Letters from Eden: Grove's Creative Rebirth

H ENR Y MAKOW , editor Letters from Eden: Grove's Creative Rebirth A fascinating picture of Frederick Philip Grove's beginnings as a novelist in Canada has emerged in a recently discovered series of five letters to his wife. They were found in Mrs Grove's personal copies of her husband's books too late for Desmond Pacey's edition of Grove's letters published in 1976.1 The new letters not only help to bridge a large gap in Grove's correspondence, extending from his marriage in 1914 until 1923, but illuminate the critical period in the autumn of ]919, in Eden, Manitoba, when Grove began writing in Canada. Everything Grove did was dramatic and his recovery of creative power is no exception. After an interlude of ten years he was overcome by an inspiration so exhilarating and fruitful that he renounced his teaching career and henceforth devoted his life to literature. He wrote Over Prairie Trails in just seven weeks and began a new career which spanned three decades and established him as one of Canada's most profound and original novelists. Grove's creative revival was the culmination of a long, difficult, and largely unconscious process. Thanks to D.O. Spettigue's research, we know that Grove had established himself as a writer in Germany under his real name, Felix Paul Greve. 2 Born in 1879, by the age of thirty he had published poetry, two novels, criticism, and scores of translations. In 1909 he disappeared from Germany in order to evade large debts. When he became a school teacher in Manitoba in 191), Grove's plan was to save money by working for five years. He planned to become a recluse and devote himself entirely to writing. In his autobiography he describes what happened with an irony usually applied to his fictional protagonists who are diverted from their ambitions by circumstances. Instead of saving money to finance his retreat, Grove went into debt to buy books and equipment for his school.3 Then in August 1914 he married the primary teacher, Catherine Wiens, and by December their first child was expected. 'From that moment on, I renounced myoId aspirations: I must concentrate my whole endeavour on a worldly career.'4 Grove imagined that he must become a success in order to please his wife. When a future post with the department of education in Winnipeg was mooted, he took steps to become eligible. In 1917, however, during his first period of leisure, unconscious forces began to stir. Grove felt 'out of sorts' for the first time in his married life. He writes that, ' while marriage had a great deal to do with it, my wife certainly had not' (ISM 295). He had compared his life as school principal in Gladstone and future bureaucrat in Winnipeg with his original dream of artistic endeavour. Expressing his disUNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY, VOLUME XLIX, NUMBER 1, FALL 1979 0042-024717911000-0048$01.5°10 © UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS GROVE'S LETTERS FROM EDEN 49 satisfaction to his wife, he said that he found town life 'profoundly repellent' because it implied a preoccupation with 'irrelevant trifles.' He was an 'outdoor man' with 'rural sympathies and tastes' and wanted a simple secluded life where he could give fonn to the 'essentials' in his writing. Catherine was willing to assist, and in the autumn of 1917 she accepted a one-room school at Falmouth in the hush 34 miles north of Gladstone. Eventually she would earn the living while her husband took care of their daughter May and wrote. Until they had some savings, Grove continued to teach in Gladstone and commuted to Falmouth on weekends. These, of course, were the trips which later served as the basis for Over Prairie Trails. Circumstances again intervened in Grove's plans in 1918 when he was thrown from a buggy and suffered a back injury which raised fears of invalidism. Practical considerations were once more paramount; Catherine might one day be the family's sole support. Therefore, at the beginning of August 1919 Catherine enrolled at a Normal School in Winnipeg to study for a teacher's certificate. Meanwhile, Grove and May moved to Eden...