In the Skin of a Lion: Toronto under Construction

and its Immigrant Workers

Franklin Carmichael 1890-1945 Winter Hillside, c. 1918 http://www.mcmichael.com/carmich.htm

City Vision and History

Who were the city builders?

Where are they now?

-- Urbanism as a way of life -- History of Montreal

"The joyful will stoop with sorrow, and when you have gone to the earth I will let my hair grow long for your sake, I will wander through the wilderness in the skin of a lion.“ (The Gilgamesh Epic)

In the epic, Gilgamesh, grieving for his dead friend, goes in search of Utnapishtim, a Noah-figure, who has been given everlasting life.

Outline

General Introduction: Michael Ondaatje & The novel: general introduction and

questions Toronto in the novel

In the Skin of a Lion (“Little Seeds” “Bridge”): The City Planned and Built The Workers: Claiming their Space Immigrant and Marginalized Characters:

Immigration process -- Nicholas and Alice Communication and mutual support -- Nicholas and Alice

Related Examples: Toronto as a Vertical Mosaic Taipei’s Roundabout

Michael Ondaatje Born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), 1943, to a prominent family there. Went to study in UK Migrated to Canada; obtain his B.A. at the University

of Toronto in 1965, and his M.A. at Queen's University Got Canadian Governor-General's Award twice. Features:

combining different genres aesthetics of violence, obsession and gentleness narrative of fitful glimpses = cinematic images

In the Skin of a Lion: Plot & Characters

Chap 1 “Little Seeds” -- Patrick in his childhood (interested in the workers, working with his father as cow herders and logging dynamiter (begins and ends with the Finnish workers [Cato])

Chap 2 “Bridge” – The bridge worker’s experience; Rowland Harris; the bridge’s completion and naming, Alice rescued by Nicholas; Nicholas’ experience of immigration (English, bakery)

Later: Patrick falls in love with Clara, who is a mistress of Ambrose;

Alice joins anarchist group and gets killed in a bombing action; her daughter Hana is adopted by Clara and Patrick.

Outside T’s History & Map

T under construction

In the Skin of a Lion: Plot & Characters

"This is the story a young girl [Hana] gathers in a car during the early hours of the morning [...] She listens to the man [Patrick] as he picks up and brings together various corners of the story..." (4).

Characters: besides Patrick and Hazen Lewis

The missing millionaire, Ambrose Small & his former mistress Clara Dickens, whom Patrick falls in love with.

Alice Gull, the nun, later an actress friend of Clara, also associated with the Hungarian anarchists

Nicholas Temelkoff, a daredevil and baker Caravaggio, a worker and then a thief Hana, daughter of Alice.

Characters: In the Skin of a Lion The English Patient

Eng Patient

Toronto in the Novel (1913 to 1940)

Toronto the Good and the Grey

Toronto in the Novel (1): history Major Natural resources

in Ontario: forestry Major Constructions in

Toronto: viaduct ( 陸橋 ), water filtration plant

1919 -- Ambrose Small, one of Canada's greatest missing-persons mysteries and the searchers. (ref)

Issues of map and boundaries

Workers and their strikes* in Toronto in early twentieth century

History of early immigrants.

(Love and obsession)

* Two major strikes--at Bell in 1907 and in the garment industry in 1912

Location Napanee

River Napanee

Toronto places:

Bloor Street Viaduct, where Temelkoff, a daredevil, flinging himself underneath, on ropes, with pullies and straps.

the Harris filtration plant by Lake Ontario, provides Torontonians with clean water.

Rosedale

Construction Plans & City Map

Concept City or Lived?

In the Skin of a Lion: Chap 1Starting Questions

What strikes you as impressive? Why does the novel starts with a place

which is not yet mapped? Why is logging, cow-herding important—in terms of city building?

Characters: How would you characterize Hazen Lewis and Patrick? What roles do the Finnish workers play?

Patrick’s Learning on the edge of civilization Unmapped place 11 His “companies”:

the insects 9 the loggers and pp.16-17 Finnish workers: 7; 21-22

His father: skillful, 15; his change of direction 15-16 Withdrawn 13; taciturn 18

Patrick’s learning: p. 17 (like his father) p, 19

The novel’s narrative styles The use of history archive—p. 26 The use of foretelling – pp. 9, 20

Already he knew it could not be lightning bugs. The last of summer's fireflies had died somewhere in the folds of one of his handkerchiefs. (Years later, Clara making love to him in a car, catching his semen in a handkerchief and flinging it out onto bushes on the side of the road. Hey, lightning bug! he had said, laughing, offering no explanation.)

