Wyck, and many others are gems of storytelling from a very original voice. Ms. Carr won the Governor General's award for Klee Wyck in about 1941. Her books are some of my most cherished reads and I am so thrilled to have rediscovered her work in this latest work as well as in the recent independent film, "Carr, O'Keefe, and Kahlo: Places of their Own."

[Bonnie]

This book is at the BAPL in memory of my nephew who passed away last May. I left it up to the library which book by Emily Carr to purchase. These are really short essays, some very sweet, some sad, I love the old fashioned language she uses. In the back of the book is a chronological list of dates and important happenings in her life which I think is a good idea in any type of memoir.
I also have the very large book of the complete writings of Emily Carr but this little book isn't included. Some of the books in that big one are better than this little book but I still enjoyed reading these essays. I'm fascinated with Emily Carr, she was her own woman, thankfully she had the strength to do what she wanted to do even though her family did not support her art or her independence, she was definitely way ahead of her time.

[Patricia]

I’m trying to cut down on the books that I buy, read once then have to find a place for in my increasingly stuffed to the rafter’s home. At my local library I found and read twice this volume of delightful vignettes. It pained me to not underline the many delightful metaphors….and to return it in pristine condition. I’m trusting the local library to take good care of it and the many others I will entrust to them as I begin to donate my precious finds to them.

[Bob Shepherd]

vignettes revealing the life of Emily Carr.
quite good

[Cheryl]

Insight into another time and place, which I just visited (Victoria, BC), but I was mostly bored.

[M.j. Radosevich]

Delightful missives. The author has a charming way to draw the reader into the extra ordinary in her daily.

[Shaun]

Lovely book of short stories. There are a couple that I go back to and read often.