TRU Professor Leigh Matthews Redefines Canadian Prairie Women in their own Words
The
book was born of a PhD thesis, but the passion has a much longer
history. While her introduction to the lives of prairie women, Dr. Leigh
Matthews explains, was sparked by childhood recreations of the Little
House on the Prairie television shows and books, her pleasure in these
recreations was thwarted by the "glaring difference" she noted between
"the images presented to me on the screen" and her "knowledge of prairie
life".
This recognition has become a key theme in her
respected academic career, and has motivated Matthews to explore the
lives of prairie women and find the voices in their writing. Recently,
it has also resulted in the publication of a book:
Looking Back: Canadian Women's Prairie Memoirs and Intersections of Culture, History and Identity.
Matthews
says her book is "the culmination of a lengthy personal effort to
contribute to a body of scholarship that makes women's voices heard and
gives them space within the Canadian cultural record" and hopes that it
will be an inspiration to others to "continue with the ongoing
recuperation and restoration of such voices".
Hailed by
Catherine Cavanaugh of Athabasca University as a "sound, well developed
and well-written case for memoir as reconciling female experience to the
dominant historiography of the prairie west", Matthews' book seems to
be resonating with buyers. According to the University of Calgary Press,
pre-order numbers were impressive, in fact, the first printing was
nearly sold out before the ink had dried.
And what is next for Dr. Matthews? In her own words:
"I
intend to continue the work of re-discovering lost women's voices
myself, but this time by working on the republication of one or two
novels from the early twentieth-century. As well, in terms of scholarly
studies of literature, my main area of interest now (stemming from the
final chapter of Looking Back) is eco-criticism, or the study of how the
natural environment is represented. In particular, I am compelled by
images of animals and animal metaphors in relation to female identity
construction."
Read
more faculty research profiles...
Quicklinks
News and Opportunities