Literature: history and criticism Books

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Book SynopsisVolume II continues the goal of introducing readers to significant works of modern Austrian prose within the broader field of German-language literature. Written in English with German reference material appended in order to appeal to the widest possible audience, the articles collected here cover major works by contemporary writers. Counted among the well-established authors who could not be included in the first volume are such notable writers as Norbert Gstrein, Elisabeth Reichart, Erich Hackl, Barbara Frischmuth, and Gert Jonke. This group is complemented by a cohort of more recent authors who have established themselves within Austria and beyond within the last twenty years. They include, among others, Doron Rabinovici, Lilian Faschinger, Gloria Kaiser, Anna Mitgutsch, Paulus Hochgatterer, Marlene Streeruwitz, Kathrin Röggla, and Dimitre Dinev. All of these authors are linked by language, history, and culture that ties them to a distinctly "Austrian" perspective. Reflecting the strong presence of the female voice within contemporary Austrian letters, roughly half of the authors represented are female.

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Book SynopsisRabia Balkhi was a tenth century Persian language poetess and a contemporary of Rudaki. She is known through the works of other writers, most notably Attar. In love with an outsider, she was murdered by her brothers to preserve the family s honor. This essay examines her work, life and love.

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Book SynopsisHow are voices like places? They move through us as we move through them. Celebrated poet David Mason explores surprising connections in geography and time, considering writers who traveled, who emigrated or were exiled, and who often shaped the literature of their homelands. He writes of seasoned travelers (Patrick Leigh Fermor, Bruce Chatwin, Joseph Conrad, Herodotus himself), and writers as far flung as Omar Khayyam, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, James Joyce, and Les Murray. In the end, he turns to his own native region, the American West, with Wallace Stegner, Edward Abbey, Robinson Jeffers, Belle Turnbull, and Thomas McGrath. These essays are about familiarity and estrangement, the pleasure and knowledge readers can gain by engaging with writers lives, their travels, their trials, and the homes they make for themselves

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Book SynopsisThe great names of Russian literature read like a who''s who of great names in the world literature: Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin, Chekhov, Bunin, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn. But there are only a handful of the legions of extraordinary writers that formed the basis of Russian literature. Russian literature is a rich tapestry reflecting life in a complex world of political turmoil, religious fervour, climate extremes and conditions for daily life which would stupefy the average European or American. This book presents an overview of Russian literature as well as a comprehensive bibliography, including English language sources, accessed by subject, author and titles indexes.

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Book SynopsisA collection of essays concerning renowed African author Ken Bugul.

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Book SynopsisReading, reading and reading. In the 21st century, the computer is king and the cell phone is its only competitor. For those who have ever interviewed members of the new generation, the results of not reading books or anything else of a serious nature show through the blank stares of their emptiness. This extraordinary book was published in 1896 and tells the story of a book collector, Eugene Field, who spent his entire life in the pursuit of collecting books. According to the author, collectors may be grouped in three classes: Those who collect from vanity, those who collect for the benefits of learning and those who collect out of veneration and love for books. Mr. Field no doubt never gave a thought to those of us who somehow accumulate books with no idea why or how they ever end up filling the shelves of our domiciles. He could not be expected to fathom the mind of the average ''accumulator'' who wants to toss them in the trash but feels too guilty for unknown reasons to do so. This marvellous book is impossible to put down for it is obviously a work of love about a passion for ideas told by one who knows how to speak to the ages. The book comes with a money-back guarantee -- anyone who doesn''t wish to keep the book can return it no questions asked for a full refund.

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Book SynopsisMaking the provocative purposeful, this analysis spotlights the most exciting--or potentially embarrassing--story element: the obligatory sex scene. This sensibly suggestive guide demonstrates how to advance plots and reveal truths about characters through their romantic tableaus. Each scene is accompanied by insight into its authors'' intentions, how they accomplished them, and their thoughts on romance, love, and sex. The featured passages include men such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck and women from Margaret Mitchell to Toni Morrison and Danielle Steel.

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Book Synopsis"Scholars who know classical Chinese have been reading and citing Hon Mai's wonderful collection for many years. Now students can access these informative materials through Zhang's lively English translations. They are both fun to read and deeply informative about daily life, religion, markets, and multiple social groups in the twelfth century. The comprehensive thematic guide allows readers to locate tales by subject matter, making this collection of 100 narratives ideal for classroom use." —Valerie Hansen, Yale UniversityTrade Review"With these selections and translations from hong Mai's Record of the Listener, Zhang discloses, for the very first time to anglophone students and scholars, the variety and complexity of late medieval Chinese society. . . . Here we see representations of all social classes and occupations and all religious vocations—Buddhist monks, Daoist priests, Confucian literati, diviners, and mediums—as they interact to resolve familial tensions, realize their personal aspirations, and gain control over both their lives and their afterlives. . . . Zhang provides an extensive and lucid Introduction to Hong Mai and the Song Dynasty, as well as a unique thematic index that will allow teacher and student to cross-reference all the stories and reconstruct a picture of Chinese society in the twelfth century in far greater detail than is possible for any other medieval society, east or west. Brava!" —Edward L. Davis, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa"This readable and reliable translation of 100 selected narratives from Hong Mai's Yijian Zhi is ideal for courses in Chinese history or religion. Some of the best medieval Chinese ghost stories are around in these pages." —Paul R. Goldin, University of Pennsylvania

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Book SynopsisPresents a critical analysis and reflection on fifty heroes, heroines and villains of English and American literature, folklore, history, film and graphic art. The characters are discussed as individual figures critiqued from the novels and narratives of their authors invention. The chronology of characters spans from the eleventh century and the English legend of the robber-prince Robin of Sherwood, to Ian Flemings suave double-agent James Bond, who has battled forces of corruption for MI6 in fiction and in film since the mid-twentieth century, to J. K. Rowlings intelligent modern witch, Hermione Granger, from the ever-popular Potterverse in the early twenty-first century. Individually, or as a collection of character and plot summaries or vignettes, a range of characters are presented who have enlightened (or darkened) the popular imagination in novels, television and film. The narrative of The Silver Conclave is chronological, providing discussion about heroic and villainous figures primarily from English and American literary sources, arranged according to the year of publication.

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Book SynopsisCho A.’s poetry wonders at small everyday delights. Sean Cho A.’s debut poetry chapbook directs a keen eye on everyday occurrences and how these small events shape us as individuals. This collection is filled with longing for love, understanding, and simplicity. But these poems also express great pleasure in continued desire. With exuberant energy that flows through the collection, the speaker announces: “I won’t apologize for the smallness of my delights.” Filled with questions and wonder, these poems revel in the unknowing and liminal spaces, and we as readers are invited to join in this revelry. Cho A.’s poetry reminds and allows us to pause, to wonder, and enjoy our many pleasures. American Home was selected by Danusha Laméris for the 2020 Autumn House Chapbook Prize. Trade Review“The voice in American Home is surprising, odd, and subtle. These poems of place and displacement have echoes of Ilya Kaminsky in their associative wildness. Of the staccato leaps of Victoria Chang. And their own, home-grown existential reckoning. Fig trees trained to grow in simulated Martian air live here alongside bowerbirds and hidden butter knives. I can't resist their allure and unanswerable questions.” -- Danusha Laméris, author of Bonfire Opera

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Book SynopsisCultures of Uneven and Combined Development represents an extraordinary contribution to our understanding of Leon Trotsky's concept of uneven and combined development. This groundbreaking collection brings together the work of scholars from both the field of international relations and the field of literature and the arts in an effort to adapt the political and historical analysis which originated in Trotsky's Russia and apply them to the subject of contemporary world literature. The results provide essential insights for those looking to find new ways of understanding literary texts, as well as for those seeking to draw lessons from Trotsky's revolutionary politics for use in combatting today's world order. Contributors: Alexander Anievas, Gail Day, James Christie, Kamran Matin, Kerem Nisancioglu, Luke Cooper, Michael Niblett, Neil Davidson, Nesrin Degirmencioglu, Robert Spencer, Steve Edwards.

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Book SynopsisBuild your brain and blitz through the canon with Literature in 30 Seconds of Less!, a collection of illuminating synopses of the great works.Bursting with illuminating synopses of humanity's great works, you no longer have to lower your gaze when the conversation turns to the classics. Instead, you'll be able to dazzle any dinner party, keeping everyone entirely unaware that English class was code for naptime throughout your time in school. But it's not just about impressing others. Each of these small windows is a perfect opportunity to fuel your imagination and discover the books that speak to your soul.

