James Crerar Reaney, (September 1, 1926 – June 11, 2008) was a Canadian poet, playwright,

librettist A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major ...

, and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

,University of Waterloo
/ref> "whose works transform small-town

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

life into the realm of dream and symbol." Reaney won

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

's highest literary award, the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

, three times and received the Governor General's Awards for Poetry or Drama for both his poetry and his drama.

Life

Reaney was born on a farm in Easthope near

Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River (Ontario), Avon River within Perth County, Ontario, Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population of 33,232 in a land area of . Stratford is the County seat, s ...

to James Nesbitt Reaney and Elizabeth Henrietta Crerar.Richard Stingle, James Reaney and his Works (ECW Press, 1990) Almost all of Reaney's poems, stories, and plays are articulations of where he grew up. At a young age he was interested in theatre, and created a puppet show for children while in his early teens.

Poet and story writer

Reaney studied English at University College, University of Toronto, receiving his M.A. in 1949.James Reaney
" ''Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature,'' Answers.com, Web, Apr. 11, 2001. The same year he also received the

, the first of three, at the age of 23, for his first book of poetry, ''Red Heart.''.CBC News
/ref> Reaney married fellow poet Colleen Thibaudeau on December 29, 1951 in St. Thomas. He has three children: two sons, James Stewart (born 1952) and John Andrew (1954), born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and a daughter, Susan Alice Elizabeth, born 1959 in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. After teaching English at the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Founded in 1877, it is the first university of Western Canada. Both by total student enrolment and campus area, the University of ...

from 1949 until 1956, Reaney returned to the University of Toronto to complete a doctorate awarded in 1958;

Northrop Frye Herman Northrop Frye (July 14, 1912 – January 23, 1991) was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. Frye gained international fame with his first book, ''Fearful Symmetr ...

was his thesis supervisor. Also in 1958 Reaney released a second book of poetry, ''A Suit of Nettles'', which again won the Governor-General's Award.Catherine Ross,
Reaney, James Crerar
," ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton:Hurtig, 1988), 1831. During the 1940s and 1950s Reaney also wrote and published short stories. While not published in book form until years later, his stories were influential in establishing the style of writing later called Southern Ontario Gothic (later made world-famous by

Alice Munro Alice Ann Munro ( ; ; 10 July 1931 – 13 May 2024) was a Canadian short story writer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Her work tends to move forward and backward in time, with integrated short story cycles. Munro's ...

). In 1960 Reaney began teaching in the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

's English Department. Also in 1960 he put out the first issue of his journal,''Alphabet: A Semi-Annual Devoted to the Iconography of the Imagination,'' which he would edit until 1971. This journal published a variety of poets, including

Jay Macpherson Jean Jay Macpherson (June 13, 1931 – March 21, 2012) was a Canadian lyric poet and scholar. '' The Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls her "a member of 'the mythopoeic school of poetry,' who expressed serious religious and philosophical themes in s ...

Margaret Atwood Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian novelist, poet, literary critic, and an inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of nonfiction, nine collections of short fiction, eight chi ...

Al Purdy Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four ...

, Milton Acorn, and bp Nichol, and work from such artists as Tony Urquhart, and Greg Curnoe.

Playwright

For Reaney, the new decade also coincided with "a shift of emphasis from poetry to the public and communal form of drama," starting with ''The Killdeer''. "Though he had been interested in drama since childhood, he was encouraged by a friend to write a piece for the University of Toronto's Alumnae Theatre and the work he created, ''The Killdeer'', launched his drama career (and won a prize in the Dominion Drama Festival)."Reaney, James
" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', CanadianTheatre.com, Web, Apr. 11, 2011, In

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

he won the Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama a third time, this time for both his newest book of poetry, ''Twelve Letters to a Small Town,'' and his first book of plays, ''The Killdeer and Other Plays''. Reaney "followed up ''The Killdeer'' with '' Colours in the Dark'' (1969), ''Listen to the Wind'' (1972), ''Masks of Childhood'' (1972) and plays for children." His play ''Colours in the Dark'' was produced at the

Stratford Shakespeare Festival The Stratford Festival is a Repertory theatre, repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson (theatre producer), Tom Patterson in 1952, th ...

in 1967. From 1973 to 1975 Reaney wrote the trilogy The Donnellys, which the ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'' calls "one of the nation's most important dramas." The three plays debuted at Toronto's

Tarragon Theatre The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country.

