The late Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»writer Ethel Wilson has been recognized as a Person of National Historic Significance by theHistoricSitesand Monuments Board of Canada.
Here's why:
Ethel Wilson (1888-1980)
Ethel Wilson made an important contribution to modernist writing in fiction that explores the inner lives and moral values of her characters in a spare, elegant, deceptively simple writing style. She contributed to the creation of a literary identity for British Columbia with her powerful depictions of Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»and parts of the interior of the province, which, while capturing the beauty of the landscape and conveying a strong sense of place, are an integral part of her works, revealing character and developing universal themes.
The evocative prose of her novels, novellas, and short stories, published between 1937 and 1964, established her as a major Canadian mid-century writer who engaged in the important cultural debates of the era, corresponded with influential writers and critics, encouraged younger writers such as Margaret Laurence, inspired Alice Munro among others, and received prestigious awards and honours.
A significant contributor to Canadian modernist fiction, Wilsons writings focus on ordinary people dealing with everyday situations of love, loneliness, hope, despair, fear or determination. Her works, rather than being plot-driven, explore her characters moral values, relationships and responses to personal crises. For example, Maggie Lloyd in Swamp Angel (1949) journeys to a level of self-knowledge and self-healing, while the central character in Hetty Dorval (1947) gains an understanding of human connection and responsibility. Another facet of Wilsons modernism is the recurring sense of precariousness and vulnerability. Her writing is simple, spare and unsentimental, yet complex and ambiguous, evoking the uncertainties of life. Wilsons prose sometimes confused and disturbed contemporary readers and critics.
Her health declined in the 1970s and she died in December 1980. From the Historic Sites and Monuments Board.
