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Mazo de la Roche

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Mazo de la Roche
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(born Jan. 15, 1879, Newmarket, Ont., Can. — died July 12, 1961, Toronto) Canadian author. She is best known for a series of novels centred on the Whiteoak family of Jalna, an estate in her native Ontario. These sagas of the family's history, more popular in the U.S. and Europe than in Canada, were the basis of a film, Jalna (1935), and a play, Whiteoaks (1936). She also wrote children's stories, travel books, drama, and an autobiography.

For more information on Mazo de la Roche, visit Britannica.com.

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Art Encyclopedia: Pierre de La Roche
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( fl 1556; d 1599). ?French stone-carver and sculptor of Flemish descent, active in Sweden. He was brought to Sweden during the reign of Gustav I (reg 1523-60) and is first mentioned in connection with Uppsala Cathedral, where he executed sculptural decoration on the tombs of Catherine of Saxe-Lauenberg and Margaret Leijonhufuud, the first two wives of Gustav I. From 1556 until his death he worked at Vadstena Castle in ?sterg?tland, where he carved architectural ornament in the French style, including tiers of horizontal mouldings on the fa?ade of the courtyard and on the two main portals of the outer and inner fronts of the central tower. The outer portal (1563), with its frame of Doric columns supporting an entablature and with decorative busts in the spandrels between the arches, has been especially regarded as an early and very elegant example of Renaissance design in Sweden. The fine stonecutting on the portal and the stern, though rather slender, appearance given to it by the arrangement of columns show the influence of French architectural design.

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Biography: Mazo Louise de la Roche
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Mazo Louise de la Roche (1879-1961) was a Canadian author whose masterful and dramatic description of a family of Canadian country squires gained her international recognition.

Mazo de la Roche was born on Jan. 15, 1879, in the town of Newmarket near Toronto into a middle-class family. She was educated in suburban schools in and near Toronto and had firsthand experience with farm life when her family rented a homestead outside the town of Bronte, Ontario. Here the author, who had been writing stories for a number of years with little success, underwent formative experiences which helped to crystallize important ideas of a country squirearchy which would be central to her best-known work.

Her Work

Beginning her career as a writer of short stories, Mazo de la Roche published her first novel, Possession, in 1923 and had several plays produced in the 1920s. International popularity came with the publication of Jalna (1927), which won the $10,000 Atlantic-Little Brown Award that year and which launched the Whiteoak family and the story of its dynastic ups and downs through a series of widely published and much-translated novels.

Mazo de la Roche spent all of her creative life in Canada except for the years 1929-1939, when she lived abroad, mainly in England. Her published work includes 22 novels written between 1923 and 1960; a novella, A Boy in the House (1952); four works with an autobiographical background, of which Ringing the Changes (1957) is an important if misleading autobiography; five produced plays, from Low Life (1925) to The Mistress of Jalna (1951), and an adaptation of Whiteoaks of Jalna which was created for the stage in London and New York; short stories, many of which have been anthologized; a history of Quebec; and two books for children. She died in Toronto on July 13, 1961.

Whiteoak Family

The story of the Whiteoak family and of its ancestral seat of Jalna spans a period of a century; it is a masterful and imaginative portrayal of a large family of characters - often seen as a rich gallery of eccentrics - allowed to work out their lives against the backdrop of a genteel and idealized Ontario countryside. While the personages of the Whiteoak family are romantically conceived, they are, in the main, compelling characterizations of individuals, whose carefully constructed roles and situations are evoked by means of meticulous stage setting, psychological manipulation, and skillful and accurate description. Several of these in the Jalna gallery are real and memorable figures, and even the less significant characters benefit from the author's skill at allowing the nature of each individual to develop and grow while retaining a set of identifiable and basic qualities.

The major thrust of the Jalna series was to stave off the all-embracing sweep of a vulgar, democratized, and materialistic way of North American life and to celebrate and advance a set of low-key, aristocratic, but practical values. The sense of a spiritual connection with England is a strong and profoundly significant, if latent, motif.

There is some indication that while the novels of Mazo de la Roche enjoyed a favorable review press well into the 1930s, she was ultimately disappointed by what has been described as a lack of serious critical response to her writing. Another source of annoyance was that whenever an extended appraisal of the Jalna novels was attempted, it was usually developed in terms of a comparison with John Galswrothy's saga of the Forsyte family, an approach not borne out by the profound but readily apparent differences in the intentions, backgrounds, personalities, and social attitudes of the two writers.

Further Reading

The most satisfying study is Ronald Hambleton, Mazo de laRoche of Jalna (1966), a sympathetic and balanced assessment.

Additional Sources

Givner, Joan, Mazo de la Roche: the hidden life, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989.

