A portrait of Elinor Dunsmuir, by Ernest Castelein (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cIt\u2019s a really great opportunity for people to learn a little bit more about a really fascinating person, someone that we appreciate a lot more today than she was in her time,\u201d says MacKenzie. \u201cShe was an incredibly talented woman who had a hard time fitting into her time and the social constraints that women had placed upon them. She was really unappreciated, just because of the world that she lived in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, Dunsmuir was a modern woman trapped in an unforgiving period for anyone unwilling to play by society\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was very likely queer,\u201d says MacKenzie. \u201cShe was somewhat out at the time, which really made her live on the fringes of society, but at the same time, she had to straddle this awkward balance between her very important and privileged family, and the world that they lived in while trying to be herself.\u201d<\/p>\n
This tightrope existence took its toll on Dunsmuir, who MacKenzie says was \u201cclearly a very tortured individual.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had a gambling addiction, and squandered enormous amounts of her mother\u2019s money in casinos, and she was suicidal at times,\u201d says MacKenzie.<\/p>\n
Although this event will explore Dunsmuir\u2019s colourful private life, it will also highlight her talents as a musician.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was an incredibly gifted composer,\u201d MacKenzie says. \u201cShe never achieved the level of success one would expect for the kind of music she was writing. She wasn\u2019t able to break that glass ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n
MacKenzie hopes events like this will change that.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had all this work that didn\u2019t see the light of day in her time,\u201d says MacKenzie. \u201cSo, now we are going back and looking at that with our modern lenses and realizing how unique and talented she was.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elinor Dunsmuir: An Extraordinary Life
\n<\/i><\/span><\/i>2 to 3:30 pm, Saturday, April 28
\n<\/span><\/span>Free; registration is requested
\n<\/span><\/span>Greater Victoria Public Library Central Branch
\n<\/span><\/span>gvpl.ca\/event\/elinor-dunsmuir-an-extraordinary-life<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a time when social constraints on women were strict, Elinor Dunsmuir balked at her father James\u2019 plans for her future. Instead, Dunsmuir\u2014who faced even more social constraints than most, thanks to her family name\u2014chose a life of music, gambling, and personal exploration. These life choices, as well as her music, are at the heart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15841,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15840"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15840\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15842,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15840\/revisions\/15842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Elinor-Dunsmuir_-by-Ernest-Castelein.jpg\")
<\/a>