Timothy Irving Frederick Findley, (October 30, 1930 – June 20, 2002) was a Canadian novelist and playwright.
["Timothy Findley: 'The world of Tiffiness'"]
CBC News
CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...
, June 21, 2002. He was also informally known by the nickname Tiff or Tiffy, an acronym of his initials.
Biography
Early life
One of three sons, Findley was born in
Toronto
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 ...
, Ontario, to Allan Gilmour Findley, a stockbroker, and his wife, the former Margaret Maude Bull. His paternal grandfather was president of
Massey-Harris, the farm-machinery company. He was raised in the upper class
Rosedale district of the city,
attending boarding school at
St. Andrew's College (although leaving during grade 10 for health reasons). He pursued a career in the arts, studying dance and acting, and had significant success as an actor before turning to writing. He was part of the original
Stratford Festival company in the 1950s,
acting alongside
Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness (born Alec Guinness de Cuffe; 2 April 1914 – 5 August 2000) was an English actor. In the BFI, British Film Institute listing of 1999 of BFI Top 100 British films, the 100 most important British films of the 20th century ...
, and appeared in the first production of
Thornton Wilder's ''
The Matchmaker'' at the
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...
.
[Timothy Findley's](_blank)
entry in 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 Com ...
. He also played Peter Pupkin in ''
Sunshine Sketches'', the
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...
adaptation of
Stephen Leacock's ''
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town''.
Career
Though Findley had declared his homosexuality as a teenager, he married actress/photographer Janet Reid in 1959. The union lasted only three months and was dissolved by divorce or annulment two years later.
He eventually became the domestic partner of writer
Bill Whitehead, whom he met in 1962. Findley and Whitehead also collaborated on several documentary projects in the 1970s, including the television miniseries ''
The National Dream'' and ''
Dieppe 1942''.
Whitehead and Findley won the
ACTRA Award for Best Writing in a Television Documentary at the
4th ACTRA Awards in 1975 for ''The National Dream''.
["William Hutt wins ACTRA best acting award"]
'' Saskatoon Star-Phoenix'', April 24, 1975.
Through Wilder, Findley became a close friend of actress
Ruth Gordon, whose work as a screenwriter and playwright inspired Findley to consider writing as well.
After Findley published his first short story in the ''
Tamarack Review'', Gordon encouraged him to pursue writing more actively, and he eventually left acting in the 1960s.
Findley's first two novels, ''The Last of the Crazy People'' (1967) and ''The Butterfly Plague'' (1969), were originally published in Britain and the United States after having been rejected by Canadian publishers.
Findley's third novel, ''
The Wars'', was published to great acclaim in 1977 and went on to win the
Governor General's Award for English-language fiction.
Director
Robin Phillips subsequently adapted the novel into the 1983 theatrical film ''
The Wars''.
Findley received a Governor General's Award, the
Canadian Authors Association Award, an
ACTRA Award, the
Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...
, the
Trillium Book Award
The Trillium Book Award ( or ''Prix Trillium'') is an annual literary award presented to writers in Ontario, Canada. It is administered by Ontario Creates, a Crown agency (Ontario), Crown agency of the Government of Ontario, which is overseen by ...
, and in 1985 he was appointed 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 ...
.
He was a founding member and chair of the
Writers' Union of Canada, and a president of the Canadian chapter of
PEN International
PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide professional association, association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association ...
.
His writing was typical of the
Southern Ontario Gothic style – Findley, in fact, first invented its name — and was heavily influenced by
Jungian psychology.
Mental illness,
gender
Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
and
sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
were frequent recurring themes in his work. Many of his novels centred on a protagonist who was struggling to find the moral and ethical and rational course of action in a situation that had spun wildly out of control. His characters often carried dark personal secrets, and were often conflicted – sometimes to the point of
psychosis
In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...
— by these burdens.
He publicly mentioned his homosexuality, passingly and perhaps for the first time, on a broadcast of the programme ''The Shulman File'' in the 1970s, taking host
Morton Shulman completely by surprise.
Findley and Whitehead resided at Stone Orchard, a farm near
Cannington, Ontario, and in the south of France.
