Dedications

I am currently reading [among other things] Alice Munro’s (1986) book, The Progress of Love. As expected, it is fabulous. The woman does not have a clue how to write bad! The more I Progress through the thing, the more I Love it.
Sitting here after work at the Starbucks in Chapters, I have just read the fourth story in the book, and then, as I set it down, for some reason I re-read the dedication page.
For my sister Sheila.

I like that.
For my sister Sheila.
Dedications.
What does it mean to “dedicate” something to someone else? What are authors meaning when they do it? What does it signify?
As far as definition, when we look at the verb form “dedicate” the word implies devoting something to a particular subject or purpose.
But I prefer to look at the adjective form… “dedicated” where it focuses more on the description of a person, someone having single-minded loyalty or integrity, as in “a team of dedicated doctors.”

Alice Munro writes this compilation of stories and then, before anyone reads a word of it, wants to say “for my sister Sheila.” What does the “for” part mean?
What……….. for?
So that Sheila will appreciate these stories?
So that Sheila will benefit from them somehow?
So that Sheila will take a greater pride in how good her sister Alice can write?
To make Sheila feel special?

No, I think that all of those reasons have nothing to do with why an author thoughtfully dedicates their book to someone. These reasons [and many more like them] are woefully inadequate because of one main flaw -- they all focus upon what the writer can do for the reader.
But I think that authors dedicate their books to someone because of what that person has done for the writer!

The dedication page is not a place where we inform someone that they are the lucky recipients of how much good stuff we want to now pour into them.
The dedication page is the place where we acknowledge how much good stuff that person has poured into us.
The writer is the lucky one. The writer is the recipient.

It is similar to saying, “While I wrote what you are about to read, you were never far from my thoughts.”
It is similar to saying, “If not for you, I could not have accomplished this.”
It is like saying, “You are my inspiration.”

As such:
Yann Martel dedicates Life of Pi, “a mes parents et a mon frere.”
Anne Marie MacDonald dedicates The Way The Crow Flies, “for Mac and Lillian – ‘So many remember whens.’”
Russell Banks dedicates The Darling, “To C.T., the beloved, and in memory of Anne Trachtenberg Hughes (d.2004) and Charles Pratt Twichell (d.2004).”
Susanna Clarke dedicates Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, “In memory of my brother, Paul Frederick Gunn Clarke, 1961 – 2000.”

I have never had anything published, but if I did, I think that as of right now, the dedication page would read something like:
“For Queen Alcor – my muse.”

Who is this person?
It shouldn’t matter to anyone but the person and me.
None of us know who Mac and Lillian, or C.T. are, in the above dedications… but you can bet that they know who they are! And the writer knows.
And that’s all that matters.

If you were to publish something, to extricate that great novel that is inside of you… or to place between covers that great collection of poetry… who would you dedicate it to?
Who would it be for?

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