I am an English major and History minor in my last year of studies for my bachelor’s degree. My special interests in my studies are Canadian literature by female authors and women’s history in nineteenth and twentieth century Canada. I have always had a passion for reading women’s narratives from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As a kid I would read the Dear Canada series, a historical fiction series based on the lives of young girls at various periods in Canada’s history; and the Little House on the Prairies series about a girl’s life in the late nineteenth century American Midwest.
These interests have continued to the present. My favourite classes in university have been courses on Canadian literature, Canadian history, and a course on the New Woman in literature. These interests have continued to characterize my reading inside and outside of school. One of my favourite books, and one of the few things that I am able to read over and over is The Journals of Susanna Moodie. I have also developed an interest for authors like Alice Munro, Kate Chopin, Margaret Laurence and Margaret Atwood. As an adult, my interests have changed slightly, but I still find myself fascinated by women’s narratives during a period where attitudes towards women, and women’s sexuality especially, changed so drastically. My research for this class was inspired by my reading interests, and attraction to New Woman figures in literature.
Formerly, I have been a student at the University of Calgary and the University of Victoria and have studied in a variety of disciplines, including engineering, communications, and sciences. Although it has taken me a while to end up studying English and History, I am more passionate about my studies than I have ever been. I attribute this to finally choosing to study what has always captured my interest, which is Canadian women’s narratives. I hope to one day share my love for reading with students as a teacher or a librarian.