
Inventing Tom Thomson
From Biographical Fictions to Fictional Autobiographies and Reproductions
Sherrill Grace(Author)
McGill-Queen's University Press
Will be published approx. on 4. November 2004
Book
Hardback
248 pages
978-0-7735-2752-2 (ISBN)
Description
Since his drowning in 1917, Tom Thomson has been recreated by poets, playwrights, novelists, filmmakers, biographers, and other artists as a legendary figure synonymous with Canada and its northern identity. Touted as a great artist cut off in his prime, his mysterious death in Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, and the controversy about his final resting-place fired the popular imagination and raised him to the status of a national hero. In "Inventing Tom Thomson" Sherrill Grace examines many of the ways in which the figure of Thomson has been imagined by Canadians. Even people who do not know his paintings well will recognize "The Jack Pine" and know his legend through the marketing of Thomson memorabilia on the Web, in museums, and in stores. Grace suggests that the figure we have come to recognize as Tom Thomson is inextricably associated with many of the qualities that we believe characterize Canadian culture - love of the wilderness, northern purity, solitary independence, and a masculine ability to canoe, camp, fish, and rough it in the bush. "Inventing Tom Thomson" is about those artists who have felt compelled to imagine their own Tom Thomsons and about what the man has come to represent to the culture at large - it is about us and how the stories about this exceptional painter have shaped our sense of who we are as a nation.
Reviews / Votes
"This is a compelling book on myth-making and identity. Reversing the usual direction of investigative research, Inventing Tom Tomson analyzes the disorderly repertoire of stories about the artist's life rather than the canonized repertoire of his paintings. To paraphrase one of the author's central arguments, had the book not been written, it would have to have been invented." John O'Brian, professor of art history, University of British Columbia "The title says it all - the process of inventing Tom Thomson continues. In this remarkable essay, not the man, nor the artist, but the icon co-opted into our national narrative is given wings as we watch him soar into the sun." John Moss, professor of En "Grace's investigation into the "invention" of Tom Thomson is a compelling tour not only into the making of a cultural phenomenon, but into the myth of Canada itself. From the various biographical treatments of Thomson, which have become increasingly obseMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
35 b&w illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
560 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7735-2752-2 (9780773527522)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Sherrill Grace
Inventing Tom Thomson
From Biographical Fictions to Fictional Autobiographies and Reproductions
E-Book
11/2004
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€27.99
Available for download
Person
Sherrill E. Grace is professor of English at the University of British Columbia where she holds the Brenda and David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies. She has published books on Margaret Atwood, literary expressionism, Canadian drama, and Malcolm Lowry, i