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New Canadian Library
The New Canadian Library is a publishing imprint of the Canadian company McClelland and Stewart. The series aims to present classic works of Canadian literature in paperback. Each work published in the series includes a short essay by another notable Canadian writer, discussing the historical context and significance of the work. These essays were originally forewords, but after McClelland and Stewart's 1985 sale to Avie Bennett, the prefatory material was abandoned and replaced by afterwords.Janet Friskney, "New Canadian Library," in Benson, Eugene and William Toye ds.''The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature.'' Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1997 (p. 794) It was founded by Malcolm Ross with the intention of providing affordable material for his students; David Staines has been the general editor of the series since 1986. In 2007 the University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press founded in 1901. Although it was founded in 190 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McClelland & Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann. History It was founded in 1906 as McClelland and Goodchild by John McClelland and Frederick Goodchild, both originally employed with the "Methodist Book Room" which was in 1919 to become the Ryerson Press. In December 1913 George Stewart, who had also worked at the Methodist Book Room, joined the company, and the name of the firm was changed to McClelland, Goodchild and Stewart Limited. When Goodchild left to form his own company in 1918, the company's name was changed to McClelland and Stewart Limited, now sometimes shortened to M&S. The first known imprint of the press is John D. Rockefeller's ''Random Reminiscences of Men and Events.'' In the earliest years, M&S concentrated primarily on exclusive distribution and printing agreements with foreign-owned pub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barometer Rising
''Barometer Rising'' is a romantic-realist novel by Canadian author Hugh MacLennan. The work explores life in Halifax, Nova Scotia during World War I, and its interruption by the Halifax explosion. The narrative predominantly follows and pivots upon the romantic life of Penny Wain. The book had been difficult to publish as MacLennan had previously written regarding international themes, while ''Barometer Rising'' contained a decidedly nationalist overtone. Once published, the novel was wildly successful, and permitted MacLennan to leave his full-time job at Lower Canada College. The novel, with afterword by Alistair MacLeod, ranks among the books which compose the New Canadian Library. Background Dorothy Duncan, Hugh MacLennan's wife, convinced him that the failure of his first two novels arose from not truly knowing the setting, as one had been set in Europe and the other in the United States. She encouraged him to write about Canada, the country he knew best.Cameron (1981), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodsmen Of The West
''Woodsmen of the West'' is a novel by Martin Allerdale Grainger, first published in 1908 by Edward Arnold. In writing the novel, Grainger drew on his experiences as a logger working in the coastal forests of British Columbia, Canada. ''Woodsmen of the West'' is one of the first examples of realism in western Canadian literature. Grainger based his novel on his unsentimental account of life in the logging camps. This way of writing gave the story a rough edge that was unusual fare for Canadian readers. It is a "dramatic and loosely structured tale... at heart a love story." It also paints the picture of a logging operator both obsessed with the lumber trade and with his own power. The accuracy of detail in Grainger's work has led it to be called "one of the finest examples of local realism in Canadian writing." A review I have just had the pleasure, through the courtesy of Mr. H. Allerdale Grainger, of reading an entertaining book written by his son, Mr. M. Allerdale Grain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judith Hearne
''Judith Hearne'' (later republished as ''The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne''), was regarded by Irish-Canadian writer Brian Moore as his first novel. The book was published in 1955 after Moore had left Ireland and was living in Canada. It was rejected by 10 American publishers, then was accepted by a British publisher. Diana Athill's memoir ''Stet'' (2000) has information about the publishing of ''Judith Hearne''. Set in Belfast in the 1950s, ''Judith Hearne'' has been described as "a sensitive study of a middle-aged alcoholic woman in drab Belfast and her desperate last attempts at finding love and companionship". Ann Leary, reviewing the book for NPR, calls it "a short book about a lifetime of longing" and says "Moore uses brilliant economy in his writing; it's as if words are as scarce and precious as sunshine in this gloomy section of postwar Belfast". According to Colm Tóibín, the book "is full of Joycean moments... it takes from ‘Clay’, the most mysterious story in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Last Of The Curlews
''Last of the Curlews'' is a novel, a fictionalized account of the life of the last Eskimo curlew. It was written by Fred Bodsworth, a Canadian newspaper reporter and naturalist, and published in 1954. Plot introduction The story follows the bird throughout a year during its migration to South America and return to the Canadian Arctic in search of a mate. Although somewhat anthropomorphic in parts, the book paints a realistic and detailed picture of this bird's life and behaviour. The book may have been somewhat premature in that there were confirmed sightings of this bird in 1963 and there were a number of unconfirmed sightings after that date. However, this bird may now be extinct. Television adaptation The book was made into an animated film by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The English original version was narrated by Ross Martin, who became famous as the Artemus Gordon character in the original version of ''The Wild Wild West''. This film was first shown on October 4, 1972 as th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roughing It In The Bush
