| Author: Grove, Frederick Philip, 1879-1948.
Title: Settlers of the Marsh / by Frederick Philip Grove. -- COVER
Published: Toronto : The Ryerson Press, [c1925].
Description: 341 p. ; 20 cm.
Note:
Verso of tp: "Copyright, 1925, / by George H. Doran Company."
And: Printed in the United States of America." --
Opposite: printed dedication: "To Arthur L. Phelps."
Contents:
I. Mrs. Lund. --
II. Niels. --
III. Ellen. --
IV. Mrs. Lindstedt. --
V. Bobby. --
VI. Ellen again. --
Local Note:
The H. G. Wade copy held in RBR was part of a Else von Freytag-Loringhoven exhibition at the Literaturhaus Berlin, 23. April -8. May 2005. --
This is Grove's first Canadian novel, & though set in the Riding Mountain area west of Lake Manitoba & near the town of Waldersee (Odense in the book), it is actually an account of Greve's year with his wife Else (later Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven) on a small farm near Sparta, Kentucky. --
We know from her papers at the University of Maryland, College Park, that he left her there in 1911. --
Real-life Sparta/Cincinnati becomes Waldersee/Winnipeg in the 1925 book, the virtuous protagonist Niels stands for hard-working FPG (Grove/Grove) himself, while Else is depicted as the depraved "older woman" Clara Vogel who tricks Niels into marriage. --
In Grove's 1927 autobiographical book "A Search for America", the geographically & chronologically CENTRAL Sparta episode covered in Settlers is understandably lacking. Of the otherwise poorly documented 3 years Greve spent in the United States, only two-thirds of his adventures in New York & in North Dakota are covered in fair detail. The time frame is from late July 1909, when Greve/Phil Branden crossed the Atlantic on a White Star Liner [the "Megantic"] from Liverpool to Montreal, to September 1912, when he came [as Grove] to Manitoba, though set allegedly in 1892 (ISM, 1946, [181].
Archives Special Collections H. Gerald Wade copy: On fly-leaf:
small newspaper clipping, reading:"SETTLERS OF THE MARSH, by / Frederick PhilipGrove. / The most powerful Canadian novel of the year. The scene of this storyis laid in the bush region of Manitoba and it depicts the stark realities oflife in a settlement of foreign-born people. The principal characters are Scandinavians,and, as the author himself is of this stock, he is able to analyze them withunerring skill. His two lovers, Neils [sic!] and Ellen are drawn with a surehand. The abundant sex element in this novel is often revolting and will no doubtnauseate many readers, but the narrative is as compelling in its sombre poweras a Greek drama. Lucy Montgomery calls this book "a great and fascinating workof fiction." "Itsfranker pages," she says, "have the straight simplicity of the Bible." --
Underneath, manuscript inscription by FPG, the author:
"In remembrance of Dec. 30, '24 / when, at Phelps', I read to you from the manuscriptof this story / F. P. Grove." --
Opposite: Photo of Grove mounted on inside cover. --
The call no. in pencil on the upper tight specifies that this is UM Libraries' "c.2".--
Verso of fly-leaf: Ex Libris label of H.Gerald Wade. --
Opposite: long newspaper article clipping, folded: "A Review by Professor Arthur L. Phelps." --
Verso: another clipping about "Settlers." --
Opposite: cover of dustjacket glued on half-title page. --
Title-page. -- Verso: Doran imprint. -- Half-title page: printed Dedication to Phelps.
In the back:
Newspaper clipping entitled "Canadian Literature", about a reading by Grove "... at Wesley College this evening under the auspices of the Canadian Authors'Association."
Opposite:
Dustcover text by A. L. Phelps, comparing the novel to Hemon's Maria Chapdelaine, & works by Hardy & Hamsun. --
Verso:
Brief letter by Grove to Wade, pasted in sideways. Printed letterhead of Rapid City, Mb., with mss date in dark ink: "Nov. 28, '25." For an image of the letter, see FPG website. --
Inside back cover:
2-col. newspaper clipping, folded: "If, during the last 25 years...". -- |
Else von Freytag-Loringhoven
