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Punctuate his title as you like but T.F. Rigelhof considers This is Our Writing a declaration, an enquiry and an exclamation. As a writer of half a dozen, a reviewer of dozens upon dozens, and as a reader of a multitude more books, Terry Rigelhof knows much about writing in Canada. In these eleven essays, he asks what is best in what has been written by Canadians in the twentieth century. He examines selected works of some writers whose accomplishments need serious revaluation. What are the real achievements of Robertson Davies, Carole Corbeil, Mavis Gallant, Mordecai Richler, Hugh Hood, Leonard Cohen and George Grant? Rigelhof comes up with a list that will surprise some and dismay others. ...
Born in Scotland and trained as a sugar broker in London, England, Sir George Simpson (1792-1860) was unexpectedly appointed in 1820 as governor of Rupert's Land and the Indian territories, an area encompassing all of Canada from Hudson Bay to the Pacific Ocean. By his friendliness of manner, strict discipline, and vigorous and constant travel, he brought peace and prosperity to the vast empire under his control. Simpson's explorations opened Canada from Labrador to British Columbia and from Yukon to Nunavut. He was knighted in 1841, then travelled around the world, predicting the fall of California to the United States, saving the Hawaiians from colonial occupation, and describing the mysteries of remotest Siberia. Praised as the governor who "combined the widest range of authority and the longest tenure of power ever enjoyed by one man in North America," he stands with Sir John A. Macdonald as one of the greatest Makers of Canada.
Published between 1975 and 2000 and completed shortly before his death, Hugh Hood's twelve-volume novel-series The New Age/Le nouveau siècle represents a major achievement in Canadian fiction. Hood takes us on a remarkable, though challenging, journey in time and space while chronicling the life of his intellectually inquisitive protagonist, Matt Goderich. Moving from history and politics to literature and the arts, from popular song to the vagaries of fashion, from urban stress to the relaxations of cottage-country, these novels explore the texture of Canadian life with a depth and comprehensiveness that, when fully grasped, are dazzling. In Canadian Odyssey W.J. Keith steers general readers and specialist students alike through the complexities of Hood's scheme. He presents biographical information about the planning and writing of the series, places it among other examples of "Roman-Fleuve," offers background concerning Hood's literary influences, and provides novel-by-novel discussions of each book. Written in a straightforward style, avoiding jargon and the excesses of literary theory, Canadian Odyssey makes a convincing case for The New Age as a great Canadian masterpiece.
Thirty years after his death, we are finally catching up to Thomas Merton as one of the greatest spiritual figures of the twentieth century. The genius and spirituality of this unusual man could not be contained in his life as a monk but spilled over richly into his life and work as a poet, critic, rebel, sage, and even artist and photographer. Merton was aware that he had heretic blood within him, and it soon became apparent to the world. The balding French-English intellectual living as a Trappist monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky took a vow of silence, yet corresponded with and befriended such luminaries as Joan Baez, Jacques Maritain, John Howard Griffin, Martin Luther Kin...
Susanna Moodie was already a published author when she emigrated from England to Upper Canada with her husband and baby in 1832. The Moodies were seeking financial security and a better life in the colony, but they found themselves struggling to make a living on a bush farm. Despite her primitive life in the backwoods and the demands of caring for her children, Susanna continued to write and publish. In 1852 her best-known book, Roughing It in the Bush, was published in England. A Canadian edition appeared in 1871. Roughing It in the Bush has endured both as a valuable social document of the Canadian pioneer experience and as a work of literature.
Progressions presents another batch of erudite and entertainingessays on a variety of topics covering Saskatchewan’s literarydevelopment, as well as tributes to some of the major con-tributors to that history, and a pictorial glimpse into the past.Writers stopped using typewriters, and even moved beyond theKaypro computer box for their compositions. The SaskatchewanSchool of the Arts was shut down, ending the Fort San writingexperience. But the Sage Hill Writing Experience quickly rose toreplace it. Saskatchewan literary presses really found their feet andpublished important and lasting books. A wave of new writersjoined the founders of the province’s literary tradition. Respondingto thi...
Jane Urquhart has published three books of poetry, a collection of short stories and five best-selling novels. Her fiction has won many honours including Canada's 1997 Governor General's Award, and France's prestigious Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger. She lives in Ontario, Canada. The essays in this book investigate Jane Urquhart's interweaving of historical events, myth, folk tales, journeys and landscape with her acute perceptions of memory and self-transformation. The many critical voices in this collection invite readers to consider Jane Urquhart's very special vision of the world, one made up of migrations, dreams, spiritual quests and prophecy. Along with an interview with Urquhart recorded by the editor, there are essays by David Staines, Allan Hepburn, T.F. Rigelhof, Mary Conde, Caterina Ricciardi, John Moss, Marlene Goldman and Anne Compton.
Northrop Frye wrote that for Canadian poets the question of identity isn't so much `Who am I?' as `Where is here?' In his ground-breaking collection of essays, You Are Here, James Pollock gives his answer: that where we are as a literary culture has a great deal to do with our relationship to elsewhere. For far too long, Canadians have refused to read our poetry in the larger international context of poetry as an art, leaving our poets isolated and ignored. Pollock sets out to situate our verse on the map of world poetry – a map which, like one of those incomplete globes from the sixteenth century, still leaves Canada largely uncharted. Acutely intelligent and unflinchingly honest in its judgements, You Are Here is an eye-opening guide to the new world of Canadian poetry, sensitively exploring the work of such poets as Anne Carson, Daryl Hine, Jeffery Donaldson, Karen Solie and Eric Ormsby. The collection ends with a witty treatise on good criticism, and a passionate and learned reconsideration of poetic values, making You Are Here an essential companion for students and lovers of Canadian poetry everywhere.
In this tenth book in Hugh Hood's highly acclaimed series, The New Age, two linked novellas explore the transforming powers of love. In the first novella Matthew Goderich discovers that his late Uncle Philip has had a secret and emotionally rewarding romantic life. In the second novella Matthew nurses his childhood friend, Adam, through a long, painful, and terminal AIDS-induced illness. Matthew, in the first novella, is the detached observer and dogged detective who comes to understand love; in the second, he finally becomes fully engaged with the emotion of loving as he rids himself of his homophobia and learns to appreciate and embrace Adam, his lifelong friend. Matthew's emotional awakening corresponds with society's growing awareness in the early 1980s of the nature and extent of the AIDS crisis. Dead Men's Watches continues Hugh Hood's vivid portrayal of Canadian social history and teaches us that the gift of love is all that matters in the end.
Mackenzie King (1874-1950) was Canadas tenth and longest serving prime minister and an important figure on the international scene, especially during the Second World War. This book provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of Mackenzie King.