, directed by Keith Turnbull. ''The St. Nicholas Hotel,'' Part II of the trilogy, won the Chalmers Award. The Donnellys toured nationally in 1975, from Halifax to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

with the NDWT Theatre Company, again with Turnbull directing.The Donnellys
" ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', CanadianTheatre.com, Web, Apr. 11, 2011, In 2023, the

Blyth Festival Blyth Festival, is a theatrical festival, located in the village of Blyth, Ontario, Canada, which specializes in the Blyth Festival production history, production and promotion of Canadian plays. In addition, the Festival acts as a resource for loc ...

produced all three plays in Reaney's The Donnelly Trilogy in repertory. As well, Reaney coauthored several operas with musician John Beckwith, including ''Night-Blooming Cereus'' (1960), ''The Shivaree'' (1982), and ''Crazy To Kill'' (1988). Other notable Reaney plays include ''Names and Nicknames'', which premiered at the

Manitoba Theatre Centre Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Royal MTC) is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Next to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, MTC has a higher annual attendance than any other theatre in the country. It was founded in 1958 by J ...

in 1963, directed by

John Hirsch John Stephen Hirsch, OC (; May 1, 1930 – August 1, 1989) was a Hungarian-Canadian theatre director. He was born in Siófok, Hungary to József and Ilona Hirsch, both of whom were murdered in the Holocaust along with his younger brother I ...

and Robert Sherrin); and ''Alice Through the Looking Glass'', which played at the Stratford Festival in 1994, 1995 and in 2014. In 2022, London Ontario's AlvegoRoot Theatre produced a new production of Reaney's 1981 play Gyroscope. Reaney also enjoyed painting and drawing and his art works, from the 1940s to 1990s, were put on exhibit at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario in 2008. Reaney died on June 11, 2008, in

London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...

Writing

Reaney's complex symbolic and poetic regional drama defies categorizing. Reaney's plays are a combination of symbol, metaphor, chant, poetic incantation, choral speaking, improvisation, miming, and child play. Reaney depends on the concept that we, the audience, are all "children of an older growth" and his audience have responded to this expectation. The symbolic quest as the children search for truth and end in reconciliation with the adult world are the basis of Reaney's plays. Critics have called him a colonial, a rationalist and internationalist, a rabid nationalist, a symbolist, and a poet with the myth of coherence who is yet able to say something in an age of the random. Of his poetry, ''The

Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Co ...

'' says: "Reaney's poetry, collected in ''Poems'' (1972), has earned him a reputation as an erudite poet at once deriving structures from metaphor, mythology, and a

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

literary tradition while deeply rooted in a regional sense of place." Reaney's fiction of the 1940s and 1950s (collected in the 1994 book ''The Box Social and Other Stories,'' was "influential in establishing the style of writing that has since become known as ‘Southern Ontario Gothic’.

has remarked that ‘without "The Bully", my fiction would have followed other paths'.... Playing sophisticated games by switching voice, he achieves a kind of ‘magic realism’, often through the distorted perspective and sense of disproportion of his child narrators."

Awards

James Reaney won a number of awards in his lifetime: * elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...

in 1978 * invested as an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 1975) * Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama in

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

for ''The Red Heart'' * Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

for ''A Suit of Nettles''. * Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama in

for ''Twelve Letters to a Small Town'' and ''The Killdeer and Other Plays'' * Honorary doctorates from

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public university, public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to se ...

(1975),

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood, Ontario, Ainslie Wood and Westdale, Ontario, Westd ...

(1979),

Brock University Brock University is a public university, public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the only university in Canada in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment. The ...

(1991), and the

(1992) *

Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award The Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award was a Canadian literary award given to Canadian plays produced by any professional Canadian theatre company, and having performances in the Toronto area. The prize had a monetary value of $25,000, and wa ...

in 1975 for ''The St. Nicholas Hotel'' *

University of Alberta The University of Alberta (also known as U of A or UAlberta, ) is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, t ...

National Award in Letters for ''The Donnellys'' trilogy.

Publications

Poetry

* ''The Red Heart''. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart,

. * ''A Suit of Nettles''. Toronto, Macmillan,

. Porcupine's Quill,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

. * ''Twelve Letters to a Small Town''. Toronto: Ryerson,

. * ''The Dance of Death at London, Ontario''. London, ON: Alphabet,

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

. * ''Poems''. Toronto: New Press,

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

. * ''Selected Shorter Poems'' Germaine Warkenton ed. Erin, ON: Porcepic,

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. * ''Selected Longer Poems''. Germaine Warkenton ed. Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1976. * ''Imprecations: The Art of Swearing''. Windsor, ON: Black Moss,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. * ''Performance: Poems''. Goderich, ON: Moonstone,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. * ''Souwesto Home''. Stan Dragland, ed. Brick Books,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. 9781894078436 * ''The Essential James Reaney''. Brian Bartlett, ed. Porcupine's Quill,

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Plays

* ''The Killdeer and Other Plays''. Toronto: Macmillan, 1962. * ''Names and Nicknames'' (1963) Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1978. * ''Geography Match'' (1967) Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1978. * ''Ignoramus'' (1967) Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1978. * '' Colours in the Dark'' (

Talonbooks Talonbooks is an independent publisher of Canadian literature based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its repertoire features authors writing in the literary genres of poetry, fiction and drama, as well as non-fiction books in the fields of ethnogra ...

