Mazo de la Roche
Mazo de la Roche was a Canadian author best known for her series of novels centered around the fictional estate of Jalna. This estate serves as a backdrop for the lives of a self-contained family that embodies traditional values amidst a changing world. De la Roche published sixteen out of her twenty-three novels set in Jalna, with her first major success coming in 1927 when "Jalna" won a prestigious literary prize. Her works are noted for their realistic portrayal of family dynamics and the tension between isolation and the encroaching modern world, a theme exemplified in titles like "Whiteoaks of Jalna" and "Mary Wakefield." The popularity of her writing not only earned her a devoted readership but also led to successful adaptations of her work for the stage. Throughout her life, de la Roche maintained a connection to Canada, even while living abroad in places like England and Sicily. Her novels reflect a consistent Canadian flavor, emphasizing values such as family, propriety, and independence, even amid the turbulent events faced by her characters. Through her storytelling, de la Roche contributed significantly to the evolution of Canadian literature, steering it toward a more realistic representation of life.
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Mazo de la Roche
Canadian novelist
- Born: January 15, 1879
- Birthplace: Newmarket, Ontario, Canada
- Died: July 12, 1961
- Place of death: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Biography
Sixteen of the twenty-three novels by Mazo de la Roche (duh luh RAWSH) describe life at Jalna, a fictional estate in Canada where an isolated and self-contained family lives in an old tradition with old values. Her novels have maintained a steady and loyal public for whom her self-contained world has come to represent a valuable and important island in the midst of the modern world; she is also credited with helping to move Canadian literature away from sentimentality and toward realism. {$S[A]Roche, Mazo de la;De la Roche, Mazo}
De la Roche first reached a wide public in 1927 when Jalna won a $10,000 prize given by The Atlantic Monthly. With accuracy, grace, and introspective insight, she first depicted the family and the world which were to serve as the basis for much of her future work. Other typical novels dealing with Jalna are Whiteoaks of Jalna, Finch’s Fortune, Young Renny, Whiteoak Harvest, Growth of a Man, The Building of Jalna, and Mary Wakefield—the last showing the impingement of the outside world, in the form of a governess, on people and events at Jalna. The popularity of de la Roche’s work can be demonstrated by the fact that a dramatized version of Whiteoaks of Jalna was highly successful in New York and ran for two years in London.
Born near Toronto and living in rural Ontario, de la Roche preferred the same quiet isolation that characterizes Jalna. Although she also lived in England and in Sicily with her cousin and their two adopted children, Esme and Renée, she managed to maintain in her work a consistent Canadian flavor and self-sufficiency. In de la Roche’s novels, her family may have its turbulent and dramatic moments, but the values of family, propriety, and independence remain supreme.
Bibliography
Bratton, Daniel L. Thirty-two Short Views of Mazo de la Roche. Toronto: ECW Press, 1996.
Daymond, D. M. “Lark Ascending.” Canadian Literature 89 (1981).
Fellows, Jo-Ann. “The British Connection in the Jalna Novels: The Loyalist Myth Revisited.” The Dalhousie Review 56 (1976).
Givner, Joan. Mazo de la Roche: The Hidden Life. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989.
Hambleton, Ronald. Mazo de la Roche of Jalna. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1966.
Hambleton, Ronald. The Secret of Jalna. Don Mills, Ont.: PaperJacks, 1972.
Hendricks, George. Mazo de la Roche. New York: Twayne, 1970.
North, Stirling. The World of Mazo de la Roche. Boston: Little, Brown, 1938.
Sandwell, B. K. “The Works of Mazo de la Roche.” Saturday Night, 1952.