As for Sinclair Ross

David F. Stouck. As for Sinclair Ross. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2005. xv + 353 pp. $45.00 cloth. Sinclair Ross's novel As for Me and My House had an enormous influence on developments in 20th-century Canadian letters, from mid-century to the present. When it was first published in 1941, however, sales were meager. After it was reissued in 1958 as part of the New Canadian Library (McClelland and Stewart), it won acclaim from many literary critics, and began to garner a wide and growing readership. Eventually significant critical studies of the novel resulted in works such as A Reader's Guide to Sinclair Ross and Sinclair Ross's 'As for Me and My House: Five Decades of Criticism. The novel also became a staple of the curriculum in schools and universities. In the face of the novel's growing popularity, however, the writer himself remained elusive. Now that situation has been remedied. Professor David Stouck of Simon Fraser University has made a welcome and important contribution to Ross studies with As for Sinclair Ross, an outstanding biography. Filling in many of the gaps in Ross's life and literary career, Stouck, an indefatigable researcher, reminds readers that Sinclair Ross's goal was not to express himself, but rather like Chekhov, he wanted us to see some of the things he saw. James Sinclair Ross, known to family and friends as Jimmy, was the youngest of three children born to Peter Ross and Catherine (Kate) Fraser in the first decade of the 20th century. His parents were homesteaders in the back country of northern Saskatchewan. Kate, impulsive and headstrong, married Peter Ross, despite her parents' misgivings. In fact, the two were indeed mismatched, and when Jimmy was seven, Kate Ross left their farm, her husband, and her two older children and set off with Jimmy to forge a life for herself For a number of years she found employment as a housekeeper on rural farms and in very small Saskatchewan towns such as Arcola and Abbey. Mother and son moved many times. This necessitated adjusting to new employers, new household arrangements, and new schools. Stouck points out that by the time Jimmy was in fifth grade the boy had attended at least four different schools. It is not surprising that those who recalled Jimmy Ross during that period described him as quiet and introverted. Life on farms in rural northwestern Saskatchewan exposed Jimmy to the harsh realities of daily life on the prairie and the vagaries of weather. Although as a boy and as a teenager he was often alone, Ross did enjoy a few advantages: he relished the opportunity to ride horses, and for a time had his own horse. Riding gave him a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of independence. Jimmy, on horseback, experienced the freedom of a gallop across a field and enjoyed the admiration of young women. Nevertheless, he remained a shy young man. These experiences were to provide Sinclair Ross with much raw material for his subsequent fiction. Ross also had a strong interest in music, particularly the piano, and Stouck provides important details about music's role in his development. When Ross was about 15, his mother made sure that her son had private lessons. Stouck presents an appropriately nuanced portrait of Kate Ross and the important role she played in her son's life. Jimmy, like many of his contemporaries during the Depression, left school after grade 11. His mother, worried about their financial future, insisted that he begin work in the local bank. When he was 21, however, Ross planned to switch from banking to earning his livelihood as a musician. Despite his love for music (on weekends and after work, he dedicated hours to practicing difficult pieces on the piano), he was not able to fulfill that dream. Nevertheless, for the rest of his life, Ross enjoyed musical events and opportunities, and from time to time, as a young man, he continued to play at social functions. While working at the bank, Sinclair Ross also was writing in earnest, but his efforts to get published proved frustrating. …

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