In that class I was exposed to home-grown literature from the arcane to the sublime (Margaret Atwood’s The Edible Woman comes to mind), but sticking in my memory these days is Susanna Moodie. Atwood published a book of poetry based on Moodie’s books, The Journals of Susanna Moodie. Moodie’s books carry titles such as Roughing it in the Bush and Life in the Clearing. I was young and arrogant and I can remember thinking, “O, Susanna, what a whiner you are!”
Moodie’s writing is hard slogging and the Atwood poems inspired by her efforts equally difficult. Moodie chronicles the hardships of life as a pioneer in central Ontario. There is little uplifting in her memoires, or at least there wasn’t to my young mind.