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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-06-27, Page 17feature s and ante 0 / Wellesley writer Jane Urquhart serving over 24,91)0 homes in Listowel, Wingham, Mount Forest', Milverton, ss, Arthur, Drayton, Harriston, Moorefiel& Palmerston, Bloomingdale, Breslau, Conestogo, Elmira, Heidelberg, Linwood, Maryhill, St. Clements, St. Jacobs, Wallenstein, Wellesley and West Montrose. Wednesday, June 27, 1984 by Laura Plumtree Writing is a vocation, not a career The small village of.Wellesley hosts a variety of cultural activities that far outweigh its size. Aside from the famous Apple Butter and Cheese Festival held every year, it also holds an arts festival annually, boasts an arts council and has within its limits a number of talented people. A large yellow brick home on Henry Street overlooks a quiet pond that is teeming with life. A newly -constructed studio with large windows facing north provides a setting where Tony Urquhart, chairman of theafine arts department at the University of Waterloo, works on his latest project. And a stnall bedroom in the house has been turned into an office where his wife Jane works on her' novel. Jane and Tony, with their daughter Emily, have been living in Wellesley for about a year now, and find the s4fting ideal. JANE URQUHARTposes with her dog, Buffer, at the back of her spacious house in Wellesley,Jane has published three books of poetry and is current- ly working on the second draft of a novel. "Itis a good place to work. You're not com etely isolated, the people are friendly," Jane explained. "On the other hand, you're not constantly inundated by thousands of visitors." Jane knows what she's talking about. She was born in Northern Ontario, but lived in Toronto for most of her youth. "I've always had a soft spot in my heart for small towns," she said, recalling .the summers and weekends she spent at her uncles' farms. "I ac- tually led a double life — going to school in the city, and spending weekends and summers on the farms. We've been trying for a long time settle in a small town." Jane is an up and coming Canadian . author. in short stories and poetry, add has been published in a number Of small journals, including the Malahat Review, the Canadian Fiction Magazine,. and Fiddlehead. She also has put together two books of poetry that were published, and is making her first attempt at a novel. The move to Wellesley is not only good for Jane and her husband, but she feels it is very beneficial for their daughter, who is seven. "'We only get one .channel," she laughed. "My daughter is reading novels now, instead of watching television." Although her first works were published five years ago; Jane admits she has been writing "for a long, long time". She writes on a variety of subjects, including her own memories and historical events. Her collection of poetry, which came out two years ago, provides a good look at Jane's talents, and her love for slightly eccentric titles. Her one book, False Shuffles, does not typify this trait, but The Little Flowers of Madame De Montespan", based on the mistress of the French King Louis X1V, 'and "I am walking in the garden of his imaginarypalace", are good examples of this. "I am walking in the garden of his imaginary, palace" was a pet project of Jane's, published in 1982. She and Tony worked together, in France, on the book which features Tony's panoramic illustrations. Jane believes ,a wide variety of ex- periences can help a writer with his or her work. Jane attended the University of Guelph where she received her B.A. degree in English. She then went to Halifax for a year as assistant in- formation officer at a naval base there. During her first week, the head in- formation officer was shipped off to Vietnam, and Jane found herself in charge. The experience was a valuable one to her. She returned to Ontario, where she received her 'B -A -...degree in Art History, again at Guelph Univeristy. DIFFERENT METHODS OF ATTACK Jane states that she finds there are different methods of attack when beginning to write a piece, whether it be a short story, a poem, or a novel. "A poem is something that happens to you fairly quickly," she explained. "The same is true to an extent with a short story. It has a closed concept. But a novel is a series of closed concepts. With the novel I'm working on, I had a vague plot, but all sorts of things happened in it that I wasn't expecting. All these characters came into it while I was writing." Jane got her ideas for her poems and short stories in a unique way. "My grandmother's kitchen was not unlike this one," she said, pointing out a register in the ceiling. "Whenever the adults were discussing something they didn't want me to hear, they would send me upstairs: I would immediately go and listen through the register. "I overheard stories I didn't quite understand," she continued. "A child's perceptions are quite different from adults'. I filled in the details myself, and that combined with the facts made memories entirely different from what really happened. This provided a fantasy element for my poems." "I do have a tendency to write about stories I hear, rather than things that happen to myself," she added. Jane was fortunate enough to receive a grant from the Canada Council, which helps published writers on their latest projects. Despite the help from the council, however, Jane states Canadian writers still face enormous odds for becoming successful. "Many Canadian books are not available in Canadian book stores," she said. The majority .,of. these are published in small publishing houses, not by the chains which pick out best sellers from American listings. Many Canadian -written books and articles only can be found in independent outlets, which are very few, and in university book stores. "And they're really fine books," she asserted. "It all seems kind of absurd. Canada is one of the few countries that has something like the Canada Council. We have marvellous funding, but we don't have the outlet." FINDS NOVEL DIFFERENT FROM PREVIOUS EFFORTS Jane is currently finding her novel a completely different experience from her previous endeavors. It is set in Niagara Falls in the late 19th century.. Jane has used another of her "overheard stories" as an idea for her novel. Tony's family owned one of the oldest funeral homes in the area. Actually, she added, his grandfather started out as a cabinet maker, but found caskets were in more demand than cabinets, so switched his profession. The main character, she said, is a woman who runs an undertaking establishment. There is also a military historian gathering information on the War of 1812; and a Canadian poet. One of the major differences Jane is finding with her novel is the amount of research