The Heart Of A Peacock

by Emily Carr, Rosemary Neering (Introduction), Ira Dilworth (Preface)

A collection of short stories about people and animals by the legendary Emily Carr that mingle the sad and the joyous, the cruel and the tender, in her unique style.

The Heart of a Peacock is a collection of 51 short stories by the legendary writer and painter Emily Carr. The stories are arranged in themes such as her experiences with Native people, her adventures with various beloved creatures (particularly birds), her love of nature, and a whole section of stories about her mischievous pet monkey Woo. Together, they underline Emily Carr’s place as a writer with the sharp yet tender eye of an artist, with a deep feeling for the tragedies of life and with a rich sense of the comic. The Heart of a Peacock has been in print ever since its publication in 1953, and, like her other books, has been read and loved by a couple of generations. The book is enhanced by seven of Carr’s own line drawings of scenes from nature.

Carr’s first book, published in 1941, was titled Klee Wyck, won the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Her writing is vital and direct, aware and poignant, as well regarded today as when first published.

Genres: Nonfiction, Short Stories, Art

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Emily Carr (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer heavily inspired by the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the first painters in Canada to adopt a post-impressionist painting style, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until later in her life. As she matured, the subject matter of her painting shifted from aboriginal themes to landscapes, and, in particular, forest scenes. As a writer, Carr was one of the earliest chroniclers of life in British Columbia. The Canadian Encyclopedia describes her as a "Canadian icon".

Reviews

[LobsterQuadrille · Rating 4 out of 5]

There was a smaller percentage of stories I really enjoyed in this collection than in Klee Wyck and The Book of Small, but the good ones are still good enough to win me over. It is mainly non-fiction(primarily animal stories), but a few fiction works are mixed in too and some of those are very good as well. The main reason I didn't love most of the stories here is that there were a lot of gloomy ones. But on the positive side, here are the ones I did really like:

-The Heart of a Peacock
-Uncle Tom
-Sally and Jane
-Even a Rat...
-Birds of England
-Garden Gone Wild
-Indian Bird Carving
-Lilies
-Worship
-The House
-Three Sisters

[Ron Howden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love everything Emily Carr writes, her prose is as compelling as her art.

[Peter B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A group of short stories with basically five themes—birds and more birds, animals, First Nations, Woo the monkey, and Small. There are places in which the writing is very engaging and others in which it is not. I keep having difficulty with the paradox of her demanding her rights to freedom and anger at those who don’t recognize or appreciate her work with her constant need to capture and cage birds and animals. It is almost as though she gets her approval from her creatures who accept her unconditionally because she loves them and the larger her menagerie the better she feels. There is always the sentiment that no one else could give the same care to her animals and birds—the peacock dies when it can’t be with her—she euthanizes her collection of finches so that the neighbour boys don’t shoot them or capture them to sell etc.
The Indian stories are definitely white man stories although at times they capture some culture—(I think this—how do I know?) and the Small stories in this collection present a somewhat kinder picture of her sisters.
There are two stories which don’t fall into these categores—“Lilies” and “Worship.”
“Lilies” could make a stage play

[Christiane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emily Carr was a great lover of animals, not just of her Griffons, sheepdogs and a Persian cat but of all the wild animals of her native British Columbia. From our modern viewpoint we may consider it wrong but her greatest joy was when a wild creature she found, rescued or bought lost its fear of her and gave her all its love and trust, first and foremost her beloved little Javanese monkey Woo. There are several stories about First Nation people and a silly romance called “The Lilies”.
Most of these anecdotes will delight (and sometimes sadden) an animal lover's heart but in my opinion there is only one story where the beauty and power of her writing shines, and that is “Eagles of Skeena River”, reminiscent of the stories in her classic collection “Klee Wyck”.

[Fiona · Rating 4 out of 5]

An uneven group of stories but the tales of Woo the monkey won me over. I enjoy Carr’s sparse style but found some of the stories an effort to follow when she tries to write in colloquial English. I was disturbed sometimes by her willingness to capture and domesticate wild animals but at the same time was charmed by the results.