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  • Hearts and Minds: Canadian Romance at the Dawn of the Modern Era, 1900–1930 by Dan Azoulay
  • Heidi MacDonald
Dan Azoulay, Hearts and Minds: Canadian Romance at the Dawn of the Modern Era, 1900–1930 (Calgary: University of Calgary Press 2011)

Dan Azoulay’s new book is a study of heterosexual romance between 1900 and 1930. Azoulay argues that most other studies on this topic are based on sources that are too few or too élitist, and do not [End Page 246] explain how the late 19th- and early 20th-century great transformation (including social reform, industrialization, and settlement of the West) affected “romantic attitudes and experiences of Canadians.” Azoulay addresses this historiographical gap by examining “what average Canadians sought in a marriage partner; the specific rules they were expected to follow and in most cases did follow in their romantic quest; the many hardships they endured along the way; and how the defining event of that era – the Great War – affected such things.” (9)

Hearts and Minds is based on two published correspondence columns, “Prim Rose at Home,” which ran in the weekly Family Herald, published in Montréal, and an untitled column printed in the Western Home Monthly, published in Winnipeg. Twenty thousand letters appeared in these two columns between approximately 1900 and 1930. The content of most of the letters was romantic, and some writers advertised themselves as prospective mates. Azoulay argues that these columns served as inexpensive and accessible Canadian matrimonial bureaus.

In the first two chapters, “The Woman of His Dreams” and “The Man of Her Dreams,” Azoulay summarizes the gender attributes most requested in the two columns. Men requested that prospective brides be domestic, kind, Christian, refined, feminine, and “made of stern stuff.” Men were likely to state even more strongly what they did not want: secretaries, school teachers, or suffragettes, all of whom were associated with militancy and a lack of both femininity and domestic competence. Women were subtler when describing their ideal marriage partner. They did, however, state a preference for good workers and providers, as well as for moral and kempt men. Many women correspondents were particularly interested in Western Canadian men, Azoulay explains, because Western men were synonymous with courageousness. (78) Azoulay describes the debate that emerged in the Prim Rose column on the pros and cons of “the Western man.”

This book gives rich and ample evidence of what correspondents requested in potential mates, but the analysis could be pushed further regarding the issue of representation among the letter writers. How might the writers have constructed themselves to appeal to the opposite sex or conform to gender norms? Azoulay notes that women were more reticent than men in stating their preferred male attributes; this could be extended by using some of the theory on life writing and autobiography as the newspaper correspondence columns offer great comparisons to diaries and correspondence, both published and unpublished.

In a chapter on “The Dos and Don’ts of Romance,” Azoulay details how the editors of the columns – particularly Prim Rose – responded to questions about romance etiquette. Prim Rose was adamant that any kind of romance was inappropriate before the age of eighteen. Upon the age of eighteen, however, it was appropriate for either sex to have multiple suitors or interests until one became serious, which was most clearly marked by an engagement. There were an almost infinite number of rules that were supposed to govern young men and women’s interaction. For example, men should be closest to the curb or road when walking with a woman, and under no circumstances should a single woman make a social call on a bachelor by herself, whether invited or not, if she had any interest in maintaining a good reputation. According to Prim Rose a chaperone, usually in the form of an older sister or mother, should accompany the couple in public, especially after dark. Azoulay further explained that any physical contact between single women and men was forbidden before marriage. [End Page 247] He quoted Prim Rose: “It is true that many girls in sheer innocence and ignorance of possible consequences think it is ‘just fun’ to be kissed or...

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