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Book SynopsisNATIONAL JEWISH BOOK AWARD FINALIST"Raw, vibrant, and full of love" --Kirkus Reviews"A moving work that encourages solidarity . . . reflect(s)on race, gender, family, religious practice, and culture" --The Jewish Book CouncilIn 78 vibrant works by 62 gifted contributors, Jewish girls, young women, and nonbinary teens voice their celebrations and challenges, their anger and their eagerness in essays, poetry, and visual art. And their themes are universal, touching on childhood, spirituality, sexuality, race, family, friends, and the world around us.We are writers, editors, photographers, and artists. We are multiethnic, multiracial, and multifaceted. We are nourished by the sweet honey and harsh salt of our lives. Although we are often misunderstood, we find strength within ourselves and our communities. This book elevates our stories as we honor the past, explore the present, and look toward the future. Through poetry, fiction, essays, and art, we make our voices heard. "Within these pages is a representation of the Jewish community at its best: a diversity of voices and experiences; a rigorous commitment to challenging the status quo; creativity; humor and heartbreak; suffering and joy. That such an invigorating and affirming work was produced by the teens of jGirls Magazine is proof that they've learned a very important lesson early in life: nobody can tell your story but you." --Molly Tolsky, from the Foreword to Salt & Honey.The award-winning Salt & Honey and was created by a team of writers and artists brought together as part of jGirls Magazine, including editors Elizabeth Mandel, Emanuelle Sippy, Maya Savin Miller, and Michele Lent Hirsch. Includes works by: Aliza Abusch-Magder; Lauren Alexander; Gertie Angel; Yael Beer; Alex Berman; Alyx Bernstein; Leah Bogatie; Isabella Brown; Aydia Caplan; Whitney Cohen; Emilia Cooper; Tesaneyah Dan; Denae; Alexa Druyanoff; Emily Duckworth; Elena Eisenstadt; Tali Feen; Abigail Fisher; Leah Fleischer; Lily Gardner; Abigael Good; Sequoia Hack; Madison Hahamy; Samara Haynes; Ahava Helfenbaum; Dalia Heller; Sascha Hochman; Audrey Honig; Alexa Hulse; Liel Huppert; Noa Kalfus; Alma Kastan; Rachel Kaufman; Maya Keren; Naomi Kitchen; Gavi Klein; Jamie Klinger; Emily Knopf; Aidyn Levin; Sonja Lippmann; Shoshana Maniscalco; Liora Meyer; Maya Savin Miller; Becca Norman; Juliet Norman; Dina Ocken; Zoe Oppenheimer; Lily Pazner; Annie Poole; Ofek Preis; Maya Rabinowitz; Emma Rosman; Artie Ross; Sydney Schulman; Eliana Shapere; Emanuelle Sippy; Michal Spanjer; Frankie Vega; Molly Voit; Abigail Winograd; Sarah Young; Makeda Zabot-Hall.The included Reader's Guide by teen educator and award-winning author Michelle Shapiro Abraham, RJE makes this an outstanding resource for book groups and for teen programming in a variety of contexts.Trade Review"Jewish teens share their experiences, loves, hopes, and fears in this anthology of essays, poems, and artwork from the online publication jGirls Magazine. Split into six chapters, the works trace the young people’s experiences through triumphs and tragedies. “We Always Seem To Return” brings meditations on memory and inheritance, highlighting how Jewish joy and sorrow often walk hand in hand. “When We Were Small” tells stories of childhood and growing up, interrogating such themes as gender identity, substance abuse, and antisemitism. “A Healthy Collection of Blessings and Hardships” tells of the body and the mind, exploring the sacred nature of the self while making space for struggles in mental health. “Traditions, Interpretations, and Imperfections” dives into spirituality and tradition, celebrating the rich variety of the Jewish community. “Where Is the Peace?” confronts ignorance, including experiences of racist, homophobic, antisemitic, and sexist violence. Finally, in “Carving Our Own Footsteps,” the artists of a new generation set out to continue the battle for justice and freedom. The offerings in this book are emphatically and unapologetically Jewish, but the stories they tell will resonate broadly. Contributors include Jews who are Black and Asian, Sephardic and Ashkenazi, and who reflect diversity in gender identity, sexuality, and ability. The young artists and writers featured here bring an appetite for life as well as the teeth necessary to enjoy the meal. Raw, vibrant, and full of love." (artist statements, reader’s guide, resources, about jGirls Magazine, about the contributors) (Anthology. 13-18) --Kirkus Reviews"Salt & Honey teems with the smells and images, pains and joys, memories and longings that prove that our Jewish identity is already held in spectacular trust by these voices of our future." --Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor, Slate"Some of the works in this book will haunt you, some will surprise you, and others will buoy you. All will galvanize you." --Leora Tanenbaum, author of I Am Not a Slut: Slut Shaming in the Age of the Internet."This powerful work . . . is a celebration of what it truly means to be eishet chayil, a woman of valor: for to speak in one's authentic voice is valor in action." --Marra B. Gad, writer, producer, and award-winning author of The Color of Love: A Story of a Mixed-Race Jewish Girl"Deep and powerful, sometimes disruptive and disturbing, but most often hopeful and life-affirming . . . Don't miss this." --Ruth W. Messinger, social justice consultant"In this col­lec­tion of per­son­al essays, poet­ry, and visu­al art­work, Jew­ish young adults from the online pub­li­ca­tion jGirls Mag­a­zine con­front dif­fi­cult truths in a chang­ing world. Many of the pieces are unfil­tered, seek­ing to con­nect with oth­er teens rather than defend­ing their points of view to adults. The result is a mov­ing work that encour­ages sol­i­dar­i­ty. Non­bi­na­ry and LGBTQ+ teens speak out, as do bira­cial Jews, dis­abled Jews, and oth­er mar­gin­al­ized Jews who refuse to accept the lim­i­ta­tions of tra­di­tion­al Judaism and aim to cre­ate viable new Jew­ish communities. Search­ing for mean­ing, the works reflect on race, gen­der, fam­i­ly, reli­gious prac­tice, and cul­ture. In the sec­tion ​“A Healthy Col­lec­tion of Hard­ships and Bless­ings,” Abi­gael Good writes of try­ing to find ​“The Right Words” to artic­u­late how anx­i­ety has been a con­stant pres­ence in her life. Emanuelle Sippy’s poem, ​“The Menu is Over­whelm­ing,” uses metaphor to describe the uni­ver­sal­ly dif­fi­cult yet nec­es­sary process of mak­ing deci­sions. Bold truth-telling char­ac­ter­izes many selec­tions in ​“Tra­di­tions, Inter­pre­ta­tions, and Imper­fec­tions,” where writ­ers come to terms with rigid bar­ri­ers that have lim­it­ed their Jew­ish iden­ti­ties. Emma Rosman’s strong con­vic­tions answer the ques­tion, ​“Asian Jew or Jew­ish Asian?” and Lau­ren Alexander’s ​“My Ver­sion of Prac­tic­ing Judaism” dis­cuss­es the inac­ces­si­bil­i­ty of some Jew­ish rit­u­als, which abled Jews may take for granted. Each of the cre­ative respons­es to con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish life is unique. Ele­na Eisenstadt’s clever vari­a­tion on bar/​bat mitz­vah cul­ture, ​“My Jew­ish-Themed Bat Mitz­vah,” inverts a soci­etal norm by offer­ing a seem­ing­ly obvi­ous alter­na­tive. In Ofek Preis’s inter­pre­ta­tion of Jew­ish social jus­tice val­ues, ​“The Pow­er of Jew­ish Youth,” she address­es Jew­ish teens’ involve­ment in the fight against gun vio­lence. Oth­er pieces engage with the mitz­vah of pray­ing with tefill­in, a prac­tice from which women are gen­er­al­ly exclud­ed in the Ortho­dox world. Alyx Bernstein’s ​“L’hitateif V’l’hani’ach (To Don and to Wrap)” exam­ines the seem­ing con­tra­dic­tions of this spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence for a trans­gen­der person. The visu­al artists’ inter­pre­ta­tions of Jew­ish life are rich­ly var­ied, and each work rewards repeat­ed view­ing. Whit­ney Cohen’s Eva is an insight­ful por­trait of old age; Alexa Druyanoff’s Held depicts a moth­er and child and draws atten­tion to their sim­i­lar­i­ties; and Dina Ocken’s vision­ary Kotel of My Dreams imag­ines a place where bar­ri­ers of reli­gious dif­fer­ence and gen­der have been replaced by har­mo­ny. Ocken’s paint­ing sum­ma­rizes the first chapter’s intro­duc­to­ry remark: ​“We are inher­i­tors and authors of mem­o­ry; it’s the most pow­er­ful heir­loom entrust­ed to us.” --Emily Schneider, The Jewish Book Council"Making jGirls voices heardAdults often look back at their youth through rose-colored glasses. But life is not always easy for the teenagers, something that becomes clear in the poems, stories, essays and artwork by Jewish teens that appear in “Salt and Honey: Jewish Teens on Feminism, Creativity, and Tradition” edited by Elizabeth Mandel with jGirls Magazine (Behrman House/jGirls Magazine.) The preface notes that the teens, ages 13-19, are “self-identifying Jewish girls, young women, and nonbinary teens.” The magazine jGirl gave them the space to explore different aspects of their lives, including difficult subjects and joyous ones. The work is titled “Salt and Honey” because the writers “embrace the salt and the honey, the sting and the sweetness” of their lives. It’s difficult to pick out specific works to talk about because they all offer something of interest, but a few that stood out include: “Seeing Beyond” by Leah Bogatie that speaks about the author’s disabled sister, whose example taught her to acknowledge everyone’s humanity. The painful and moving “Dad” by Denae (whose last name was not given), who is unable to make peace with her feelings about her father and forgive him his sins. Audrey Honig’s two wonderful poems, “Almost Thirteen” and “Seventeen,” about antisemitism and the joys of being Jewish. An excellent and beautiful prayer/poem “21st Century Amidah” by Jamie Klinger. Elena Eisenstadt’s “My Jewish-Themed Bat Mitzvah” that captures the true meaning of the ceremony. The moving “My Version of Practicing Judaism,” in which Lauren Alexander writes of how her illness impacts her Jewish practice. Lily Pazner’s poem “You Have Not Walked the Same Streets As Me,” which talks about how women are not safe from harm, even when simply walking down the street. A class visit to the Holocaust Museum that caused Samara Haynes to ponder the reactions of her classmates in “What You See.” Sarah Young’s poem “Kyke Dyke,” where she writes of discovering other Jewish lesbians who helped reaffirm her identity. Although “Salt and Honey” was written by teens for teens, this work will also resonate with adults. Parents of teenagers may want to read this book and discuss it with them in order to better understand how they view the world. The work includes artist statement’s about the drawings and paintings featured, and questions to stimulate discussion. jGirls is to be commended for publishing the thoughts of these Jewish teens. --Rachel Esserman, Executive Editor, The Reporter Group, Jewish Federation of Greater Binghamton.

