{"product_id":"9781442614925","title":"The Tightrope Walker: Autobiographical Writings of Anne Wilkinson","description":"\u003cp\u003eAnne Wilkinson (1910-61) was one of the most celebrated Canadian writers of her time. Her success as a poet came against all odds: nothing in her background, from geography to genealogy, would have suggested a literary career. She lived her life and practiced her art in Toronto at a time when the nerve centre of Canadian poetry was unquestionably Montreal. She was born into the highest levels of Toronto society, a daughter of the very distinguished Osler family. And yet she wrote poetry, and was published to great acclaim, through decades of marriage, child-rearing, divorce, and illness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom December 1947 to July 1956, the years during which she wrote her most successful poetry, Wilkinson kept journals; in due course she also wrote an autobiography, part of which appeared in a literary magazine shortly after she died. Joan Coldwell brings together the complete text of the autobiography with the poet’s journals, some samples of her poetry, and a moving exchange of letters between Wilkinson and her mother.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe journals vividly reveal the inner workings of the writer’s mind and her struggles to create in a difficult environment. With an immediacy and power that only journals can achieve, these writings explore the nature of the creative process in a context of daily realities that are often harsh and sometimes heart-breaking. The autobiography tells the story in a different way, rearranged to fit the forms of a 'legitimate' genre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTogether with Coldwell’s introduction, these writings present a unique and moving self-portrait of a poet who died too young, at the peak of her career. This volume celebrates Wilkinson’s life and work, and the spirit that informed them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Toronto Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47053816594672,"sku":"9781442614925","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781442614925_p0.jpg?v=1763809793","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781442614925","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}