The vividly told stories reveal an awareness of the comedy - and pathos - of people and situations.

The young Emily, who gave herself the nickname 'Small,' was an intense, observant and sensitive yet rebellious child, who often got into scrapes because of her frankness or innocence. She notes: 'There were a great many things that I only half understood, such as saloons and the Royal Family and the Chain Gang.' The Book of Small is a collection of thirty-six word sketches in which Emily Carr relates anecdotes about her life as a young girl in the frontier town of Victoria. In her intriguing introduction, archivist and writer Kathryn Bridge puts Klee Wyck into the context of Emily Carr's life and reveals the story behind the expurgations. This new, beautifully designed keepsake volume restores Klee Wyck to its original published verison, making the complete work available for th e first tim in more than fifty years. She tells her stories with beauty, pathos and a vivid awareness of the comedy of people and situations.Ī few years after Carr's death, signifcant deletions were made to her book for an educational edition. The book was a hit with both critics and the public, won the prestigious Governor Generals' Award and has been in print ever since.Įmily Carr wrote these twenty-one word sketches after visiting and living with Native people, painting their totem poles and villages, many of them in wild and remote areas. Her first book, published in 1941, was titled Klee Wyck ('Laughing One'), in honour of the name that the Native people of the west coast gave her as an intrepid young woman. The legendary Emily Carr was primarily a painter, but she first gained recognition as a writer. The stories in Klee Wyck are based on her experience with Indians and on visits to Indian communities, but they are also stories in which time collapses and events are reshaped and interpreted to make a point in a story rather than to provide documentation.' from: The Art and Life of Emily Carr (1979) by Doris Shadbolt. She frequently understates her age and is given to self-dramatization and idealization. The books were written some time after the events they recounted, however, and the uncertain process of memory, heightened - even distorted - by her literary skill and sense of drama, has made them unreliable sources for biographic detail. The material is largely autobiographical, and in addition to its intrinsic interest and and merit as writing. Fortunately some of her letters have now been deposited in public collections where they are available for study. She produced five books of stories and reminiscences as well as her Journals. 'Carr's urge for expression also took the form of writing.

Growing Pains by Emily Carr