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Book SynopsisIn the spirit of his highly acclaimed and influential book Reality Hunger, David Shields has composed a mordantly funny, relentlessly self-questioning self-portrait based on questions that interviewers have asked him over forty years.David Shields decided to gather every interview he’s ever given, going back nearly forty years. If it was on the radio or TV or a podcast, he transcribed it. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he knew he wasn’t interested in any of his own answers. The questions interested him—approximately 2,700, which he condensed and collated to form twenty-two chapters focused on such subjects as Process, Childhood, Failure, Capitalism, Suicide, and Comedy. Then, according to Shields, “the real work began: rewriting and editing and remixing the questions and finding a through-line.”The result is a lacerating self-demolition in which the author—in this case, a late-middle-aged white man—is strangely, thrillingly absent. As Chuck Klosterman says, “The Very Last Interview is David Shields doing what he has done dazzlingly for the past twenty-five years: interrogating his own intellectual experience by changing the meaning of what seems both obviously straightforward and obviously wrong.”Shields’s new book is a sequel of sorts to his seminal Reality Hunger: A Manifesto, which Literary Hub recently named one of the most important books of the last decade. According to Kenneth Goldsmith, “Just when you think Shields couldn’t rethink and reinvent literature any further, he does it again. The Very Last Interview confirms Shields as the most dangerously important American writer since Burroughs.”

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Book SynopsisEnergetic, formally audacious poems by a recently rediscovered Polish writer, shining examples of art as resistance.Zuzanna Ginczanka?s last poem, ?Non omnis moriar..." (?Not all of me shall die?), written shortly before her execution by the Nazis in the last months of World War II, is one of the most famous and unsettling texts in modern East European literature: a fiercely ironic last will and testament that names the person who betrayed her to the occupying authorities as a Jew, it exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Polish nationalist myths.Ginczanka?s linguistic exuberance and invention?reminiscent now of Marina Tsvetaeva, now of Marianne Moore or Mina Loy?are as exhilarating as the passionate fusion of the physical world and the world of ideas she advocated in her work. Firebird brings together many of Ginczanka?s uncollected poems and presents On Centaurs, her sole published book, in its entirety. This English-only edition does not include the poems in their original language.

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Book SynopsisGifford's invigorating work of metacriticism and literary history recovers the significance of the "lost generation" of writers of the 1930s and 1940s. He examines how the Personalism of anarcho-anti-authoritarian contemporaries such as Alex Comfort, Robert Duncan, Lawrence Durrell, J.F. Hendry, Henry Miller, Elizabeth Smart, Dylan Thomas, and Henry Treece forges a missing link between Late Modernist and postmodernist literature. He concludes by applying his recontextualization to four familiar texts by Miller, Durrell, Smart, and Duncan, and encourages readers to re-engage the lost generation using this new critical lens. Scholars and students of literary modernism, twentieth-century Canadian literature, and anarchism will find a productive vision of this neglected period within Personal Modernisms.Trade Review"An extraordinary and impressive literary analysis in both scope and presentation, Personal Modernisms: Anarchist Networks and the Later Avant-Gardes is a seminal work that is enhanced with the inclusion of 22 pages of Notes, 20 pages of Works Cited, and a comprehensive Index. Personal Modernisms: Anarchist Networks and the Later Avant-Gardes should be a part of every academic library 20th Century Literary Studies reference collection in general, and the supplemental studies reading lists for students of Canadian Literary Studies in particular." -- Carl Logan"...Gifford makes a persuasive case.... Engaged in a 'struggle against definition,' the Personalists were perhaps victims of their own success. Certainly, they feel like a missing link in the established narrative. In this metacritical study, however, Gifford shows how literary works must always flow through the authoritarian structure of institutions—which might explain why these anti-authoritarian writers have suffered such neglect." -- Ian Pindar * Times Literary Supplement *“James Gifford’s Personal Modernisms is the first in-depth account of the personalist English literary network in the pre- and post-World War II ‘gap’ (xvii). Gifford illuminates the interbellum period, where he argues that artists like Henry Miller, Lawrence Durrell, David Gascoyne, Elizabeth Smart, and Alfred Perlès merit significantly more scholarly attention and readership. Emphasizing the relevance of English literature outside the British Isles, Gifford examines a movement which he calls ‘Personalism,’ and underscores the profound impact that this less renown network made on generations of writers to follow.… With a plethora of detail and history, which contextualizes the personalist network, Gifford’s Personal Modernisms offers something of value to a wide range of readers, from those hoping to discover more about these understudied writers, to others interested in the literary milieu of the 1930s and 40s.” -- Sheena Jarry * ILDS Herald *"James Gifford provides plenty of food for thought in his survey of the poets of the New Apocalypse, New Romantics, Personalist movement. Or should it be movements? They are, as he rightly says, mostly overlooked, either by design or accident, in many works of criticism and in university courses. Opinion may differ about the reasons for that, but the historical record of their existence does need to be correctly established, and Gifford’s book is a step in the right direction." [Full review at http://www.pennilesspress.co.uk/NRB/personal_modernisms.htm] -- Jim Burns * The Northern Review of Books *"Le présent ouvrage prolonge et développe divers articles de l’auteur, dont il faut aussi rappeler son édition de la correspondance entre Henry Miller et Herbert Read. S’il est clair que le terme d’avant-garde fera soulever quelque sourcil chez les anars, comme sans doute aussi cela fut le cas pour certains des personnages cités, on peut se réjouir que l’auteur présente ses propres convictions antiautoritaires et qu’il décrive avec nuance les diverses positions de certains de ces écrivains, leur hostilité à la politique, parfois les réticences à se dire explicitement anarchistes." -- Ronald Creagh * Réfractions No. 35 *"Emphasizing the relevance of English literature outside the British Isles, Gifford examines a network he calls the “personalists” (xi), underscoring the impact of this less renowned, yet incredibly influential group of writers, which had a profound effect on the generations of artists that followed them. Gifford not only diminishes the anonymity of many personalist writers, but also links the artistic production of this trans-continental literary network with a common thread: an antiauthoritarian outlook on life and art.... With a plethora of detail and an extensive history that contextualizes the personalist network, Gifford’s Personal Modernisms offers something of value to a wide range of readers, from those hoping to discover more about this rather forgotten period of literature, to others interested in pursuing more specialized research on late Modernism or the pre- and post-war literary milieu." [Full article at http://inquire.streetmag.org/articles/161] -- Sheena Jary * Inquire Journal of Comparative Literature *Personal Modernisms is an original and thought-provoking study of a network of Late Modernists in Europe, China, and North America.... [Gifford's] examination involves, among other things, a comprehensive overview of the critical blinders that have hampered our understanding of the "Personalists" (a circle of poets, writers, and critics who promoted their tendency as "New Apocalypse," "Personalist," and "New Romantic") in the current literature.... Gifford's purpose is to configure our understanding of Late Modernism through the concerns of World War Two era anarchist-oriented poets, critics, and novelists." -- Allan Antliff * English Studies in Canada *"Gifford’s model of the personalist network...helps tease out the discrete connections among writers and artists exploring surrealist and postsurrealist aesthetics....establishing concrete and original links and networks among writers across nationalities, geographies, genders, and genres." -- Irene Gammel * Journal of Canadian Studies *"James Gifford’s Personal Modernisms is a groundbreaking critical, metacritical and analytic reflexion that delves into an often neglected generation.... The originality of this essay lies in Gifford’s deft analysis of how anarchism...has contributed to a renewed vision of the artist’s role in society.... By revising the literary criticism of the 1940s that relegated those authors in limbo James Gifford also pinpoints the political implications of criticism itself..." [Full review at http://ebc.revues.org/3502] -- Isabelle Keller-Privat * Études britanniques contemporaines *“Personal Modernisms is intended as a starting point for reassessing and repositioning an often-overlooked group of artists who produced a meaningful body of work during the inter-war and WWII period… [B]y altering the perspective through which these personalist writers have been compartmentalized and sidelined, in many cases, he has generated a reformed platform for exploring these anarchist networks.” American Studies, Vol 55, No 2, 2016 [Full review at https://muse.jhu.edu/article/651145] -- Wayne Arnold * American Studies *"Rather than reinforcing lineages, "Personal Modernisms" adopts the concept of the network. Networks are social, intertextual, and material in the sense that the relations themselves express as much as the content itself... The extensive list of works cited records four major nodes, expanding from Herbert Read, Henry Treece, Woodcock, and Duncan. Other figures include Smart and Patchen. The occlusion in literary history of the midcentury avant-gardes owes, as Gifford observes, to a scholarly habit of organizing writers according to region, which does not work very neatly with writers like Miller..." -- Margaret Konkol * Modernism/modernity *"Personal Modernisms convincingly argues for the existence of an anarchist literary network sustained by a complex web of institutions and individuals. It offers new directions for scholars of periodical networks and transnational literary formations between the 1930s and 1950s, as well as affirming the need to seriously attend to the influence of anarchism in 20th century writing." -- Elinor Taylor * Anarchist Studies 26.2 *

