Hearts and Minds: Canadian Romance at the Dawn of the Modern Era, 1900–1930 by Dan Azoulay (review)

Historian Dan Azoulay’s Hearts and Minds offers an innovative look into how traditional Victorian-era ideals of romance and etiquette collided with modernity in early twentieth-century Canada with the massive influx of immigrants, rapid urbanization and industrialization, Western settlement, and the disruption of the First World War. Azoulay examines four aspects of romance during these years: what average Canadians sought in a marriage partner, the specific rules they were expected to follow during courtship, the obstacles and hardships they encountered along the way, and the impact of World War I on their personal relationships. He offers an important addition to Peter Ward’s groundbreaking study on courtship in English Canada by highlighting the important role of women in initiating courtship rituals and by extending the research beyond sentimental and elitist sources.

Azoulay’s primary sources are a rich collection of letters, the most valuable being the ‘Prim Rose at Home’ column published in the Family Herald and Weekly Star, a Montreal-based national magazine from 1904 to 1929, and a column in the Western Home Monthly, produced in Winnipeg. Together, he studied approximately 20,000 full-length letters, which represent a cross-section of Canadian society, although French-speaking Quebecers are under-represented. Rural and urban identities are clearly identified, and class and ethnic origins, although less clear, are frequently hinted at.

The first two chapters use the letters to explore what men and women looked for in a spouse. Not surprisingly, Canadian bachelors looked for a ‘home-loving girl’ who was skilled in the ‘domestic arts,’ but Azoulay found that the typical Canadian bachelor also valued physical vigour, education, intelligence, musical ability, neatness, and kindness in a woman. Regional differences were apparent, however, with Western bachelors placing more emphasis on a woman’s domestic abilities. Canadian women looked for a man who was a good provider, but they also wanted gentlemanly, moral husbands. Women were far more interested in clothing and grooming and made a connection between slovenly appearance and immoral behaviour. Azoulay devotes considerable attention to the hot debate that appeared in the ‘Prim Rose’ columns over the merits and demerits of the ‘Western Man.’ While most women came to view the Western man as virtuous and hard-working, Eastern bachelors launched a counter-offensive and accused Western bachelors of being rough and immoral.

Chapter 3 examines ‘the Dos and Don’ts of Romance’ using the snapshots of romance etiquette provided in the ‘Prim Rose’ columns. Romance etiquette was complex and assumed that men would take the initiative in courtship. Proper introductions and a background check were essential, and the woman’s parents were involved in the process as chaperones.

‘Courtship hardships’ are also probed in the book, the hardest of which was a failure to find a marriage partner. Western men complained of loneliness brought about by a ‘severe’ shortage of women. One of Azoulay’s most interesting findings is that men and women found the rules of courtships limiting and complained about this in their letters.

When war broke out in 1914, one of the casualties was romance. Azoulay points out that physical separation, inadequate communication, and the realities of the battlefield ensured that romance remained a secondary concern. Nevertheless, some reaped romantic benefits, including soldiers overseas who proved attractive to British women, and young women who entered the workforce for the first time and met men in factories. The war, as Azoulay documents in the epilogue, shook the foundations of Canadian romance, and traditional rules of courtship were replaced with ‘the New Romance,’ where commercial amusements and the workplace became venues for romance.

Hearts and Minds is an engaging study that breaks with the previous emphasis on the elite classes in the existing scholarship with its inclusion of working-class and rural men and women in all regions of the country. It also highlights the role of women in romance and suggests how the...