Ripostes is a collection of essays on some salient features of the Canadian literary landscape, a number of which were first published in the Toronto Star, many of which appear in these pages for the first time. Included are essays on Atwood, Findley, Ondaatje and Margaret Laurence, as well as thematic explorations of Canadian literature such as an account of the demise of the Survival school of Canadian writing, a look at the recent history of the Writers` Union of Canada, an examination of the role of fathers in Canadian fiction, a study of the strange attraction of many of our writers to the occult, and so on.
The tone is considered, and critical rather than celebratory, although the essays are respectful of the genuine achievements of Canadian literature in the past few decades. They try to clear the air, as it were, of boosterism, political correctness, and other attitudes which hinder the appreciation and reception of good writing.
This is an honest re-appraisal of Canadian literature, undertaken at a time when we need no longer be overcome with relief and euphoria over the fact that some of our authors are now world famous, or at least world famous in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Authors
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 810.9/0054
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 21
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n-cn---
- ISBN
- 0889841969 9781459311725
- LCCN
- PR9189.6
- LCCN Item number
- M37 1998eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOTU
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (197 p.)
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00603312 (OCoLC)244770258 (CaOOCEL)409246
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOTU
Table of Contents
- Contents 6
- Confessions of a Book Columnist 10
- For Want of a Reader 22
- The English Patient 33
- Father Figures 44
- Margaret Laurence: Soul Woman 50
- Are Literary Prizes Necessary? 64
- Writers Just Want to Have Fun 71
- Beyond the Veil: Canadian Writers and the Occult 82
- The Demidenko Affair 90
- Why Everybody Loves Indians 95
- The Curse of the Duty Read 105
- Literature and Politics: Five Reviews 108
- The State of Canadian Poetry 123
- Terry Griggs and Barbara Gowdy 133
- A Chronicle of the Writers' Union of Canada 151
- A Final Word from Two Canadian Critics 170
- Top Ten People I Never Want to Meet in Print Again 177
- Timothy Findley as Gothic Novelist 180
- The Atwood Heroine 191