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Book Synopsis"Sustainable development is, for government and industry at least, primarily a way of turning trees into lumber, tar into oil, and critique into consent; a way to defend the status quo of growth at any cost." —from the Introduction In Unsustainable Oil: Facts, Counterfacts and Fictions, Jon Gordon makes the case for re-evaluating the theoretical, political, and environmental issues around petroleum extraction. Doing so, he argues, will reinvigorate our understanding of the culture and the ethics of energy production in Canada. Rather than looking for better facts or better interpretations of the facts, Gordon challenges us to embrace the future after oil. Reading fiction can help us understand the cultural-ecological crisis that we inhabit. In Unsustainable Oil, using the lens of Alberta’s bituminous sands, he asks us to consider literature’s potential to open space for creative alternatives.Trade Review"In 1959 Alberta approved a berserk scheme to set off an atomic blast at Fort McMurray, liquefying the oil sands and freeing a trillion barrels of riches. Engineers with U.S.-based Richfield Oil Corp. rated it a 50-50 chance of economic success. Then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker killed the idea. 'Certainly not,' he said.... Gordon is a talented writer. Unsustainable Oil profiles the Alberta sands as a phenomenon both cursed and celebrated in art and commerce and media.... Unsustainable Oil is pungent and funny and eloquent. It profiles oil sands as a cultural happening that’s driven Canadians to polar opposites. It works." -- Holly Doan * Blacklock's Reporter *"[Gordon] proposes that we turn to works of literature (plays, poetry, short stories) as a means of re-imagining the narratives that we tell ourselves about our embeddedness in petroculture.... [He demonstrates] that literature performs not only a necessary diagnostic function (namely, to articulate the environmental and social costs of our dependence on bitumen), but also a vital prognostic function, through which we can begin to restore our understanding of the intimate relations between humans and their environment, and our hope for a post-bitumen future". Canadian Literature, Spring/Summer 2016. [Full review at https://canlit.ca/article/creativecollective-resistance] -- Lucia Lorenzi * Canadian Literature *Gordon’s agenda is to short-circuit the extremely polarized debate between team oil and team environment by bringing into play not facts and counterfacts alone but the power of narrative, storytelling, theatre, theory, even poetry.... The book is theoretically astute, Gordon’s writing throughout is crystal clear and elegant, and his analysis of texts insightful: this book is an exhilarating and beautiful read. The Goose 2017: Vol. 16 : Iss. 1, Article 4. [Full review at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/thegoose/vol16/iss1/4] -- Pamela Banting * The Goose *"Unsustainable Oil deserves to be read alongside other excoriations of Alberta's great speculative game, such as Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent (2008) by Canadian journalist Andrew Nikiforuk, and studies in the emergent field of petrocriticism, such as Stephanie LeMenager's Living Oil: Petroleum Culture in the American Century (2014). Oil, with its climate consequences, is a defining environmental concern of our age: it has found an impassioned critic in Jon Gordon." , Western American Literature 52.2, 2017 -- Nicholas Bradley * Western American Literature *"At the heart of Gordon’s analysis is the argument that literature performs a ‘downward counterfactual function’—that is to say, that it exposes the grim realities of bitumen extraction—but that in doing so, it also reaffirms the possibilities for other types of futures…. Environmental work is difficult work. It is difficult because of the ways it often conflicts with and runs up against corporate and/or academic interests, and difficult because it must engage with a crisis whose effects are both currently unfolding and as of yet unforetold. Both Unsustainable Oil: Facts, Counterfacts, and Fictions and Sustaining the West: Cultural Responses to Canadian Environments take on this challenging work, and in doing so, demonstrate that a rich critical and creative network of humanities-based artists and critics is integral to both eco-critical conversation and ecological action.” Lucia Lorenzi, Canadian Literature, March 2017 -- Lucia Lorenzi * Canadian Literature *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Prologue / Fast Food Vacation Introduction / Unsustainable Rhetoric 1 Lyric Oil / Re-presenting Fossil Fuels As a Cultural By-Product 2 Oil Sacrifices / Petroculture and (E)utopian Imaginings of Progress 3 Impossible Choices / Fort Mac and Oil as a “Matter of Concern” 4 Irrational Oil / Ethos, Extraction!, Elder Brother, and Free Speech 5 Pipeline Facts, Poetic Counterfacts / Metaphor and Self-Deception in a Bitumen Nation 6 Oil Desires / Appetites and Fast Violence in the Bituminous Sands Conclusion / Living (with) Bitumen Epilogue / Whitney Lakes Provincial Park Notes Works Cited Index

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Book Synopsis“…the proverb says that whoever sees the world from the back of an elephant learns the secrets of the jungle and becomes a seer. I had to be content to become a poet.” —Lawrence Durrell Best known for his novels and travel writing, Lawrence Durrell defied easy classification within twentieth-century Modernism. His anti-authoritarian tendencies put him at odds with many contemporaries—aesthetically and politically. However, thanks to a compelling recontextualization by editor James Gifford, these thirty-eight previously unpublished and out-of-print essays and letters reveal that Durrell’s maturation as an artist was rich, complex, and subtle. Durrell fans will treasure this selection of rare nonfiction, while scholars of Durrell, Modernist literature, anti-authoritarian artists, and the Personalist movement will also appreciate Gifford’s fine editorial work. Foreword by Peter Baldwin. “Gifford’s scholarly command of the archives shows—especially his working intimacy with the unpublished archived words of Durrell’s editors, publishers, and collaborators. I have no doubt that this collection will serve as a starting point for any number of new critical ventures into the life and writing of Lawrence Durrell.” —Charles Sligh, University of Tennessee at ChattanoogaTrade Review"Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, From The Elephant's Back is an outstanding collection of masterfully crafted essays organized into four major sections: Personal Positions; Ideas About Literature; Eternal Contemporaries; and Spirit of Place: Travel Writings. Very highly recommended for academic library collections, From The Elephant's Back will prove to be engaging, memorable, thought-provoking reading, and ultimately rewarding." * Midwest Book Review *"...buy the book for Durrell’s wit, elegance, philosophy, joie de vivre and flaming intelligence." -- Richard Pine * The Irish Times *"A century after Durrell's birth, readers will find Gifford's reconsideration necessary to that century's understanding of itself.""The result is that this edition promises to open up new approaches to interpreting Durrell's more famous work. Durrell fans will treasure the book's selection of rare nonfiction, while scholars of Durrell, modernist literature, anti-authoritarian artists, and the Personalist movement will also appreciate Gifford's fine editorial work." * CAUT Bulletin *"[T]he interest of this volume does not only lie in the immeasurable wealth of Durrellian archives that are brought to the reader’s knowledge: it also sketches out the fascinating portrait of an artist engaged in the creative production of his generation so that readers of Shakespeare, Wordsworth, T. S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Richard Aldington, Cavafy, and Seferis will discover fascinating pieces of critical analysis where they may least have expected to.... The final part devoted to travel writing will similarly edify and stimulate both Durrell’s readers and all those who seek to understand the refinements of the genre." [Full review at http://ebc.revues.org/3502] -- Isabelle Keller-Privat * Études britanniques contemporaines *Table of ContentsContents VII Foreword PETER BALDWIN XI Acknowledgements XIII Introduction JAMES GIFFORD 1 From the Elephant’s Back PERSONAL POSIT IONS 27 A Letter from the Land of the Gods 29 Airgraph on Refugee Poets in Africa 37 No Clue to Living 47 This Magnetic, Bedevilled Island That Tugs at My Heart 53 Lamas in a French Forest IDEAS ABOUT LITERATURE 63 The Prince and Hamlet A Diagnosis 73 Hamlet, Prince of China 83 Prospero’s Isle To Caliban 99 Ideas About Poems 101 Ideas About Poems II 103 The Heraldic Universe 107 Hellene and Philhellene 123 A Cavafy Find 129 A Real Heart Transplant into English 135 Introduction to Wordsworth 149 L’amour, Clef du Mystère? ETERNAL CONTEMPORARIES 183 Theatre Sense and Sensibility 187 The Happy Rock 199 Studies in Genius VI Groddeck 225 Constant Zarian Triple Exile 235 Enigma Variations 239 The Shades of Dylan Thomas 247 Bernard Spencer 257 The Other Eliot 271 Richard Aldington 277 On George Seferis 281 Poets Under the Bed SPIRIT OF PLACE : TRAVEL WRITING 287 Corfu Isle of Legend 297 The Island of the Rose 311 Can Dreams Live on When Dreamers Die? 317 Family Portrait 325 Letter in the Sofa 331 The Moonlight of Your Smile 337 The Poetic Obsession of Dublin 347 Borromean Isles 353 Alexandria Revisited 359 With Durrell in Egypt 379 Works Cited 391 Index

