Of Sunken Islands and Pestilence Restoring the Voice of Edward Taylor Fletcher to Nineteenth-Century Canadian Literature

Edward Taylor Fletcher was born in England in 1817 and arrived in Canada as a young boy. An important figure in Canadian literature, Fletcher’s writing was almost entirely forgotten by history. In this volume, James Gifford has gathered and annotated Fletcher’s essays and poems, writings that describe a nineteenth-century Canadian cultural life far more cosmopolitan than what we might have imagined.

Fletcher was a voracious reader of works in many languages and although he was oriented toward Britain, his writing notably reflects a gaze fixed on a horizon much further away. His work therefore stands in contrast to the tendency of later Canadian writers, who focus inward on the nation, and on issues of Canadian identity. His work as a surveyor allowed him to travel across the country, observing the Canadian landscape which appears interwoven with different literary traditions in his metrically complex poetry. By recuperating Fletcher’s works, Gifford expands our view of nineteenth-century Canadian literature and establishes Fletcher as a remarkable literary figure worthy of attention.

About the Author

James Gifford is professor of literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University and the director of FDU Press. He is the author and editor of several books, including Personal Modernisms (2014) and A Modernist Fantasy (2018), the latter of which won the 2020 Mythopoeic Scholarship Award.

Table of Contents

1. Preface
2. Acknowledgements
3. Introduction
4. Travel Writing and Reminiscences
   1. Memoranda of Events Which Occurred in the Latter Part of July 1834, at York Cottage Near Quebec
   2. Notes of a Journey Through the Interior of the Saguenay Country
   3. Notes of a Voyage to St. Augustine, Labrador
   4. Notes from Victoria, B.C.
   5. Letter on British Columbia
   6. Reminiscences of Old Quebec
5. Early Poetry
   1. Olla Podrida
   2. Legend of the Isiamagomi
   3. The Dead Sea
   4. The Broomstick
   5. Alma Mater
   6. The Brothers
   7. Fame and Friendship
   8. Boadicea: A Vision of Old Times
   9. Day-Dawn
   10. Lilith
   11. Dante in Exile
   12. Medea Mater
   13. Gentry
6. The Long Poems
   1. The Lost Island
   2. Nestorius: A Phantasy
7. Postscript: Edward Taylor Fletcher
   by Sidney Ashe Fletcher
8. Works by Edward Taylor Fletcher
9. Works Cited

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.