Marriage: the final chapter

[attach]1377[/attach]Award-winning author and Riverdale resident Elizabeth Abbott’s newest book A History of Marriage looks at past, present and future notions of marriage.

Specifically focusing on the North American idea of marriage, she discuses a range of issues in the 460-page tome including separations and divorce, same sex marriage and how children have shaped the marriage situation.

Abbott was the Dean of Women for University of Toronto’s Trinity College for 13 years before resigning from her job in 2004 to devote her life to writing.

The book is the third and final installment in her relationship series, following A History of Celibacy and A History of Mistresses.

The Town Crier’s Arts and Entertainment Editor Lorianna De Giorgio recently sat down with the author at her Queen Street East and Broadview Street area home to discuss her new book and the research that went into it.

[attach]1378[/attach]LDG: So, A History of Marriage is the third in your relationship trilogy. How did the trilogy first come about?

EA: It didn’t start out a trilogy it was when I was writing A History of Celibacy (in the 1990s), in the actually final writing stages I realized what the book was actually about was relationships between men ad women. Celibacy was just one part of the spectrum.

LDG: Your editor said she wanted A History of Marriage to focus on North America, as well, include the present and future ideas of marriage. Given that your background as historian … how did you feel about your editor’s request?

EA: Gobsmacked. ‘What do you mean the future? Because there is a whole scholarship of all that.’ But the more I worked on it, the more I realized, this is going to be good. Knowing all the other stuff in the world wasn’t a waste.

LDG: What is one of the most interesting things you’ve learned about marriage during the book’s research?

EA: I guess how many people didn’t get married (in the 18–20th centuries). I thought a lot of people got married. There were so many constraints against marriage, for example economic constraints. When you had to have a certain about of money to have a household. Some people could never marry because of that.

A History of Marriage is published by Penguin Canada.