In 1996, Findley was honoured by the French government, who declared him a Chevalier de l'Ordre des arts et des lettres.
Findley was also the author of several dramas for television and stage. ''
Elizabeth Rex'', his most successful play, premiered at the
Stratford Festival to rave reviews and won a Governor General's award. His 1993 play ''
The Stillborn Lover'' was adapted by
Shaftesbury Films into the television film ''External Affairs'', which aired on
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...
in 1999. ''Shadows'', first performed in 2001, was his last completed work.
Findley was also an active mentor to a number of young Canadian writers, including
Marnie Woodrow and
Elizabeth Ruth.
In the final years of Findley's life, declining health led him to move his Canadian residence to Stratford, Ontario, and Stone Orchard was purchased by Canadian dancer
Rex Harrington.
In 2002, he was inducted into
Canada's Walk of Fame.
Death
Findley died on June 20, 2002, in
Brignoles, France, not far from his house in
Cotignac.
''Tiff: A Life of Timothy Findley'', a biography by Sherrill Grace, was published in 2020.
[ Robert J. Wiersema]
"Timothy Findley biography 'an enthralling exploration of a complicated man'"
''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'', August 27, 2020.
Findley and the development of his theatrical play ''
The Stillborn Lover'' were profiled by
Terence Macartney-Filgate in the 1992 documentary film ''
Timothy Findley: Anatomy of a Writer''.
[Ted Shaw, "Will the real Findley stand up?". '' Windsor Star'', January 30, 1992.]
Quotations
* "When we have stopped killing animals as though they were so much refuse, we will stop killing one another. But the highways show our indifference to death, so long as it is someone else's. It is an attitude of the human mind I do not grasp. I have no point of connection with it. People drive in such a way that you think they do not believe in death. Their own lives are their business, but my life is not their business. I cannot refrain from terrific anger when I am threatened so casually by strangers on a public road." – from 1965 journal, at p. 16 of ''
Journeyman: Travels of a Writer''.
[
* "A myth is not a lie, as such, but only the truth in size twelve shoes. Its gestures are wider—its voice is projected farther—its face has bolder features than reality would dare contrive." – from 1992 speech, reproduced at p. 75 of ''Journeyman: Travels of a Writer''.][
]
Bibliography
Novels
* '' The Last of the Crazy People'' (1967)
* '' The Butterfly Plague'' (1969)
* '' The Wars'' (1977)
* '' Famous Last Words'' (1981)
* '' Not Wanted on the Voyage'' (1984)
* '' The Telling of Lies'' (1986) (1989)
* '' Headhunter'' (1993)
* '' The Piano Man's Daughter'' (1995)
* ''Pilgrim
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...
'' (1999)
* '' Spadework'' (2001)
Novella
* ''You Went Away'' (1996)
Short story collections
* '' Dinner Along the Amazon'' (1984)
* ''Stones
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
'' (1988)
* ''Dust to Dust'' (1997)
Drama
* '' The Paper People'' (1967)
* '' Don't Let the Angels Fall'' (1969)
* '' The Whiteoaks of Jalna'' (1972)
* '' The Newcomers'' (1977)
* ''Can You See Me Yet?'' (1977)
* '' Catsplay'' (1978)
* '' The Stillborn Lover'' (1993)
* ''The Trials of Ezra Pound'' (2000)
* '' Elizabeth Rex'' (2001)
* ''Shadows'' (2001)
Docudrama
* '' The National Dream: Building the Impossible Railway'' (1974)
* '' Dieppe 1942'' (1979)
Memoirs
* ''Inside Memory: Pages from a Writer's Workbook'' (1990)
* '' From Stone Orchard'' (1998)
* '' Journeyman: Travels of a Writer'' (2003)
References
External links
Order of Canada Citation
*
Timothy Findley and William Whitehead fonds (R4441)
at Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Findley, Timothy
1930 births
2002 deaths
20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
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Canadian gay actors
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Governor General's Award–winning dramatists
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Male actors from Toronto
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People from Brock, Ontario
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St. Andrew's College (Aurora) alumni
Novelists from Toronto