Both Hands

A Life of Lorne Pierce of Ryerson Press

Sandra Campbell

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780773541160
• eBook ISBN:
  9780773588653
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

Editor and publisher, workaholic and romantic, idealist and pioneer, Lorne Pierce once described his editorial desk as "an altar at which I serve - the entire cultural life of Canada." Pierce laboured at his altar between 1920 and 1960 as the driving force behind Ryerson Press, the leading publisher of Canadian works during the mid-twentieth century. In Both Hands, Sandra Campbell captures the inimitable cultural role of a remarkable man whose work paved the way for the creation of a national identity.

Both Hands delves into the encounters, trials, and triumphs that inspired Pierce's vision of cultural nationalism - from his rural upbringing in eastern Ontario, to the philosophical ideals he acquired at Queen's University, to his service as a teacher, a Methodist preacher, and a military man during the First World War. All these experiences coalesced in his work at Ryerson Press - then Canada's largest publishing house - even as he battled lupus and deafness to make his mark on the country's literary scene. Campbell situates this unflinching look into Pierce's personal and public life within the context of Canadian society, detailing his relationships with major figures such as the Group of Seven, Harold Innis, Donald Creighton, E.J. Pratt, the modernist Montreal poets, Northrop Frye, and many others.

Set against the rich backdrop of Canada's early literary and artistic heritage, Both Hands vividly presents the life and work of an impresario of literary, historical, and art publishing of indisputable influence throughout the country's cultural milieus.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Chronology
• Introduction
• 1 Lorne, Mother, and Methodism: Delta, Athens, and Off to Queen’s, 1890–1908
• 2 Visions, Vistas, and Edith: Queen’s University, 1908–1912
• 3 “These Waste Places of God’s Great Vineyard”: Teaching and Preaching in the Canadian West, 1909–1914
• 4 Wrestling with “the Gods of the Methodist Discipline”: Victoria College, Toronto, and Union Theological Seminary, New York City, 1914–1916
• 5 Orange Blossoms, the Cloth, and Khaki: Marriage, Ministry in Ottawa, and Army Service, 1916–1918
• 6 Shining in the Rural Shade: Spreading the Social Gospel in Brinston, 1918–1920
• 7 A New Career and Health Challenges: Lorne Pierce and Ryerson Press, circa 1920
• 8 “On The Hop”: Lorne’s Pierce’s Uneasy Apprenticeship at Ryerson Press, 1920–1925
• 9 A Strike, a Spat, and the Spirit World: Lorne Pierce, E.J. Pratt, William Arthur Deacon, and Albert Durrant Watson, 1921–1924
• 10 “A Patron of … Optimistic Snorts and Whoops”: Lorne Pierce, Bliss Carman, Wilson MacDonald, and Launching the Makers of Canadian Literature Series, 1922–1925
• 11 Up against the Bottom Line: An “Annus Horribilis” at Home and at Work, 1925–1926
• 12 “Lyrical Wild Man”: Poetry Chapbooks and the Lure of Textbook Projects, 1925–1950
• 13 On the Long Textbook Trail: The Rocky Road to Success with the Ryerson-Macmillan Readers, 1922–1930
• 14 Cross-Canada Success for the Ryerson-Macmillan Readers: In the Shadow of Copyright, 1930–1936
• 15 From Romantic History to Academic History: Publishing C.W. Jefferys and Harold Innis, 1921–1951
• 16 Through the Depression to Greater Autonomy: Publishing Frederick Philip Grove and Laura Goodman Salverson, 1933–1954
• 17 Publishing Art History in the Shadow of the Second World War: Ryerson’s Landmark Canadian Art Series, 1937–1948
• 18 Wearing the Heart Out in Wartime: Lorne Pierce, Ryerson Press, and the Second World War, 1939–1945
• 19 “Tempting Satan and the Bailiff”: Juggling Modernist and Traditional Poetry in the 1940s and 1950s
• 20 Impresario and Aging Lion: Fielding a New Generation of Critics and Writers, 1940–1960
• 21 “Near the Exit”: Lorne Pierce’s Final Decade, 1950–1961
• Epilogue
• Appendix: Lorne Pierce’s Prayer for One Day Only
• Notes
• Index