This from Hugh MacLennan to young Marian Engel in 1956: "If I can be of any help to you, don't hesitate to write and tell me so. I'm cynical about theses, having done one myself, but I suppose they are necessary if you can avoid taking them too seriously." University
Everything I know about the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which precipitated WWI, I learned from fiction. First, Aleksandar Hemon's short story, "The Accordian", which explores the very moment of the shots' impact, inspired by the presence of a bystander. This man seems to be the author's grandfather, standing in the
In bookish synchronicity, when a friend and I met one summer morning to go book-shopping, each of us had begun reading A Beautiful Truth the previous evening. We had both read only about 50 pages, so were hesitant to commit to loving it too soon, but we shared that excitement
Because Maddaddam is the last work in a trilogy, it's appropriate to consider the author's comments on endings. McClelland & Stewart - Random House of Canada, 2013 They are hard, she says, in interview with Martin Halliwell in 2003, the same year that Oryx and Crake, the first
"But you better not cross him or he’ll skin you alive....Like he does with his other stuff." 1994; Penguin, 2007 Liza's father warned her about Ladner, who made his living as a taxidermist, working for museums. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously. Indeed, after that, Liza and
