Robert and Frances Flaherty: A Documentary Life, 1883-1922Robert Flaherty's groundbreaking Nanook of the North (1922) - the chronicle of one year in the life of an Inuit hunter and his family in the Hudson Bay region - was the first full-length anthropological documentary in cinematic history. Before Nanook, Flaherty endured a number of failures, disappointments, and false starts. Drawing from the unpublished diaries of Flaherty and his wife, Frances, Robert Christopher's biography fills in crucial background in the emergence of a documentary film legend. Previous biographical emphasis on Nanook has not only obscured Flaherty's early career but also neglected the critical contributions Frances made to his development as an artist. Robert and Frances Flaherty charts her transformation from a Bryn Mawr bluestocking to the partner of a frontier explorer and offers her unique perspective as his collaborator and publicist. From iron prospector to photographer to filmmaker, Flaherty's early life is situated in the context of his explorations of the Canadian north and its peoples, the development of modern cinema, the rise of modernism, and his association with significant figures such as Alfred Adler, Franz Boas, Edward Curtis, and Alfred Steiglitz. |
Contents
The Boy from Iron Mountain | 3 |
The Violin Camera and Canoe | 23 |
From Bryn Mawr to Lake Nipigon | 40 |
Through Canadas Northland | 64 |
Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society | 126 |
Frances and the Book of the Heart | 201 |
Flaherty Island | 282 |
Nanook of the Barren Lands | 319 |
Epilogue | 379 |
Other editions - View all
Robert and Frances Flaherty: A Documentary Life, 1883-1922 Robert J. Christopher Limited preview - 2005 |
Robert and Frances Flaherty: A Documentary Life, 1883-1922 Robert J. Christopher No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
Amadjuak anchor Anunglung Arctic arrived August Baffin Island Belcher Islands boat Butler camera camp Canadian canoe Cape Dorset Cape Smith Charlton Island Chimo clear coast cold crew deer diary dogs drift duck encampment enroute Eskimo expedition exploration father February film Flaherty's Fort Chimo Friday gale gave harpoon Harry Lauder Hubbard Hudson Bay Hudson's Bay Company hunting Huskies ice fields igloo Indian Inuit July kayak Laddie LaDuke Lake Harbour land later launch Mackenzie March miles Monday Moose Factory morning motion picture moving pictures Nanook Nastapoka Nero night noon Nuckey o'clock Omarolluk outfit photographs Port Harrison portage returned Revillon Robert Flaherty rocks sail Sainsbury Saturday seal September ship shore Sir William sledge snow Stewart Sunday tent Thursday tonight took Toronto trip Tuesday Ungava walrus weather Wednesday Wetalltok Whale River wife wind winter