French Literature Companion: Anne de La Roche-guilem
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La Roche-guilem, Anne de or Anne de La Roche-guilhem (c.1644-c.1707). Protestant who fled France after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. She wrote most of her many novels in England. She was known for her nouvelles historiques and galantes in the mode of Villedieu, notably Almanzaïde (1674), Le Grand Scanderberg (1688), and Histoire des favorites (1697).

[Joan Dejean]

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Mazo de la Roche
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de la Roche, Mazo (mā'zō də lä rôsh), 1885-1961, Canadian novelist, b. Toronto. Her popular novel, Jalna (1927), was followed by a series depicting the history, through 150 years, of the vigorous Whiteoak family who lived at "Jalna." The series includes 16 novels; among them are Whiteoaks (1929), Finch's Fortune (1931), Young Renny (1935), Whiteoak Harvest (1936), Growth of a Man (1938), The Building of Jalna (1944), and Mary Wakefield (1949). Her dramatization of Whiteoaks was staged in London and New York. De la Roche also wrote plays, children's books, a history of Quebec, and an autobiography, Ringing the Changes (1957).
Wikipedia: Mazo de la Roche
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Mazo de la Roche (January 15, 1879 – July 12, 1961), born Mazo Louise Roche in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, was the author of the Jalna novels, one of the most popular series of books of her time.

Mazo de la Roche

Mazo de la Roche, December 18, 1927
Born January 15, 1879(1879-01-15)
Newmarket, Ontario
Died July 12, 1961 (aged 82)
Toronto, Ontario

Contents

Biography

Early life

de la Roche, in Clarkson 1928

Mazo de la Roche was the only child of William Roche, a salesman, and Alberta (Lundy) Roche (Alberta was a great-great niece of David Willson founder of the Children of Peace through the latter's elder half brother Hugh L. Willson). [1] She was a lonely child and the family moved frequently during her childhood due to the ill health of her mother and her father's many jobs. She became an avid reader and developed her own fictional world that she called "The Play" in which she created imaginary scenes and characters. She wrote her first short story at the age of nine.

One of the family's moves meant some years on a farm owned by a wealthy man who farmed as a hobby. There de la Roche began to develop her fantasy world of rural aristocracy that would become Jalna.

At the age of seven, her parents adopted de la Roche's orphaned younger cousin Caroline Clement, who joined in her fantasy world game and would become her lifelong companion. The two lived a fairly reclusive life; their relationship was not discussed widely in the press. In 1931 they adopted two children whose parents were friends of Clement and de la Roche and who had died.[2]

Prior to her becoming famous, she lived for a period of five years in Sovereign House in Bronte, which has been designated a historical building by the Bronte Historical Society. Mazo's "Whiteoaks Chronicles" figures into the term "Whiteoaks" which usually refers to the Oakville-Bronte area.

Early writing

De la Roche had her first story published in 1902 in Munsey's Magazine but did not begin her writing career in earnest until after the death of her father. Her first two novels, Possession (1923) and Delight (1926), were romantic novels and earned her little in income or recognition.

Her third novel, Jalna, was submitted to the American magazine Atlantic Monthly, winning a $10,000 award. Its victory and subsequent publication in 1927 brought de la Roche fame and fortune at the age of 48.

Jalna series

Her books became best-sellers and she wrote 16 novels in the series known as the Jalna series or the Whiteoak Chronicles. The series tells the story of one hundred years of the Whiteoak family covering from 1854 to 1954. The novels were not written in sequential order, however, and each can be read as an independent story.

It is interesting to note the similarities and differences in the experiences of the Whiteoak family and de la Roche's. While the lives and successes of the Whiteoaks rise and fall, there remained for them the steadiness of the family manor, known as Jalna. De la Roche's family endured the illness of her mother, the perpetual job searches of her father, and the adoption of her orphaned cousin while being moved 17 times. Her family did work a farm for a few years for a wealthy man who owned the farm for a hobby. Several critics believe that Finch Whiteoak who majors in Finch's Fortune (1932) is a reflection of de la Roche herself. He was a somewhat tortured concert pianist with overtones of gayness.[3] The names of many of the characters were taken from gravestones in a Newmarket, Ontario cemetery.

The Jalna series has sold more than eleven million copies in 193 English and 92 foreign editions. In 1935, the film Jalna, based on the novel, was released by RKO Radio Pictures and, in 1972, a CBC television series was produced based on the series.

Death and legacy

Mazo de la Roche is buried near the grave of Stephen Leacock at St. George's Anglican Church, at Sibbald Point, near Sutton, Ontario.

