In Search of Myself, by Frederick Philip GROVE (1946; repr 1974), in part a sequel to Grove's A Search for America (1927), was ostensibly autobiographical, but the self Grove sought was a complicated one. As a cultivated European immigrant, Grove looked back on his life and attempted to explain and justify his failure to realize his youthful promise and attain his early dreams. The book begins with an account of his affluent childhood and reckless youth among the artistic and literary members of European society. This golden past is sharply contrasted with Grove's adventures as a menial itinerant worker in the US, and finally with his poverty-stricken, isolated life as an immigrant teacher, lecturer, writer and part-time farmer in the uncongenial Canadian wilderness.
In Search of Myself