Growing a Race challenges the traditional reading of the fiction of Nellie McClung (1873-1951), revered author and pioneering feminist, situating it within a discourse of eugenical feminism that sought a racially homogenous "white Dominion." Cecily Devereux reconsiders the extent to which McClung's enduring legacy of crusading for women's rights is founded on the ideas of British eugenicists such as Francis Galton and Caleb Saleeby and implicated in the passage of eugenical legislation in Canada. In a critical study of Painted Fires, the Pearlie Watson books, and several short stories,...
Growing a Race challenges the traditional reading of the fiction of Nellie McClung (1873-1951), revered author and pioneering feminist, situating it w...
Painted Fires, first published in 1925, narrates the trials and tribulations of Helmi Milander, a Finnish immigrant, during the years approaching the First World War. The novel serves as a vehicle for McClung's social activism, especially in terms of temperance, woman suffrage, and immigration policies that favour cultural assimilation. In her afterword, Cecily Devereux situates Painted Fires in the context of McClung's feminist fiction and her interest in contemporary questions of immigration and "naturalization." She also considers how McClung's representation of Helmi...
Painted Fires, first published in 1925, narrates the trials and tribulations of Helmi Milander, a Finnish immigrant, during the years approa...