The novel’s cinematic skills –the early dawn of a city1. Related to the Finnish loggers

Audio-Visual images: p. 7 Collages of visual images of movement: pp. 21 -

22 Transition with visual images: p. 14 (winter

summer); pp. 24 – 25 (lantern fire); The bridge’s building 25-27 (next slide) Glimpses of the future p. 49

Bridge builders’ position & spaces The cyclist at the opening ceremony and

the workers the night before.

"In the photographs he is a blur of intent," but even he is not the first, for the "previous midnight the workers had arrived and brushed away officials who guarded the bridge in preparation for the ceremonies the next day, moved with their own flickering lights--their candles for the bridge dead--like a wave of civilization, a net of summer insects over the valley” 27.

Moth 39

In the Skin of a Lion Chap 2: Starting Questions What is it about? What details or characters or passages

impress you the most? What are the bridge builders related to the

Finnish loggers? Is it related to us at all?

The City Imagined vs. the City Built

• The City imagined: Concept City or Invisible Cities p. 29

• Rowland Harris’s ideal about the viaduct and the water plant: p. 29

• Unexpected outcome of his ideal construction p. 31

• Harris vs. Nicholas p. 42-43

• Nicholas as a daredevil 34

Unknown Heroes: Bridge builders and tarrers

Work starts in early dawn, night and day. Pp. 25-26

Tarrers: pp. 27 – 28: hardship in summertime and in winter.

Between the Marginalized: Nicolas vs. the traumatized Alice Saved Alice 31--34 communication between him and Alice

after the rescue scene pp. 36-37 (“you must talk”);

N. becoming aware of her (her weather, her perspectives) 48-49

Nicholas as an immigrant Ohrida Lake Restaurant as an old courtyard of the

Balkans. P. 37 Nicholas: Quiet, self-sufficient at work p. 42-43 Nicholas’ immigration/acculturation process:

Pull: Daniel Stoyanoff pp. 44-45 Push: War at home Journey and jobs language learning: p. 46 – (If they do not speak in English in public,

they will be jailed. 133)

Toronto: its Recent Immigrants Recent immigrants: '50s and '60s -- European immigrant

groups, including German, Italian, Polish, Greek, and Portuguese.

1970s and early '80s -- from Asia and the West Indies.

Across the Toronto CMA (Census Metropolitan Area), immigrants comprised 42% of the population, while in the amalgamated City of Toronto 47.6% were foreign-born.

Vertical Mosaic (e.g. clips from Toronto: The Meeting Place)

Examples 2 – Night Market – Local Features of its Space

楊 57

建成 Roundabout Night Market Design –with good intention

「基地的配置十分簡單，為了延續圓環本身的歷史意義，設計者仍以一個圓形量體，作為承接四條主要道路的節點，玻璃構成的圓環，在夜晚的內部照明之下，成為當地的地標性象徵。建築物退縮讓出行人步道，對都市空間與當地環境，作了善意的回應。」

建成圓環

概念圖

建成圓環改建後鳥瞰照

The Meanings of the Design藉由清光玻璃牆外包在厚牆之外，使之形成對話，稱之為「生態膜」的建置，如此使得圓環重建，不只保留地區的美食廣場，活絡大稻埕經濟功能之外，也試圖以重建大稻埕地區空間符碼（磚牆）與現代都市意象（玻璃光牆）的交融，形成豐富對話。空間內涵由記憶牆、一畝田（空中庭園）、清淨器（內部室內林園）、與生態膜所填充的設計觀，成為大稻埕地區的都市焦點 . （楊122﹚

Spatious Roof vs. Crowded Interior （楊 123 ﹚

References 《夜市》文化地景之地域性研究 國立台

北科技大學 / 建築與都市設計研究所 /92/ 碩士 /092TIT00224018 研究生：楊嵐鈞　指導教授：林靜娟

Ex-Centricity: Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion and Hugh MacLennan's Barometer Rising Carol L. Beran