, 1969) , * ''Masks of Childhood''. Toronto: New Press, 1972. * ''Listen to the Wind''. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1972. * ''Apple Butter and Other Plays for Children''. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1973. * ''Wacousta!'' Wingham, ON: Jubilee, 1974. Erin, ON: Porcépic, 1979. * ''Sticks and Stones: The Donnellys, Part I'' Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1975.Search Results: James Reaney
May 9, 2011. * ''Baldoon'', with C.H. Gervais. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1976. * ''The St. Nicholas Hotel, Wm. Donnelly, Prop: The Donnellys, Part II''. Erin ON: Porcepic, 1976. , * ''Handcuffs: The Donnellys, Part III''. Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1977. * ''The Donnellys.'' Erin, ON: Porcepic, 1977. * ''The Plays of James Reaney''. ECW P, 1977. * ''The Dismissal''

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

. (Erin, ON: Press Porcépic/Beach Holme Publishers, 1978. * ''Gyroscope'' Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 1983. * ''King Whistle!'' (1980) — about the Stratford General Strike of 1933 * ''Plays of James Reaney''. ECW P, 1985. * ''Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass adapted for the stage.'' Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1994. * ''Scripts: Librettos for Operas and Other Musical Works'' John Beckwith, ed. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2004. * ''Reaney Days in the West Room''. (drama — 7 plays) David Ferry, ed. (Playwrights Canada Press, 2009)

Fiction

* "The Box Social," ''Liberty'' (Toronto), July 19, 1947. * ''The Boy with an R in His Hand''. Toronto: Macmillan, 1965. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1980. Juvenile. * ''Take the Big Picture''. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1986. Juvenile. * ''The Box Social & Other Stories'' Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 1996.

Non-Fiction

* ''Halloween'' (Black Moss Press, 1976) * ''14 Barrels from Sea to Sea''. Erin, ON: Press Porcepic, 1977. ,

Edited

* ''Major Plays of the Canadian Theatre, 1934-1984'' (Irwin,1984) * ''Modern Canadian Plays'' (Talonbooks,1985) ''Except where noted, Bibliography from JamesReaney.com.''

Discography

*''Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD'' Canadian Poetry Association — 2001 (CD#4) (with F. R. Scott ) *''Souwesto Words: 25 poets in Southwestern Ontario'' Ergo Books 2002 (Poets on the CD: Penn Kemp, John Tyndall, Molly Peacock, Emily Chung, Paul Langille, Sheila Martindale, Roy McDonald, Sadiqa Khan, Jan Figurski, Jody Trevail, Beryl Baigent, John B. Lee, Cornelia Hoogland, James Reaney, Colleen Thibaudeau, Michael Wilson, Aimee O'Beirn, Jason Dickson, Marianne Micros, Skot Deeming, Victor Elias, David J. Paul, April Bulmer, Julie Berry, Don Gutteridge)

References

, "Reaney Collected", ''Canadian Literature'' 57 (1973). * Stan Dragland, "James Reaney's 'Pulsating Dance in and Out of Forms'", ''The Human Elements: Critical Essays'', ed. David Helwig (1978). * Stan Dragland, ed. ''Approaches to the Work of James Reaney'' (1983). *

Louis Dudek Louis Dudek, (February 6, 1918 – March 23, 2001) was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books. In ''A Digital Hist ...

, "Problem of Meaning''," Canadian Literature'' 59 (1974)''.'' * Thomas Gerry, ''The Emblems of James Reaney''
Porcupine's Quill
2013). * Manina Jones. "The Collage in Motion: Staging the Document in Reaney's ''Sticks and Stones''." ''That Art of Difference: 'Documentary-Collage and English-Canadian Writing''. (1993). * W.J. Keith, "James Reaney's 'Scrutumnus' and the Critics: An Individual Response", ''Canadian Poetry: Studies/Documents/Reviews'' (1980). * Alvin A. Lee, ''James Reaney'' (1968). * James Stewart Reaney, ''James Reaney'' (1977). * Richard Stingle, ''James Reaney and His Works'' (ECW Press, 1990). * Craig Stewart Walker, ''"''James Reaney: Metamorphic Masques,"''The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition'' (2001). * Ross G. Woodman, ''James Reaney'' (1971). * ''Two Plays'' (Ergo Books, 2002)

References

External links

JamesReaney.com
*
A Suit of Nettles
' on Google Books. *
Selected Shorter Poems
' on Google Books. {{DEFAULTSORT:Reaney, James 1926 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian modernist poets Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Governor General's Award–winning poets Members of the Order of Canada University of Toronto alumni Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers