Wilfred Watson
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Wilfred Watson (May 1, 1911 – March 25, 1998) was professor emeritus of English at
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 University of Alberta for many years. He was also an experimental Canadian poet and
dramatist A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Ben Jonson coined the term "playwri ...
, whose innovative plays had a considerable influence in the 1960s.Shirley Neuman,
Watson, Wilfred
" ''Canadian Encyclopedia'' (Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988), 2284.
''The Dictionary of Literary Biography (DLB)'' says that "Watson ushered in an
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
in Canadian theater years before the rear guard had fully emerged."


Life and work

Wilfred Watson was born in Rochester, England in 1911, the oldest child of Louisa Claydon and Frederick Walter Watson. When he was 15 his family immigrated to Canada and settled in
Duncan, British Columbia Duncan is a city on southern Vancouver Island in the Cowichan Valley Regional District, British Columbia, Canada. It is the smallest city in Canada by area. It was incorporated as a city in 1912. Location The city is about 45 kilometres from b ...
. He attended the University of British Columbia from 1940 to 1943 and received a B.A. in English literature. In 1941 he married Sheila Martin Doherty, who as Sheila Watson would write the novel '' The Double Hook''.Biography of Wilfred Watson
" Wilfred Watson Fonds Finding Aid, UAlberta.ca, Web, June 11, 2014.
On graduating, Watson enlisted in the
Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...
for the balance of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. After the war he attended the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...
, receiving his M.A. in 1946 and Ph.D. in 1951.Wilfred Watson Biography
" ''Dictionary of Literary Biography,'' Bookrags.com, Web, Apr. 22, 2011.
Wilfred Watson began his academic career in 1949 as a lecturer in English at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...
. He taught at the University of Alberta in
Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...
from 1951 to 1953. In 1954 he transferred to the
Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
campus, where he remained as professor of English until retiring in 1977. Watson lived in Paris in 1955 and 1956, as the recipient of a Canadian Government Overseas Fellowship. There he was introduced to the theatre of the absurd. In 1961, Sheila Watson was also hired as a professor of English by the University of Alberta. "In Edmonton the Watsons became part of an active circle of writers and established the literary magazine,''The White Pelican'' in 1970 along with Douglas Barbour, Stephen Scobie, John Orrell, Dorothy Livesay, and artist Norman Yates."Sheila Watson
" English-Canadian Writers, AthabascaU.ca, Web, June 11, 2014.
Other members of the Watsons' intellectual circle were actor-directors Gordon Peacock and Thomas Peacocke, both associated with the University of Alberta's Studio Theatre. The Studio Theatre became an important venue for the production of Wilfred Watson's plays, beginning with ''Cockcrow and the Gulls'' (which he'd written in the mid-1950s) in March 1962. In the early 1960s Watson co-founded a jazz club, Yardbird Suite in Edmonton. During the same period he became acquainted with
Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (, ; July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media studies, media theory. Raised in Winnipeg, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba a ...
and increasingly interested in McLuhan's theories, which resulted in the two men authoring a study, ''From Cliche to Archetype''. The 1960s were Watson's most prolific period for playwriting. ''Trial of Corporal Adam'' was produced in 1963; ''Wail for Two Pedestals'' in 1964; a centennial play, ''O Holy Ghost, Dip Your Finger in the Blood of Canada, and Write, I LOVE YOU'' in 1967; and the satire ''Let's Murder Clytemnestra According to the Principles of Marshall Mcluhan'' in 1969. During the 1970s Watson returned to poetry, publishing ''The Sorrowful Canadians and Other Poems'' in 1972, ''I Begin with Counting'' in 1978, and ''Mass on Cowback'' in 1982. In 1983 he wrote a major dramatic work, the trilogy ''Gramsci x 3'', which was produced by Studio Theatre in 1986. He also had a short play, ''The Woman Taken in Adultery,'' performed at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in 1987. Wilfred Watson retired in 1977 and moved in 1980 to Nanaimo, British Columbia with his wife Sheila. He died there in 1998 at the age of 87.


Writing

Watson's first book of poetry, ''Friday's Child'', was accepted by T.S. Eliot and published in 1955 by Faber and Faber. On its appearance, Canadian critic Northrop Frye called it "typically formal poetry, mythical, metaphorical and apocalyptic." Frye was admiring: "We feel that even a line as breath-taking as 'When in her side my eyes were but blind seeds,' or a phrase like 'the tomb egg broken,' is merely what fits the poem at that point: brilliant as the imagery is, there is no costume jewellery."Northrop Frye,
Letters in Canada - 1955
" ''The Bush Garden'' (Toronto: Anansi, 1971), 46-48.
In his second book, ''The Sorrowful Canadians and Other Poems'', published in 1972, Watson experimented with using repetitions and different typefaces. Watson introduced a unique form he called Number-grid Verse in his third book, 1978's ''I Begin With Counting''. The form combines numerals and letters, using "a vertical grid of 9 numbers with 17 slots for words, syllables or phrases. By stacking the grids, Watson writes a "score" for the performance of multivoice poems which exist not on the page but in transformations from visual to auditory forms.". Watson used Number-grid Verse in his next book of poetry, ''Mass on Cowback'' (1982). The form also allowed him to score poetry for oral performance by several voices, which he used in his later plays. His trilogy ''Gramsci x 3'' is part
docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television show, television and feature film, film, which features Drama (film and television), dramatized Historical reenactment, re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of docu ...
, part theatre of the absurd, "continual experimentation with verse forms, satire alternating with lyricism, and an energy and exaltation that transcends the horrors it depicts."


Recognition

Watson's first book of poetry, ''Friday's Child'', won both the British Council and Governor General's Awards for poetry in 1955.


Publications


Plays

* ''Cockrow and the Gulls,'' 1962. * ''The Trial of Corporal Adam'', 1963. * ''Wail for Two Pedestals,'' 1964. * ''O Holy Ghost DIP YOUR FINGER IN THE BLOOD OF CANADA and write, I LOVE YOU'', 1967. * ''Let's murder Clytemnestra, according to the principles of Marshall McLuhan'', 1969. * ''Gramsci x 3''. Edmonton, Longspoon, 1983. * ''The Woman Taken in Adultery'', 1987. * ''Plays at the Iron Bridge, or, The autobiography of Tom Horror''. Shirley Neuman ed., Gordon Peacock intr. Edmonto: Longspoon/NeWest, 1989.


Poetry

* ''Friday's Child''. London: Faber & Faber, 1955. New York: Farrar Straus & Cudahy, 1955.Search results: Wilfred Watson
Open Library, Web, May 9, 2011.
* ''The Sorrowful Canadians and Other Poems.'' Edmonton: White Pelican,
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, ...
. * '' I Begin with Counting''. Edmonton: NeWest,
1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
. * ''Mass on Cowback'' 1982. * ''Poems: Collected, Unpublished, New''. Thomas Peacocke intr. Edmonton: NeWEst, 1986.


Fiction

* ''The Baie Comeau Angel and Other Stories''. Edmonton: NeWest, 1993.


Non-fiction

* Marshall McLuhan & Wilfred Watson. ''From Cliché to Archetype'', 1970.


Fonds

Wilfred Watson's papers are located in the University of Alberta archives. Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''.


References


External links


Wilfred Watson's entry in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''


{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Wilfred 1911 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian modernist poets British emigrants to Canada Governor General's Award–winning poets Academic staff of the University of Alberta University of British Columbia alumni University of Toronto alumni Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers Royal Canadian Navy personnel of World War II