''Roughing It in the Bush'' (Full title: ''Roughing It in The Bush: or, Forest Life in Canada'') is an account of life as a Canadian settler by Susanna Moodie. Moodie immigrated to Upper Canada (soon to become Canada West), near modern-day Peterborough, Ontario during the 1830s. At the suggestion of her editor, she wrote a "guide" to settler life for British subjects considering coming to Canada. ''Roughing It in the Bush'' was first published in London in 1852 (then Toronto in 1871). It was Moodie's most successful literary work. The work is part memoir, part novelization of her experiences, and is structured as a chronological series of sketches. Immigration to Canada Publisher Richard Bentley's foreword to the third edition published in London in 1854 describes the "Canadian mania" that "pervaded the middle ranks of British society" in the 1830s. Immigrants paid a hefty fee to ship's agents who took them across the Atlantic, and these agents did their best to drum up business b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Each Man's Son
''Each Man's Son'' is the fourth novel by Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan. First published in 1951 by Macmillan of Canada, it takes place in a coal mining town on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia just before the First World War. Plot summary Mollie MacNeil and her son Alan, miss Archie (Mollie's husband) who is away in the United States trying to make a living as a professional boxer. Archie has been away for four years and it is not clear whether he will return at all. He is adamant that he will never go and work in the coal mines. Meanwhile, Louis Camire, a French expatriate, is trying to convince Mollie to come with him to France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ... where people are more equal than those in the company-owned mining town. The company doctor, Daniel Ainslie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The History Of Emily Montague
''The History of Emily Montague'', written by Frances Brooke and first published in 1769, is often considered the first Canadian novel. It is a sentimental novel written in the epistolary form. It also features some elements of a travelogue, as the main letter-writer responds to requests to describe the colony of Canada in detail. The plot of the novel is a love story, but along the way Brooke includes many reflections on social norms and the relations between the English, French, Huron, and Iroquois cultures in Quebec. The main letter-writers in the novel are Emily Montague, Colonel William Fermor, Colonel Ed Rivers (possibly inspired by Henry Caldwell), and Arabella Fermor. Of these, Emily is the main heroine, but Arabella has typically captured more readers' attention, for being a bold and witty foil to the demure and shy Emily. Brooke wrote the novel while she was living at the Jesuit House of Sillery (french: maison des Jésuites-de-Sillery) in Sillery, Quebec from 1763 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Second Scroll
''The Second Scroll'' is a 1951 novel by the Jewish-Canadian writer A. M. Klein. Klein's only novel was written after his pilgrimage to the newly founded nation of Israel in 1949. It concerns the quest for meaning in the post-Holocaust world, as an unnamed narrator, a Montreal journalist, editor, poet and Zionist, who traveled to the State of Israel soon after its founding, searches for his long-lost uncle, Melech Davidson, a Holocaust survivor, in post-war Italy, Morocco, and Israel. Klein's novel parallels the biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt, with the modern Jewish immigration to Israel after the war being compared to the original Exodus story. It is arranged in "books" (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), with each book loosely based on its equivalent from the Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Geese (novel)
''Wild Geese'' is a Canadian novel of the historical fiction genre written by the author Martha Ostenso, first published in 1925 by Dodd, Mead and Company. The story is set on the prairies of Manitoba, Canada in the 1920s. The novel details characters struggling against victimization to achieve a better life and follow their respective passions. Although the novel is primarily a realist novel, it does contain naturalist themes, especially in the subject of comparing Canadian wild geese to the progression of time and the inevitability of fate, as well as pathetic fallacy elements. Summary Lind Archer, a teacher from the city, has come to the Gare farm to stay while she teaches in the nearby school. As she continues to learn about life in the country, she begins to realize the plight of the family she is staying with. The strict Caleb Gare uses blackmail and punishment to get what he wants, but how secure is his position? When the young Mark Jordan, the son of his wife with anothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
More Joy In Heaven
''More Joy in Heaven'' is a novel written by Canadian author Morley Callaghan and published in 1937. The central figure, Kip Caley, was inspired by Norman Ryan (1895-1936), a criminal who had committed a number of robberies in Quebec, Ontario and the United States. The title derives from the biblical quote "''I say to you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance''." Luke 15:7. Callaghan's friend Ernest Hemingway had also considered writing a novel based on Ryan's life. As a reporter for ''The Toronto Daily Star'', Hemingway had covered the criminal in 1925. Dramatised as a radio play by Donald Jack for CBC Theatre 10:30. Plot introduction Powerful and moving Story of an Ex-Criminal's struggle for rehabilitation. Synopsis The story of Kip Caley, an ex-criminal, intent on becoming a useful and honourable human being. His struggle with himself and with a society which will not let him r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunshine Sketches Of A Little Town
''Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town'' is a sequence of stories by Stephen Leacock, first published in 1912. It is generally considered to be one of the most enduring classics of Canadian humorous literature. The fictional setting for these stories is Mariposa, a small town on the shore of Lake Wissanotti. Although drawn from his experiences in Orillia, Ontario, Leacock notes: "Mariposa is not a real town. On the contrary, it is about seventy or eighty of them. You may find them all the way from Lake Superior to the sea, with the same square streets and the same maple trees and the same churches and hotels." This work has remained popular for its universal appeal. Many of the characters, though modelled on townspeople of Orillia, are small town archetypes. Their shortcomings and weaknesses are presented in a humorous but affectionate way. Often, the narrator exaggerates the importance of the events in Mariposa compared to the rest of the world. For example, when there is a countr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
