''Think of the Earth'' is a 1936 novel by the

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

novelist Bertram Brooker. The book won the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual List of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. Th ...

for fiction in 1936.

Synopsis

An expatriate Englishman has a weekend of self-discovery in Manitoba: he falls in love, and realizes that he must become less introspective. The protagonist, Geoff Tavistock, visits a small town in rural Manitoba in 1907. Tavistock believes he is on a divinely inspired mission - to reconcile man with God once and for all.

Reception

Sales of the initial publication in 1936 were slow and Brooker acknowledged that by the time his book was awarded the Governor General's Award, only eight copies had been sold. ''Think of the Earth'' has been portrayed as an example of

ressentiment In philosophy and psychology, ''ressentiment'' (; ) is one of the forms of resentment or hostility. The concept was of particular interest to some 19th century thinkers, most notably Friedrich Nietzsche. According to their use, ''ressentiment'' i ...

, a retelling of

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' ( pre-reform Russian: ; post-reform rus, Преступление и наказание, Prestupléniye i nakazániye, prʲɪstʊˈplʲenʲɪje ɪ nəkɐˈzanʲɪje) is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. ...

set as a historical novel of the Canadian Prairies in which a Nietzschean superman dreams of bringing his transvalued sense of justice to a primitive rural society. Literary critic John Moss characterized the book as being about a visionary experience but the book was not a visionary experience in itself. Moss called the prose awkward and the mood sombre. The protagonist Tavistock is portrayed as an eccentric without any trace of irony, an improbable messiah. Brooker's primary role as an abstract artist did not translate well to the medium of writing.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Think of the Earth 1936 Canadian novels Governor General's Award-winning fiction books Novels set in Manitoba