May / June 2001 Vol. 33, no. 3

Chasing Pauline: The Perils of Biographical Research

Anne Pichora
Research and Information Services

Emily Pauline Johnson. Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada.

As part of the celebrations surrounding the first UNESCO World Poetry Day (March 21, 2000), a poetry recital was dedicated to notable poets from around the world; Canada’s turn-of-the century poet Emily Pauline Johnson was honoured as Canada’s representative. Charlotte Gray is writing a biography of E. Pauline Johnson, and the National Library of Canada was very pleased to welcome this award-winning author to the January 2001 session of SAVOIR FAIRE to describe the process of researching and writing a biographical account of the poet’s life.

Charlotte Gray is the author of two best-selling recent biographies. Mrs. King: The Life and Times of Isabel Mackenzie King (published in 1997) won both the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the Canadian Authors Association/Birks Family Foundation Award for Biography and was also short-listed for both the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction and the Viacom Award. Her second book, Sisters in the Wilderness: The Lives of Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill (published in 1999), won the Canadian Booksellers’ Libris Award for the best non-fiction book for 1999-2000. Her third biographical work, which is scheduled for publication in 2002, will trace the life and literary development of the well-known and multifaceted Canadian poet E. Pauline Johnson.

From left to right: Nina Milner, Coordinator, SAVOIR FAIRE; Roch Carrier, National Librarian; Charlotte Gray; Ian Wilson, National Archivist.

A large and captivated audience greeted Charlotte Gray who explained that her biography of Pauline Johnson would be a contemporary examination of Johnson’s life within the context of her mixed cultural ancestry. Johnson was noted for her rich and passionate poetry, which expressed her knowledge and love of both her Native culture and her English heritage.

Emily Pauline Johnson was born in 1861 on the Six Nations Reserve near Brantford, Ontario, to Mohawk Chief George Henry Martin Johnson and his English wife, Emily Susanna Howells. Following the death of her father in 1884, E. Pauline Johnson moved from the reserve to Brantford, where she remained until 1892. She later moved to Winnipeg and then to Vancouver, where she died at the age of 52. Charlotte Gray explained that this basic "tombstone" data is critical to the writing of a biographical work as chronology provides a sense of forward momentum to the story and a crucial focus or arc upon which to develop the central character.

The early chapters of her work will provide this background information about Johnson’s ancestors within a complete social and historical context and will include extensive information about the physical setting. Charlotte Gray noted that details of the landscape, the buildings, the people and their dress obtained from photographs and research of both primary and secondary sources provide the reader with a visual image of the setting and of daily life. The National Library’s various collections of published works were useful for parts of this background research.

The Johnson family lived on the Six Nations Reserve in a large house called "Chiefswood", and Ms. Gray recounted how she visited this house and talked to present-day inhabitants of the region as a means of discovering what life must have been like in the late 19th century for the Johnson family and the effects it might have had on the young Pauline. Charlotte Gray added that this section of the biography will also show what life was like for the Native peoples on the Six Nations Reserve and the changes brought about by the passing of the Indian Act in 1860.

Pauline Johnson was successfully able to assume the characteristics of each of her three separate identities. Overheads of photographs illustrated one identity as that of a defiant "Mohawk princess" in her exotic and striking Native costume; the second that of a beautiful, young European lady in a typical modest dress; and the third of a healthy, outdoor "new" woman setting out alone in her canoe. Ms. Gray explained that she wished to explore these three different facets of Pauline Johnson’s character and trace how each of these identities evolved and merged over the course of her life.

While there have been a number of published biographical works about Pauline Johnson, Charlotte Gray noted that one of the major challenges of the research process was the lack of primary source material for the early part of Johnson’s life. Letters can be particularly valuable in tracing the life and discovering the voice of the subject; a recent discovery of original letters has provided a rare look into the character of Pauline Johnson. These letters cover her time in Brantford  --  years when she was developing her poetic skills and moving towards an increased public presence. With the publication of her poetry and her subsequent recitals and performances across Canada, which began in 1892, Johnson’s public persona emerged. She often performed in her Native dress, using her Mohawk name of Tekahionwake.

Charlotte Gray concluded her presentation by observing that despite very little education and significant competition from other emerging Canadian poets, Pauline Johnson was able to publish a number of works of poetry and short stories that have continued to endure in our literary tradition. In addition, despite the considerable difficulties of travelling and performing in all parts of Canada at the turn of the century, Johnson achieved enormous popular success. E. Pauline Johnson’s ability to clearly articulate her rich cultural heritage has distinguished her as a poet with a unique voice and vision of Canada.

To view a brief biographical summary of the life of E. Pauline Johnson and the full-text of many of her poems, please visit the Canadian Poetry Archive on the National Library of Canada’s Web site at www.nlc-bnc.ca/canvers/ehome.htm.