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Book SynopsisTen years, ten authors, ten critics. The Canadian Literature Centre/Centre de litterature canadienne reaches into its ten-year archive of Brown Bag Lunch readings to sample some of the most diverse and powerful voices in contemporary Canadian literature. This anthology offers readers samples from some of Canada's most exciting writers of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Each selection is introduced by a brief essay, serving as a point of entry into the writer's work. From the east coast of Newfoundland to Kitamaat territory on British Columbia's central coast, there is a story for everyone, from everywhere. True to Canada's multilingual and multicultural heritage, these ten writers come from diverse ethnicities and backgrounds, and work in multiple languages, including English, French, and Cree. Ying Chen essay by Julie Rodgers Lynn Coady essay by Maite Snauwaert Michael Crummey essay by Jennifer Bowering Delisle Caterina Edwards essay by Joseph Pivato Marina Endicott essay by Daniel Laforest Lawrence Hill essay by Winfried Siemerling Alice Major essay by Don Perkins Eden Robinson essay by Kit Dobson Gregory Scofield essay by Angela Van Essen Kim Thuy essay by Pamela V. SingTrade Review#6 on the Edmonton Journal's Non-fiction Bestsellers list for the week of October 28, 2016 The Edmonton Journal The Edmonton JournalTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgements vii INTRODUCTI O N ix Making Literature, Literature in the Making by Marie Carriere, Curtis Gillespie & Jason Purcell 1 YING CHEN 1 Experiment and Innovation by Julie Rodgers 3 Le Mangeur (excerpt) 10 L'Ingratitude (excerpt) 14 2 LYNN COADY 19 a.k.a. The Wit by Maite Snauwaert 21 The Antagonist (excerpt) 27 3 MICHAEL CRUMMEY 37 The Presence of the Past by Jennifer Bowering Delisle 39 Sweetland (excerpt) 46 4 CATERIN A EDWARDS 57 History Lost in Forgetfulness by Joseph Pivato 59 Finding Rosa: A Mother with Alzheimer's, a Daughter in Search of the Past (excerpt) 65 5 MARIN A ENDICOT T 73 Lights and Shadows across the Continent by Daniel Laforest 75 Close to Hugh (excerpt) 81 6 L AWRENCE HILL 93 History and the Truth of Fiction by Winfried Siemerling 95 Meet You at the Door (excerpt) 102 7 ALICE MAJ O R 113 Metaphors, Myths, and the Eye of the Magpie by Don Perkins 115 The Office Tower Tales (excerpt) 122 8 EDEN ROBINS O N 139 Reading for B'gwus by Kit Dobson 141 The Sasquatch at Home: Traditional Protocols & Modern Storytelling (excerpt) 147 9 GREGORY SCOFIELD 157 kisteyihtamowin ekwa sakihitowin (Honour and Love) by Angela Van Essen 159 kipocihkan: Poems New & Selected (excerpt) 164 10 KIM THUY 179 A Gentle Power by Pamela V. Sing 181 Ru (excerpt) 189 Essay Contributors 195 Permissions 201

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Book SynopsisFlora Annie Steel (1847–1929) was a contemporary of Rudyard Kipling and rivaled his popularity as a writer during her lifetime, but her legacy faded due to gender-biased politics. She spent 22 years in India, mainly in the Punjab. This collection is the first to focus entirely on this “unconventional memsahib” and her contribution to turn-of-the-century Anglo-Indian literature. The eight essays draw attention to Steel’s multifaceted work—ranging from fiction to journalism to letter writing, from housekeeping manuals to philanthropic activities. These essays, by recognized experts on her life and work, will appeal to interdisciplinary scholars and readers in the fields of British India and Women’s Studies. Contributors: Amrita Banerjee, Helen Pike Bauer, Ralph Crane, Gráinne Goodwin, Alan Johnson, Anna Johnston, Danielle Nielsen, LeeAnne M. Richardson, Susmita RoyeTrade Review"[The editor] gathers essays on the writer contemporaries called 'the female Rudyard Kipling' (p. xii). The wife of a Civil Service officer who lived in India for twenty-two years, Steel learned some of the local languages and improved the lives of Indian women by providing medical aid and establishing girls’ schools. The essays in this volume treat topics ranging from Steel’s rewriting of women’s role in the maintenance of British power to her sympathetic representation of the wit and creativity of Indian girls. The essays also reveal the generic range of Steel’s writing, from her letters to newspapers to intervene in social policy to her use of cookbook writing to suggest analogies between domestic and colonial management." -- Andrea Henderson * Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 (Autumn 58, 4) *"There are eight essays by different hands on Steel (1847–1929), whom her contemporaries regarded as highly as Kipling but who subsequently faded into obscurity due to ‘the gender-biased politics of canonization’.... Each essay in this fascinating collection, which concludes with a useful index (pp. 211–24), is followed by notes and an alphabetically arranged enumerative listing of ‘Works Cited’: there are black and white illustrative figures scattered throughout the text." -- William Baker * The Year’s Work in English Studies, Volume 98, Issue 1 *"Going beyond Steel’s most famous and widely discussed work, On the Face of the Waters, this excellent volume strives to shed light on her less well-known novels, such as The Potter’s Thumb and Voices in the Night: A Chromatic Fantasia, as well as her short fiction and other genres of her writing that have not received much attention from literary critics, including housekeeping advice, journalism, and letters to editors." -- Ira Raja * Oxford University Press Journals,Volume 98, Issue 1 *“The volume consists of individually strong essays that shed new light on undiscovered aspects of Steel as a writer, covering the entire gamut of her writing life…. [It] exemplifies the value of microstudy with attention on the particular, helping to raise important, larger points about the general. This volume is essential reading for scholars of gender, literature, cultural studies, South Asian studies and imperial histories, and is highly recommended for anthropologists, scholars of British history and those interested in the intersections of race, class and gender.” [Full review at DOI: 10.1177/0262728020944769] -- Radha Kapuria * South Asia Research Vol. 40(3) *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction / Susmita Roye 1 | Women Who Serve in Times of Need Recreating an Uprising in Flora Annie Steel’s Voices in the Night DANIELLE NIELSEN 2 | The Other Voice Agency of the Fallen Women in Flora Annie Steel’s Novels AMRITA BANERJEE 3 | Narrative Strategy as Hermeneutic Reading In the Permanent Way as Colonial Theory LEEANNE M. RICHARDSON 4 | Flora Annie Steel and Indian Girlhood HELEN PIKE BAUER 5 | The Transgressing Purdahnashin and Violated Purdah Space Kipling’s “Beyond the Pale” and Steel’s “Faizullah” SUSMITA ROYE 6 | “Going Jungli” Flora Annie Steel’s Wild Civility ALAN JOHNSON 7 | How to Dine in India Flora Annie Steel’s The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook and the Anglo-Indian Imagination RALPH CRANE AND ANNA JOHNSTON 8 | “Yours truly, Flora Annie Steel” Gender, Empire, and Indian Pressure Politics in the Times’s Correspondence Columns, 1897–1910 GRÁINNE GOODWIN Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the cultural work of space and memory in Canada and Canadian literature, and encourages readers to investigate Canada within its regional, national, and global contexts. It features seven chapters in English and five in French, with a bilingual introduction. The contributors invite us to recognize local intersections that are so easily overlooked, yet are so important. They reveal the unities and fractures in national understanding, telling stories of otherness and marginality and of dislocation and un-belonging. Ce livre examine l’importance culturelle de l’espace et de la mémoire en contexte canadien et plus spécifiquement dans les littératures du pays, afin d’inviter des lectures neuves des questions régionales, nationales et globales. Il rassemble sept chapitres en anglais et cinq en français, en plus d’une introduction bilingue. Les contributions, favorisant des approches thématiques et théoriques variées, sont réunies par leur désir de mettre en lumière des croisements inédits entre la mémoire et l’espace en tant qu’ils définissent certains des problèmes les plus brûlants de notre époque au Canada. S’y révèle l’équilibre fort instable entre récits unitaires et fractures communautaires, entre altérité et marginalité, ou entre dislocation et désappartenance. Contributors / Collaborateurs: Albert Braz, Samantha Cook, Jennifer Delisle, Lise Gaboury-Diallo, Smaro Kamboureli, Janne Korkka, André Lamontagne, Margaret Mackey, Sherry Simon, Pamela Sing, Camille van der Marel, Erin WunkerTrade Review"This excellent scholarly collection includes seven essays in English and five in French on various facets of the relationship between space and memory.... The book will be of interest not only to scholars of Canadian literature, but also to those of postcolonial and diasporic literatures.... [This] book serves as a valuable challenge to scholars in both languages to deepen our understanding of Canada’s literary past in both ways." -- Laurel RyanTable of ContentsIntroduction: Paul D. Morris and Albert Braz, “The Nation and Its Literature(s): Representing People, Representing a People” 1: Paul D. Morris (Université de Saint-Boniface), “Reticent Nations: Governor General’s Award-Winning Fiction and the Representation of Canada” 2: Matthew Cormier (University of Alberta), “Cultural Memory, National Identity: The Changing Paradigms of Acadian Literature” 3: Matthew Tétreault (University of Alberta), “Literary Resistance: Situating a Métis National Literature” 4: Sabujkoli Bandopadhyay (University of Regina), “Intersections of Nationhood, Multiculturalism, and Globalization in South Asian Canadian Fiction: A Study of Anita Rau Badami’s Can You Hear the Nightbird Call?” 5: Asma Sayed (Kwantlen Polytechnic University), “Canadian Literature in Heritage Languages and the Politics of Canon Formation” 6: Doris Hambuch (United Arab Emirates University), “‘No nation now but the imagination’: No Caribbean Nation without the Dutch Caribbean” 7: Jerry White (University of Saskatchewan), “Rediscovering the Republic: The Work of Joan Daniel Bezsonoff” 8: Clara Joseph (University of Calgary), “A Multinational Narrative in a Case Study of Translating an Eastern Christian Play” 9: Albert Braz (University of Alberta), “Nigeria’s Other Civil War: Ken Saro-Wiwa and Ogoni Nationalism” 10: Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike (University of Alberta), “‘Write Only the Truth’: (Re)Contesting the Nigerian Nation in Chimeka Garricks’s Tomorrow Died Yesterday and Helon Habila’s Oil on Water”

