Alice Munro - Writing Her Lives

alone to write, so that’s what I did. I did not see her again until August 2001, by which time she had decided to cooperate with me on this book, “doing penance,” she wrote me in March 2000, “for all those literary biographies I have devoured.”
    My first and foremost acknowledgement is to Alice Munro. While it has been clear to me throughout that she takes no relish in what she called in the same letter “being ‘biographied,’ ” she has been candid, precise, and helpful throughout – answering questions, wondering over lost memories, stewing a bit, and opening doors. 2 As the references here show, our contacts have not been numerous – three long sessions each over two days and some phone calls – but they have been just what was needed. In no sense an “official” biography,
Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives
benefited enormously from its subject’s cooperation.
    Once the idea was broached and the work begun, those to acknowledge and thank became legion. During the 1990s, when I was contemplating the possibility, Douglas Gibson was both discouraging and encouraging. That was just what was needed then, since while Munro was not yet prepared to cooperate it was clear, he wrote, that such a book as this would be called for eventually. When Munro decided to cooperate, Gibson made it happen, as did Michael Levine. I am grateful to them both and proud that this is a Douglas Gibson Book.
    Since 1983, my career as a scholar-teacher has been effected by St. Lawrence University and by its Canadian Studies Program. There, a succession of deans, presidents, and faculty colleagues have supported my work on Munro. I am particularly grateful to Grant Cornwell and to Daniel Sullivan, whose imaginative leadership and initiative provided me with a research leave at a critical time. That leave was fundedby the Lincolnshire Foundation, so I am equally grateful to Eric and Jane Molson. Early on, they saw this book as an important project and arranged the time and resources I needed to research and write it. Throughout, they have followed its progress with interest and enthusiasm. I am deeply grateful for this, as well as for the Molsons’ support of Canadian Studies at St. Lawrence.
    The author of any book that rests on archival research has many organizations and people to thank. The support of the Government of Canada has been critical to this project. Beginning in the late 1980s, through a Senior Fellowship and a succession of smaller grants, Foreign Affairs Canada has supported this work. Its Research Grant Program administered by the Canadian Embassy in Washington has funded my travel to the Alice Munro Fonds at the University of Calgary and to other archives. Speaking as someone long involved in Canadian Studies in the United States, I know without question that these programs have had significant effect on Canada-U.S. understanding.
    My visits to the University of Calgary to read the Munro papers began in January 1988. I have been back several times since, including a semester-long stay as a visiting scholar at the Calgary Institute for the Humanities during fall 2003. People at the university have been uniformly welcoming and gracious. Particularly, Apollonia Lang Steele and Marlys Chevrefils of the Archives and Special Collections section have each been singular in their myriad assistances to this project. Every request and question, whether on-site or across the continent, has been attended promptly and with interest. Each of them has handed me a “Eureka!” more than once, so I am especially grateful to them for all their help, and to the University of Calgary for its Special Collection of Canadian Authors’ Papers. It is a singular place for scholarly work. For similar assistance at other archives, I am grateful to the staff of those institutions I have listed in the Select Bibliography. Of these, McMaster University should be singled out – its collection of papers from Canadian publishers is another key resource. Also, Kip Jackson of CBC Archives, along with his colleagues, guided my work there.
    The research involved in discovering Munro’s ancestors led me, for the first time, into the world of genealogy. There I discovered manypeople with relevant information who were much more than happy to share it. Arlyn Montgomery of Belgrave, Ontario provided much information from her own work on the Laidlaw side of the family and sent photographs too. Eleanor Henderson, of Carleton Place, Ontario, did