Leslie Hall Pinder
Encyclopedia
Leslie Joyce Hall Pinder (née Hall) (born 21 September 1948) is a Canadian
lawyer
and writer.
Born in Elrose
, Saskatchewan
, she earned a B.A.
in English literature
from the University of Saskatchewan and Dalhousie University in 1968. Pinder then worked as a court recorder while pursuing legal studies, obtaining her LL.B. from the University of British Columbia in 1976.
In 1982, Lazara Press published a prose poem entitled "35 Stones" in broadside and postcard format.
Pinder's first novel, Under the House (1986) garnered superior reviews, and her second novel, On Double Tracks (1990), was short-listed for the 1990 Governor General's Award for English Fiction
.
After the publication of On Double Tracks, Pinder focused on her legal work, primarily on First Nations
land claims in British Columbia
; a few years ago, she turned to writing full-time. She lives part-time in urban Vancouver and on a remote island in British Columbia, and is currently finishing her third and fourth novels.
The inspiration for Pinder’s second novel On Double Tracks (1988, short-listed for the 1990 Canadian Governor General's Award for English Fiction) came, in part, from the treatment she received by the judge hearing one of her native land claims cases. In the novel, a young woman lawyer goes to court to reclaim land for an native Band, but from the outset of the trial, things go badly, and a disturbing level of confrontation builds. When the young lawyer and the aging judge journey back to their childhoods, it becomes clear that the courtroom drama merely brushes the surface of both wider and more personal dramas. Both characters head for psychological crises, but only one survives the wreckage.
In both novels, Pinder uses the courtroom as a forum of conflict and disclosure, a place where truth can be told, but not without revealing tragic flaws. Pinder's work explores the currency of secrets, particularly when two or more people conspire to keep them: the currency of intimacy, solidarity and allegiance, but in reality, secrets as the termites gnawing at the foundations of families and lives until their structures are destroyed.
Pinder's writing style has been compared to Faulkner in its depiction of the fictional unconscious, her prose both stark and subtle, intense and compassionate.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and writer.
Born in Elrose
Elrose, Saskatchewan
Elrose is a town situated south of Rosetown and north of Swift Current on Highway 4 and Highway 44. As a community in the middle of an agricultural economy, Elrose has a Saskatchewan Pool elevator. Elrose is part of the Cypress Hills—Grasslands Federal Riding with David Anderson as the federal...
, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, she earned a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
from the University of Saskatchewan and Dalhousie University in 1968. Pinder then worked as a court recorder while pursuing legal studies, obtaining her LL.B. from the University of British Columbia in 1976.
In 1982, Lazara Press published a prose poem entitled "35 Stones" in broadside and postcard format.
Pinder's first novel, Under the House (1986) garnered superior reviews, and her second novel, On Double Tracks (1990), was short-listed for the 1990 Governor General's Award for English Fiction
1990 Governor General's Awards
Each winner of the 1990 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit received $10000 and a specially bound edition of his or her book. The winners were selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.-Fiction:Winner:...
.
After the publication of On Double Tracks, Pinder focused on her legal work, primarily on First Nations
First Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
land claims in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
; a few years ago, she turned to writing full-time. She lives part-time in urban Vancouver and on a remote island in British Columbia, and is currently finishing her third and fourth novels.
Literary Career
Pinder’s first novel Under The House (1986) was re-created for the Vancouver stage for the Women in View Festival in 1990, a one-woman performance by Trish Grainge, directed by Paul Mears. The novel focuses on the Rathbones, a prominent Saskatchewan family so determined not to look back at their past that they never see the chains binding them to it. The story unfolds primarily through the eyes of a niece, related by marriage rather than blood, and her aunt, both ostracized by the family patriarch, a misguided and controlling man intent on eliminating any ‘outsiders’ from sharing in the grandfather’s estate. Pinder deals with the topic of incest delicately, and without setting up a stereotypical good-and-evil dichotomy, one of the many reasons the novel earned the respect of reviewers and colleagues, among them, the critic for The New York Times, who described Under the House as “. . . a brave work,” and Margaret Atwood, who viewed Pinder as “. . . a writer of great talent and sensitivity . . .” Pinder's inspiration for the story was a rumour about a hidden relationship between two of her own family members. Illegitimacy is a recurring theme in her work and a stand-in for one's feelings of being an outsider.The inspiration for Pinder’s second novel On Double Tracks (1988, short-listed for the 1990 Canadian Governor General's Award for English Fiction) came, in part, from the treatment she received by the judge hearing one of her native land claims cases. In the novel, a young woman lawyer goes to court to reclaim land for an native Band, but from the outset of the trial, things go badly, and a disturbing level of confrontation builds. When the young lawyer and the aging judge journey back to their childhoods, it becomes clear that the courtroom drama merely brushes the surface of both wider and more personal dramas. Both characters head for psychological crises, but only one survives the wreckage.
In both novels, Pinder uses the courtroom as a forum of conflict and disclosure, a place where truth can be told, but not without revealing tragic flaws. Pinder's work explores the currency of secrets, particularly when two or more people conspire to keep them: the currency of intimacy, solidarity and allegiance, but in reality, secrets as the termites gnawing at the foundations of families and lives until their structures are destroyed.
Pinder's writing style has been compared to Faulkner in its depiction of the fictional unconscious, her prose both stark and subtle, intense and compassionate.
Novels
- Under the House. Vancouver: Talon Books, 1986. Bloomsbury Publishing put out the first hardcover printing in the U.K. This was followed by an edition in the U.S., a translation into Finnish, softcover by Faber & Faber and finally another Random House Vintage edition in Canada. To be re-published in e-book and audio book formats by Shelfstealers, LLC, in 2011.
- On Double Tracks. Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys (Canada) and Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), 1990. Short-listed for the Canadian Governor General's Award for Fiction in 1990. In 1991 softcover rights were sold to Random House in Canada. To be re-published in e-book and audio book formats by Shelfstealers, LLC, in 2011.
Selected Writings
- Selected Writings of Leslie Hall Pinder, The Legal Studies Forum, Volume XXXI, Supp., 2007, College of Law, West Virginia University, ed. James R. Elkins. Includes selections from Pinder’s writing, including the courtroom scenes from "On Double Tracks," a reprint of essays and a long verse poem, “The World is as Sharp as a Knife.” The volume also contains an introduction by Elkins and excerpts from their correspondence.