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Book Synopsis"The outburst of cultural energy that took place in the 1960s was in part a product of the two decades that came before. It's always difficult for young people to see their own time in perspective: when you're in your teens, a decade earlier feels like ancient history and the present moment seems normal: what exists now is surely what has always existed." Margaret Atwood compares the Canadian literary landscape of the 1960s to the Burgess Shale, a geological formation that contains the fossils of many strange prehistoric life forms. The Burgess Shale is not entirely about writing itself, however: Atwood also provides some insight into the meagre writing infrastructure of that time, taking a lighthearted look at the early days of the institutions we take for granted today-from writers' organizations, prizes, and grant programs to book tours and festivals.Trade Review#1 on Edmonton Non-Fiction Bestsellers list, March 19, 2017 #3 on Edmonton Non-Fiction Bestsellers list, April 30, 2017

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Book SynopsisAll the Feels / Tous les sens presents research into emotion and cognition in Canadian, Indigenous, and Québécois writings in English or French. Affect is both internal and external, private and public; with its fluid boundaries, it represents a productive dimension for literary analysis. The emerging field of affect studies makes vital claims about ethical impulses, social justice, and critical resistance, and thus much is at stake when we adopt affective reading practices. The contributors ask what we can learn from reading contemporary literatures through this lens. Unique and timely, readable and teachable, this collection is a welcome resource for scholars of literature, feminism, philosophy, and transnational studies as well as anyone who yearns to imagine the world differently. Contributors: Nicole Brossard, Marie Carrière, Matthew Cormier, Kit Dobson, Nicoletta Dolce, Louise Dupré, Margery Fee, Ana María Fraile-Marcos, Smaro Kamboureli, Aaron Kreuter, Daniel Laforest, Carmen Mata Barreiro, Ursula Mathis-Moser, Heather Milne, Eric Schmaltz, Maïté Snauwaert, Jeanette den ToonderTrade Review"Readers with a basic understanding of affect theory, as well as those who are new to the field, will find that this collection opens fascinating avenues for inquiry into the affective possibilities in Canadian literature. It presents an alternative approach to studies in literature- one that considers the integrated nature of thoughts and feelings." [Full review at https://canlit.ca/article/feeling-it-all/] -- Rachel Fernandes, Canadian Literature, Oct. 2021"Le fait de présenter de façon complémentaire des analyses académiques et des points de vue d’écrivaines constitue un atout majeur du recueil, puisqu’il permet au lecteur de voir comment l’affect joue un rôle dans la pratique de l’écriture. S’y ajoutent la réflexion théorique qui constitue un fil rouge à travers les différentes contributions, une attention pour la particularité anglaise, française et autochtone de la littérature canadienne et une inscription engagée dans les débats qui secouent et affectent nos sociétés contemporaines." Alex Demeulenaere, Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 2022 [Article complet: http://www.kanada-studien.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/zks_2022_14_Rez.pdf]"The complementary presentation of academic analysis and women writers' perspectives is a major strength of the collection, as it allows the reader to perceive the role affect plays in the practice of writing. Added to this is the theoretical reflection that runs through all the various contributions, an alertness to the English, French, and Aboriginal particularities of Canadian literature, and an engaged participation in the debates that shake and affect our contemporary societies." Alex Demeulenaere, Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 2022 [Translated. Article complet: http://www.kanada-studien.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/zks_2022_14_Rez.pdf]Table of ContentsAcknowledgments / Remerciements Introduction Writing Affect in Canadian, Indigenous, and Québécois Literatures / Écrire l’affect dans les littératures canadiennes, autochtones et québécoises Marie Carrière, Ursula Mathis-Moser, Kit Dobson Traduction par Dominique Hétu et Marie Carrière I NEGATIVE AFFECTS / AFFECTS NÉGATIFS 1 | Theorizing the Apocalyptic Turn in the Literatures of Canada: Un/Veiling the Apocalyptic Direction in Affect Studies | Matthew Cormier 2 | Free Will, Moral Blindness, and Affective Resilience in Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last | Ana Maria Fraile-Marcos 3 | From Disgust to Desire: A Poetics of Subterfuge | Eric Schmaltz II CARE AND AFFECT / SOIN ET AFFECTS 4 | Apprendre à dire la fin: Care et poétique du deuil dans L’album multicolore de Louise Dupré et Nocturne de Helen Humphreys | Maïté Snauwaert 5 | Grand-mère et petite-fille, « des doublons désaccordées » : Réflexions sur une éthique du care dans Mère-grand de Tassia Trifiatis | Ursula Mathis-Moser 6 | Le corps en crise : Littérature et système de santé au Canada | Daniel Laforest III AFFECTS OF MEMORY / AFFECTS DE LA MÉMOIRE 7 | The Circuitry of Grief: Queer Time, Killjoy Politics, and Mourning in Sina Queyras’s M x T | Heather Milne 8 | Vétiver de Joël des Rosiers : Où les souffrances encore affleurent | Nicoletta Dolce 9 | Écrire la blessure, relire la vie: Louise Dupré, Marie-Célie Agnant et Denise Desautels | Carmen Mata Barreiro IV AFFECTS OF RESISTANCE / AFFECTS DE LA RÉSISTANCE 10 | Écriture autochtone au féminin: Savoir affectif et valeurs relationnelles dans Kuessipan de Naomi Fontaine | Jeanette den Toonder 11 | Respect or Empathy? Affect/Emotion in Indigenous Stories | Margery Fee 12 | Jewish Affect During the Second Intifada: Terror, Love, and Procreation in Ayelet Tsabari’s “Tikkun”| Aaron Kreuter V WRITING THROUGH AFFECT / ÉCRIRE AU FIL DE L’AFFECT 13 | Émotion vraie, sensation de fiction | Nicole Brossard 14 | Maladies of the Soul: Field Notes on My Research Imagination | Smaro Kamboureli 15 | Des fantômes dans les yeux | Louise Dupré Contributors / Collaborateurs

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award The Revolving City: 51 Poems and the Stories Behind Them is a vibrant and diverse collection from a who''s who of the west coast poetry scene. The poems assembled here range from the lyric to the experimental and address the theme of disconnection in an urban environment from a variety of positions, concerns, and cultural perspectives. The collection also includes short reflections on the poems, written by the poets themselves, providing readers with an intimate insight into the inspiration and meaning behind the poems. The Revolving City anthology evolved out of the Lunch Poems reading series, a stimulating exchange of poetic ideas and cadence held the third Wednesday of every month in public space at Simon Fraser University''s Vancouver campus. The Revolving City seeks to build community, extend poetry to new audiences, and reflect the rich diversity of the poetry scene both local and distant. Edited by much-lauded writer and director of the Writer''s Studio, Wayde Compton, and award-winning poet Renée Sarojini Saklikar. Contributors: Jordan Abel, Joanne Arnott, Elizabeth Bachinsky, Dennis E. Bolen, George Bowering, Tim Bowling, Colin Browne, Stephen Collis, Wayde Compton, Peter Culley, Jen Currin, Phinder Dulai, Daniela Elza, Mercedes Eng, Maxine Gadd, Heidi Greco, Heather Haley, Ray Hsu, Aislinn Hunter, Mariner Janes, Reg Johanson, Wanda John-Kehewin, Rahat Kurd, Sonnet L''Abbé, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Evelyn Lau, Christine Leclerc, Donato Mancini, Daphne Marlatt, Susan McCaslin, Kim Minkus, Cecily Nicholson, Billeh Nickerson, Juliane Okot Bitek, Catherine Owen, Miranda Pearson, Meredith Quartermain, Jamie Reid, Rachel Rose, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Jordan Scott, Sandy Shreve, George Stanley, Rob Taylor, Jacqueline Turner, Fred Wah, Betsy Warland, Calvin Wharton, Rita Wong, Changming Yuan, and Daniel Zomparelli. Praise for The Revolving City: In these fiercely competitive and egotistical times, what a relief when established poets stand alongside and support emerging ones. The poems - passionate, com-passionate and critical at once, investigating, as Meredith Quartermain puts it, ''the physical, the historical, the cultural and the linguistic grounds'' of the city - are deepened by each poet''s reflection on their own work. Here are the cultural voices of Canada''s today and tomorrow. Listen. You will be hearing more. (Kate Braid, author of Turning Left to the Ladies and Rough Grounds Revisited) Plato said poets are the people least likely to be able to say anything enlightening about the craft. He was a curmudgeon for thinking that, but not entirely wrong, because good poems derive less from the intellect than from the solar plexus, the bone marrow, or what Yeats called ''the rag-and-bone shop of the heart.'' It''s so hard to write a good poem that poets leap at the chance to talk about what they were trying to achieve, or how it came to pass; and these ruminations are always more personal and often more engaging than the poems themselves. The Revolving City celebrates this wonderful dichotomy and, at times, blessedly defies it. (Gary Geddes, author of What Does a House Want? and editor of 20th-Century Poetry and Poetics) The Revolving City not only manages to emphasize the importance of breaking social divides, but it also reveals the inherently effective power poetry has in expressing issues of societal significance. (The Ubyssey)

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Book SynopsisThe music scene in the mid-eighties was in transition, just as the entire music business was, unaware that it was all about to change in 1991 when Nirvana's watershed release, Nevermind would unexpectedly hit number one on the Billboard chart. But that explosion didn't happen overnight. It was the product of many things: Toronto's developing music scene, club owners seeking original music, and the communities of musicians, artists, and fans supporting these new bands. No Flash, Please! documents an important period in Toronto's music community. As seen and heard by two journalists covering it for a number of monthly independent magazines, not only did they experience the local bands they knew and loved becoming famous, they also witnessed soon-to-be legends come through those same clubs and concert halls. Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Jesus Lizard, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Henry Rollins, all played Toronto during this period to crowds that varied in size from twenty to five hundred. No Flash, Please! doesn't just focus on the music, it also captures the crowds and the community that spawned one of the richest periods in Toronto's music history.