December, 1927

The Benares Historic House of Clarkson, Ontario is believed to be the inspiration for Jalna and is now maintained by the Ontario Museum Association. A nearby park is named Whiteoaks in honour of the series.

Her house at 3590 Bayview Avenue in Toronto, Ontario, bought by The Zoroastrian Society of Ontario in 1975, currently (2007) serves as its community centre. It is listed as a City of Toronto Heritage Property.[4]

In the 1970s, a land developer in London, Ontario used the characters from de la Roche's Jalna series to name streets for a new subdivision named White Oaks. Streetnames used from the Jalna series include: Jalna Boulevard, Ernest Avenue, Renny Crescent, Finch Crescent, Nicholas Crescent, Alayne Crescent, Archer Crescent, Piers Crescent, Meg Drive.[5]

In 1990, a new French-immersion public school in de la Roche's birthplace of Newmarket, Ontario was named in her honour.

Responding to an enquiry on the pronunciation of her name, her secretary told The Literary Digest: "Her Christian name is pronounced may'zo, and Roche is pronounced rosh, to rime with Foch."[6]

Works

Published works

  • Explorers of the Dawn (collection of previously published sketches), Knopf, 1922.
  • Possession (novel), Macmillan Publishers, 1923, reprinted, C. Chivers, 1973.
  • Low Life: A Comedy in One Act (play; first produced as Low Life in Toronto, Ontario, at Trinity Memorial Hall, May 14, 1925), Macmillan, 1925.
  • Delight (novel), Macmillan, 1926, reprinted with introduction by Desmond Pacey, McClelland and Stewart, 1961.
  • Come True (play; first produced in Toronto at Trinity Memorial Hall, May 16, 1927), Macmillan, 1927.
  • Jalna series (in narrative order)
  • The Return of the Emigrant (play), first produced in Toronto at Trinity Memorial Hall, March 12, 1928.
  • Low Life and Other Plays (contains Low Life, Come True, and The Return of the Emigrant), Little, Brown, 1929. ISBN 1-131-68067-7
  • Portrait of a Dog (novel), Little, Brown, 1930.
  • Lark Ascending (novel), Little, Brown, 1932.
  • The Thunder of the New Wings, Little, Brown, 1932.
  • Beside a Norman Tower, Little, Brown, 1934. ISBN 1-199-86589-3
  • (With Nancy Price) Whiteoaks: A Play (adapted from Whiteoaks of Jalna; first produced in London, England, at Little Theatre in the Adelphi, April 13, 1936; produced on Broadway, 1938), Macmillan, 1936. ISBN 0-333-06247-7
  • The Very Little House (novel), Little, Brown, 1937.
  • Growth of a Man (novel), Little, Brown, 1938.
  • The Sacred Bullock and Other Stories of Animals, Little, Brown, 1939, reprinted, Books for Libraries Press, 1969. ISBN 0-8369-3186-6
  • The Two Saplings (novel), Macmillan, 1942.
  • Quebec: Historic Seaport (non-fiction), Doubleday, 1944. ISBN 1-121-26423-9
  • Mistress of Jalna, first produced in Bromley, Kent, England, at New Theatre, November 12, 1951.
  • A Boy in the House, and Other Stories, Little, Brown, 1952.
  • The Song of Lambert (juvenile), Macmillan, 1955, Little Brown, 1956.
  • Ringing the Changes: An Autobiography, Little, Brown, 1957. ISBN 1-141-37942-2
  • Bill and Coo (juvenile), Macmillan, 1958, Little, Brown, 1959.
  • (Author of introduction) George F. Nelson, editor, Northern Lights: A New Collection of Distinguished Writing by Canadian Authors, Doubleday, 1960. OCLC 1395116, LCCN 60-9741.
  • Selected Stories of Mazo de la Roche, edited and introduced by Douglas Daymond, University of Ottawa Press, 1979. ISBN 2-7603-4340-5

Related works

  • Jalna 1935 film based on the novel. IMDb
  • The Whiteoaks of Jalna 1972 CBC TV series based on the Jalna series. IMDb

References

  1. ^ http://www.sharontemple.ca/pdf/Genealogy%20(By%20Family)/family_willson.pdf
  2. ^ "Mazo de la Roche" ([dead link] – Scholar search), AndrejKoymasky.com, http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/biod1/dela10.html, retrieved 2007-10-26 
  3. ^ p. 37, Not in Front of the Audience by Nicholas de Jongh
  4. ^ "City of Toronto's Inventory of Heritage Properties". http://app.toronto.ca/heritage/property.do?pid=4497. 
  5. ^ "Google Map of White Oaks". http://www.google.ca/maps?ll=42.932547,-81.234369&spn=0.020046,0.03931. 
  6. ^ Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.

See also

External links


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