she must do to ascertain her work is correct. "It's really been a lot of fun," she admitted. "I've been visiting the local historical society, getting information from there. But I'm at the stage where I'm so involved I can't really see it clearly now." She has made it through the first draft and is halfway through the second, and hopes to get it in some "recognizable form" by the end of the summer. TIPS FOR WRITERS Like any writer, Jane has had her share of rejection slips from publishing companies. However, she urges writers to keep trying and not get discouraged. "All you need is one acceptance, and the other rejections don't matter," she said. "I know a number' of senior writers who are still getting their material sent back." She admitted it can get very depressing when rejection slips' come in, but after a while, she said, you get to know the editors and publishers and you realize they're not the gods you thought they were. "Go to university libraries to see what the market is," she said. "Keep persevering." Editors change, she said, and if you're rejected for two years by one -company you might suddenly be ac- cepted. "They (editors) are people. It's all a matter of personal preference." She also suggested the writer have his or her own place to sit down to write. "When we move, it takes me about a month to get settled in," she admitted. She said the writer should have a place of his own where he can be familiar with his surroundings and have everything he needs at his fingertips. A diary is also a really good thing, she said. "A diary increases your sensitivity," she explained. "It increases your awareness for detail, which is very important to fiction. One of the nice things about a diary is that you don't write it for anyone except yourself: You're not writing for publication. You can develop a lot of skill without the pressure." She also suggested that a writer should sit down and write the story without the intention of publishing it. "Think ,about the story first. When you're finished, then worry about the market. You're more likely to come up with something that way." • English is not always the best subject for writers to take at.univetsities, she said. "It's good 'td increase your knowledge in other areas." Jane finds when she is about to write a short story, she always has the 'first line written in her head. "I have more of an idea of mood than a plot," she explained. "Once the first line is down, the rest just follows. It's really like magic." She makes an effort to keep up with Canadian authors and their work, admitting after she was first published she got to know quite a few of them. "I think we have a really good community of writers in Canada," she Said, citing an example of a convention she recently attended in Regina. "Canada Council flew us there, and I really got a wonderful sense of comaraderie there. It was neat to have a whole room full of people who think the way you do." FAVORITE AUTHORS Jane has a number of authors she admires, both contemporary and historical. She named her daughter Emily after Emily Bronte, author of Wuthering Heights, one of her favorite all-time books. She also greatly ad- mires a Canadian poet, .Michael Ondaatje, and Alice Munroe for her short fiction. "A good short story is very satisfying," she said. "It's either perfectly crafted, or its wrong. When it's right, it's great." Jane considers herself very for- tunate. She can sit at home and write without having to work at an outside job, something few writers can afford to do. And this, she said, gives her an opportunity to give more of herself to her work than she could do if she were working. "I guess there's a difference between a career and a vocation," she said. "A career is something you do to be suc- cessful and to be known. A vocation is something you do because you want to, whether you're published or not. You do it because you feel you have to. I feel right now I'm practising a vocation. The reward is in the writing." "The Gondoliers" an irresistible by Patrick Raft's While the music and choreography are the real stars of the Stratford Festival production of Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, "The Gondoliers", one still can't say enough about the comedic talents of actor Richard MacMillan. Repeating his role as the Grand Inquisitor, MacMillan manages to turn a relatively small role into something more, as he did in "The Mikado" last year. When he's not on stage I found myself anticipating his return and I was never disappointed when he did reappear. MacMillan's beautiful exaggeration of his character's lecherous nature gets a lot of laughs as he manages to raise fanny pinching to an art. He also sings the most lyrically funny song in the production, "There Lived a King", updated to describe Pierre Trudeau, which ends in a sort of 21 -finger salute. • Eric Donkin, as the Duke of Plaza Toro, is also a fine actor and he brings a lot of humor to the play. No one will be overly -impressed by his singing, but that's not why he's there anyway. Donkin also stars in "The Mikado", which is a much funnier show, but can't touch "The Gondoliers" when it comes to song and dance routines. The most spectacular dance in the show comes in the second act, when the chorus, which is kept moving throughout the show, all grab a life-size doll and perform a dance number that is more reminiscent of a free-for-all wrestling match. The dancers swirl around the stage visciously shaking their doll partners andas the dance progresses it becomes difficult to distinguish the people from the dolls. The role of the two gondoliers, played by Paul Massel and John Keane, are probably the most demanding parts in the production. Keane and Massel are required to be in top form in the areas of singing, dancing, acting and just clowning around. The pair do it all admirably. They are on stage almost constantly and remain energetic throughout. Shades of Boy George — the Dutchess of Plaza Toro is played by actor Douglas Chamberlain, who, while not the least bit feminine -looking, is ab- solutely hilarious. Karen Skidmore and Marie Baron are competent in their roles as the gondoliers' brides. Skidmore in par- ticular displays a fine singing voice. Arthur Sullivan's Music is handled impressively by the orchestra, under show the direction of conductor Berthold Carriere and the music remains sharp throughout the acoustically sound Avon theatre. The "Zanies", five masked clowns who perform minor set changes and pop into the action on a number of well- timed occasions, are an inovation of director -choreographer Brian Mac- donald. Their antics are entertaining and they get the job done. Gilbert and Sullivan fans will probably love this production and even people who seldom enter a theatre should find it irresistible.