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Book SynopsisMontaigne Medal Finalist (Eric Hoffer Awards) In Garage Criticism Peter Babiak eviscerates and deflates some of the cultural sacred cows of our time. From Fifty Shades of Grey ("Hot for Teacher: What Fifty Shades of Grey Taught Me About Salacious Grammar, Sexy Women and the Scandalous Conflation of Cultural and Literary Culture") to the disintegration of the "deep read" ("F You Professor: Tumblr, Triggers and the Allergies of Reading") to the Hunger Games ("The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - But It Might Be Carnivalized 'N' Shit") and Twilight ("Really Dumb Students"), through to student/professor relationships, inappropriate office visits, and a shared "voluptuous appetite for Nabokov." Babiak deconstructs our fascination with internet culture, takes on the inanities of youthful, ungrammatical irises, devolves the rhetorical hallucinations of economics and marketing, and reasserts the supremacy of linguistic thinking in everyday cultural affairs. Babiak's is a new and timely voice in the arena of cultural criticism and critical theory. Praise for Garage Criticism: "... Somewhere, a transition takes place and the garage critic is replaced by the father, lover, the middle-aged man searching for some meaning in a silly world. The wisdom of this book doesn't come from its dismantling of vacuous modern culture, but from its subtle examination of fatherhood, the follies of man, the inevitable fray of husbandry, and the tribulation of losing the ones you love. These are messages that are left nearly unsaid, unseen, but like stars resting beneath a sunrise, achingly they remain long after the book is closed." (Cascade, UFV)

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Book SynopsisMontaigne Medal Finalist, Eric Hoffer Awards Against Death&nbspis an anthology of creative non-fiction exploring the psychological shifts that occur when we prematurely or unexpectedly confront death. Against Death is a natural outgrowth of the editor's experience of surviving a vertebral artery dissection and stroke and the subsequent writing&nbspof a long poem memoir about the event. To be "against" something can mean two different things at the same time. "Against" can mean pressed up close to something, yet it can also signify refusal. These texts deal with the affects of this proximity, taking into account any meaning of the word. Rather than showcase only extreme survival stories or difficult biological situations, the pieces in Against Death consider the ways we make sense of death on a personal level and how we integrate that thinking as we continue forward. Against Death articulates the personal experiences of each author's "near-deathness," utilizing fresh and inventive language to represent what "magical thinking" proposes. These pieces are incisive and articulate, avoiding the usual platitudes, feel-good bromides, and pep talks associated with near-death encounters. The writing moves past the sob story and confronts the tough circumstance of facing death with truth and compassion, no matter how ugly or (in)convenient. Contributors include: angela rawlings, Joe Average, Aislinn Hunter, Jennifer van Evra, Maureen Medved, Fiona Tinwei Lam, Bruce Meyer and many others.

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Book SynopsisBC Bestseller! From its Coast Mountain skyline to its seedy waterfront tattoo parlors, from the private downtown booze-cans of the city's business elite and the Faux Chateau enclave of Whistler, to the riot-shaken streets of the early Sixties and the history of pipe bomb attacks in the city, Moore has been there, done that. He's been a graveyard shift cabdriver, deckhand, bartender, emergency room security guard, reporter and even sunk to the depths of freelance journalism, without losing his sense of humour. Whether he's writing about delivering the news of imminent Nuclear Armageddon during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the history of umbrellas, (serious topic in Rain City), the vanishing game of Cribbage (a rainy day pastime), X-treme Sports, vintage sports cars or the proliferation of anti-depressant meds, he's still that a - hole who's always sticking his nose into other peoples' business'. Part memoir, part polemic, Rain City, is his version of a fat old Sixties rock band's Greatest Hits album."

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Book SynopsisBC Bestseller! Even before it was a city, Vancouver was a property speculator's wet dream. "There are more speculators about New Westminster and Victoria than there were in Winnipeg during the boom," CPR Chief WC Van Horne warned a friend in 1884, "and they are a much sharper lot. Nearly every person is more or less interested and you will have to be on your guard against all of them." Ever since Europeans first laid claim to the Squamish Nation territory in the 1870s, the real estate industry has held the region in its grip. Its influence has been grotesquely pervasive at every level of civic life, determining landmarks like Stanley Park and City Hall, as well as street names, neighbourhoods, even the name "Vancouver" itself. Land of Destiny aims to explore that influence, starting in 1862, with the first sale of land in the West End, and continuing up until the housing crisis of today. It will explore the backroom dealings, the skulduggery and nepotism, the racism and the obscene profits, while at the same time revealing that the same forces which made Vancouver what it is, speculation and global capital, are the same ones that shape it today, showing that more than anything else, the history of real estate and the history of Vancouver are one and the same. And it's been dirty as hell. About the Series: Land of Destiny is the first title in Anvil's new series "49.2: Tales from the Off Beat," an ongoing series dedicated to celebrating the eccentric and unusual parts of city history. From Jesse Donaldson, author of the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award finalist book This Day In Vancouver, and a host of other local historians, the series will be an in-depth examination of the weird, the wonderful, and the terrible, injecting fresh details into well-worn local lore, or digging deep into the obscure people, places, and happenings of the last 130 years. From psychedelic hospitals to town fools, from communist organizers to real estate scumbags, 49.2 will take pains to break down the myths surrounding the City of Glass.

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Book SynopsisShortlisted, Wilfrid Eggleston Award for NonfictionOn a whim, armchair-atheist Richard Kelly Kemick joins the 100-plus cast of The Canadian Badlands Passion Play, North America's largest production of its kind and one of the main tourist attractions in Alberta. By the time closing night is over, Kemick has a story to tell. From the controversial choice of casting to the bizarre life in rehearsal, this glorious behind-the-scenes look at one of Canada's strangest theatrical spectacles also confronts the role of religion in contemporary life and the void left by its absence for non-believers.In the tradition of tragic luminaries such as David Foster Wallace, Jonathan Goldstein, and David Sedaris, I Am Herod gives its congregation of readers unparalleled access to the players of the Passion: there's Judas, who wears a leather jacket even when it's 30°C; the Chief Sadducee, who is ostracized for his fanaticism; Pilate, the only actor who swears; the Holy Spirit, who is breaking ground as the role's first female actor; and the understudy Christ, the previous year's real-deal Christ who was demoted to backup and now performs illicit one-man shows backstage.Trade Review"Kemick's book is that delicious cross between Waiting for Guffman and The Studhorse Man, a rousing personal comedy that dances between the sweat of art and the glue of experience. Nothing like it exists in non-fiction, but don't read it for that reason. Read it because it sticks to your fingers and you can't shake it off." -- Dave Bidini, author of Midnight Light: A Personal Journey to The North"In the end, I Am Herod is a very funny book with an underlying pathos and sweetness which I found quite moving." * Atlantic Books Today *

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Book SynopsisPhilippine-born Vancouverite Sophia is most grateful for two things: her modest hair salon and Adrian, her mild-mannered fiancé. She is eager to get married, move away from her highly educated but career-frustrated parents, who believe that their daughter can be so much more than a beautician.Then Sophia''s estranged friend reaches out from Manila, desperate for help. After a dubious accident, her fiery Auntie Rosy is on the verge of losing the Cine Star Salon-the place where Sophia first felt the call to become a hairstylist and salon owner. Coming to her auntie''s aid is not so easy though. Sophia worries helping might reopen old wounds and threaten the bright future she has planned.Leah Ranada''s debut novel is a graphic and engaging depiction of the importance of women''s work and the loyalties that connect friends across oceans. The Cine Star Salon marks the entry of a vital new voice in Canadian literature.

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Book Synopsis‘The relationship between my grandmother and her mother was very important and indeed crucial to her childhood and the very early days of her writing … So, to have more insight into this particular aspect of my grandmother’s early life is very valuable.’ Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie’s grandsonVirginia Woolf, Agatha Christie and Sylvia Plath are three of our most famous authors. For the first time this book tells in full the story of the remarkable mothers who shaped them.Julia Stephen, Clara Miller and Aurelia Plath were fascinating women in their own rights, and their relationships with their daughters were exceptional; they profoundly influenced the writers’ lives, literature and attitude to feminism. Too often in the past Virginia, Agatha and Sylvia have been defined by their lovers – Mothers of the Mind redresses the balance by charting the complex, often contradictory, bond between mother and daughter. Drawing on previously unpublished sources from archives around the world and accounts from family and friends of the women, this book offers a new perspective on these iconic authors.Trade Review‘The relationship between my grandmother and her mother was very important and indeed crucial to her childhood and the very early days of her writing … So, to have more insight into this particular aspect of my grandmother’s early life is very valuable.’ MATHEW PRICHARD, Agatha Christie’s grandson‘There have been multiple attempts to investigate the true character of Agatha, but it was a first for the Christie Archive Trust to assist research focused solely on Agatha and her mother’s relationship. Thanks to Rachel’s thorough curation of the evidence this is one particular puzzle we can now consider solved.’ JOE KEOGH, Christie Archive Trust‘This triple biography includes a remarkable and nuanced summation of Aurelia Plath’s life and influence, the first of any consequence that will see print … The author uncovers Aurelia’s early years and reveals the dedication and teamwork required to launch Sylvia Plath’s career.’ CATHERINE RANKOVIC, Aurelia Plath scholar and founder at AureliaPlath.info‘Rachel Trethewey’s meticulous examination of maternal influences on the literary achievements of Virginia Woolf, Agatha Christie and Sylvia Plath culminates in fresh insights about the complex mother–daughter dynamic between Sylvia and Aurelia Plath.’ RICHARD J. LARSCHAN, English Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth'These three portraits beautifully capture the variety and complexity of mother-daughter relationships.' -- The Lady * The Lady *‘Trethewey’s group biography is a revealing study of the vital significance of these mothers for their daughters, and of their vexed relationships.’ – Helen Tyson, Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisJourney through lost high street landmarks of East and South London in a series of detailed artworks blending map, archive and anecdote with deadpan humour.What do you call a memoir that isn''t? In THIS IS NOT A MEMOIR, Janette Parris incisively narrates a journey through lost high street landmarks of East and South London in a series of detailed artworks blending map, archive and anecdote with deadpan humour. Part graphic novel, part recollection, and accompanied by an in-conversation between Janette Parris and Gilane Tawadros, this is an intimate exploration of what it means to have ownership of public space, from Wimpy to Woolworth''s via Canning Town. And somewhere in the gaps, in absent moments caught gazing at the sky or a kerbside, an impression of a life emerges-or is that just what she wants you to think?"This book by Janette Parris tells a deflationary yet expressive coming-of-age story in the East End of London. While it may seem fun and superficial, its considerable power lies in how it moves through memories and moments in a witty and light-footed way presented as a roman-à-clef. THIS IS NOT A MEMOIR is particular in the way it conjures a world of the 1970s and 1980s that is lost to most of London, yet still resonates with what it means to grow up as a working class young woman who ends up at art school and becomes an artist. It is a brave book to make, but one that will be remembered."--Rachel Garfield, artist, Professor of Fine Art at the Royal College of Art and author of Experimental Filmmaking and Punk: Feminist Audio Visual Culture in the 1970s and 1980s (2021)"THIS IS NOT A MEMOIR rewards reflection and scrutiny, but is perhaps most strikingly original in its unprecedented combination of stark typography and equally emphatic digital imaging, which together seem to attempt to deliver a matter-of-fact reality in a deadpan voice, without romanticising or dramatising what is nevertheless a lifelong struggle to assume a position, find a place, believe in a self, and eventually try to find a seat within the grand game of musical chairs that ultimately determines middle-class profession, competition, achievement and recognition. "--Dr Paul O''Kane, Senior Lecturer in Critical Studies, Fine Art at Central Saint MartinsLiterary Nonfiction. Art. LGBTQ+ Studies. Women''s Studies.

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Book SynopsisGo out and get Carter. Get all her fiction, all her fact.' Ali SmithThis distinguished volume of essays commemorates the work of Angela Carter. Here her fellow writers, along with an impressive company of critics, disuss the novels, stories and polemics that make her one of the most spellbinding authors of her generation. They trace out the signs of her originality, her daring and her wicked wit, as well as her charm, to produce an indispensable companion to her texts.Contributors are: Guido Almansi, Isobel Armstrong, Margaret Atwood, Elaine Jordan, Ros Kaveney, Hermione Lee, Laura Mulvey, Marc O'Day, Sue Roe, Susan Rubin Suleiman, Nicole Ward Jouve, Marina Warner and Kate Webb.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores contemporary ways of reading some important New Zealand literary works, all produced between 1910 and 1940. Interpretations of these texts have had a significant impact on New Zealanders'' ideas of themselves. The author argues that interpretation is a process which can never be completed, although at any one time there will be readings that are more significant than others. To illustrate her argument, Mary Paul discusses key works by two authors: Katherine Mansfield''s ''Bliss'' and ''Prelude'', Jane Mander''s The Story of a New Zealand River , and the work of Robin Hyde, poet, novelist and journalist. She opens up ways of reading these and other writers, using a variety of approaches and encouraging a greater self-awareness in the interpretation of New Zealand literature and culture.

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Book SynopsisThis book illustrates the contribution made to New Zealand letters by our oldest and most prestigious literary fellowship. Edited and introduced by Professor Lawrence Jones, the anthology, by turns playful and serious, celebrates the Fellowship's golden jubilee. Beginning with novelist Ian Cross in 1959 and ending with the 2008 Burns Fellow, poet Sue Wootton, Nurse to the Imagination showcases the output of leading New Zealand literary figures such as James K. Baxter, Michael King and Janet Frame alongside newer voices, with pieces written at the time of the Fellow's tenure. There are lots of interesting trends here, of which the shift from male-dominated literature up to 1980 to the rich representation of women writers since then is just one.Table of ContentsThe Burns Fellowship: 'To encourage and promote'; The 1960s; The 1970s; The 1980s; The 1990s; The 2000s.

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Book Synopsis'Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer' is equal parts literary memoir, advice for the emerging writer, and reckless tirade. Ross has been active in the Canadian literary underground for a quarter of a century: he's sold thousands of his books in the streets, published and edited magazines, trained insurgents in his Poetry Boot Camps, and started Canada's first Small Press Book Fair. Where the media focusses only on the glamorous literary lives of its few superstars, Ross gives us a glimpse into How Writers Really Live. In 'Confessions', he declares himself the King of Poetry, explores his floundering Jewish identity, wanders into the best bookstore in Canada, offers a crash course in avoiding writing, pisses off his publishers, runs a renegade Canada booth at the International Book Fair in Managua, and begs egomaniacal young writers to stop bugging the hell out of him. Many of these essays are culled from Ross's bimonthly "Hunkamooga" column in 'Word: Toronto's Literary Calendar'. Others are written specifically for this collection. " 'Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer' is a wonderful book - funny, outrageous, and acute. I'll even say it's the best short-essay collection aout writing life that I've read in ages." - Canadian Literature

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Book SynopsisCanadian Literature at the Crossroads of Language and Culture is the first book to gather together essays by Barbara Godard, one of the leading and most prolific figures in the field of Canadian studies.Godard has long been one of the most influential readers of Canadian literature. Much of the force of her work comes from her meticulous and relentless attention to the networks that produce both the texts and events we study and the methods through which we read them. Whether she writes about feminist theory, orality and Native women writers, or the exigencies of the cultural field, she has been instrumental in interrogating, time and time again, the normative ways in which we think about Canadian culture. From the function of literature to the materiality of institutions and periodicals, from the theory and practice of translation to the interrelations between English and French Canadian literatures, her critical interventions have drastically reconceptualized our inherited understandings of Canadian culture as it relates to the world at large.Edited by Smaro Kamboureli, and with an interview published here for the first time that offers a detailed look at the trajectories of Barbara Godard''s writing and teaching career, Canadian Literature at the Crossroads of Language and Culture is a groundbreaking collection of essays, spanning the period 1987-2003, that will continue to be necessary reading for years to come.

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Book SynopsisThe politics of difference, mired in the violence of colonial history, are a dominant force in the socio-economic development of contemporary society as it strikes a balance between the acceptance of new cultures, and the absorption and gentrification of them. In this collection of essays edited by the University of Guelph''s Smaro Kambourelli, Roy Miki-poet, scholar, and member of the Order of Canada-investigates the shifting currents of citizenship, globalization, and cultural practices facing Asian Canadians today through the connections of place and identity that have been forged through our developing national literature.

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Book Synopsis'Vancouver Noir' looks at the period from the 1930s to the 1960s, an era in which there was intensified concern with order, conformity, structure, and restrictions. These are visions of the city, both of what it was and what some of its citizens hoped it would either become, or, conversely, cease to be. The photographs-most of which look like stills from period movies featuring detectives with chiselled features, tough women, and bullet-ridden cars-speak to the styles of the Noir era and tell us something special about the ways in which a city is made and unmade. The authors argue that Noir-era values and perspectives are to be found in the photographic record of the city in this era, specifically in police and newspaper pictures. these photographs document changing values by emphasizing behaviours and sites that were increasingly viewed as deviant by the community's elite. They chart an age of rising moral panics. Public violence, smuggling rings, police corruption, crime waves, the sex trade, and the glamourization of sex in burlesques along and nearby Granville Street's neon alley belonged to an array of public concerns about which the media and political campaigns were repeatedly launched. "Purvey and Belshaw's 'Vancouver Noir' resurrects, in eminently readable black and white, the stories, characters, landmarks, images, lexicon and lore of one of this city's truly colourful eras." - James C. Johnstone, Historian "...If the thirties was a time of idealism, thepost-war world was one of cynicism. The insistence on social conformity and order provided a stark contrast to a seething underworld-if sometimes only in peoples' imagination. Contradictions abound. As suburban living reflected decency and family values, public concern was expressed about juvenile delinquency. Public (and even private) discussion of sex was generally taboo but the sex trade prospered in brothels and neon signs along Granville Street lit up dens of burlesque, booze and gambling.Ladies and escorts began entering the regulated beer parlours in Vancouver through separate doors in 1927. Thirsty working men crowded these establishments after a hard day's work and it was unseemly for a very long time, for women to mix freely among them. By 1954 cocktail bars were established so middle-class men and women could meet in an acceptable environment. Glamour arrived to the city in the form of supper clubs, emerging in the late 1930s and including big-name American acts like HarryBelafonte, Tony Bennett, Mitzi Gaynor, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald. Still segregation, not integration was the cultural norm as visible minorities lived in separate neighborhoods such as Hogan's Alley and Chinatown, sin' was confined to a square mile, and police attempted to the activities of drug pedlars and addicts. Attacking the poor and disenfranchised was common. Stanley Park rancheries, float houses under the Burrard Street bridge and other residential blights' to the city cameunder regular attack by civic authorities... 'Vancouver Noir' succeeds in exposing what lies beneath, delivering readers a fascinating glimpse of another side of the city."- British Columbia History

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