Alice Munro’s constant concern is to correct the reader, to undercut and complicate her text until all easy answers are exhausted and an unnerving richness of life stands revealed in the particular, secret experiences of her characters.
She does this in two ways. First, she has a sly capacity for filling her stories with sex, thwarted [...]
Features
The Mind of Alice Munro
Douglas GloverThe Wheat of Sadness: Editing Out the Chaff from the 2009 Giller Shortlist
Ryan BiggeAs with ham radio aficionados, the anger and passion of Canadian literary discourse grows ever fiercer as the stakes dissolve. But without such megaphonic outbursts all that remains is tame, sanctioned commentary about manufactured non-controversy.
Reviewing with Andre
Zachariah WellsWhen contributing editor Zachariah Wells read Andre Alexis’ critical essay “The Long Decline” in a recent issue of The Walrus, he had a nagging feeling of déjà vu. A couple of days later, he realized why…
February 1, 2010
Dear Mr. Alexis,
Thank you very much for submitting your essay, “The Long Decline,” to Canadian Notes & [...]
Web Exclusive: In Lieu of an Essay on Literary Matters and ‘Bad Back Baseball’
Norm Sibum– or a screed for Brian Fawcett
Sometimes, Fawcett, when I’m writing a piece, a long poem, for instance; and I come down with a case of claustrophobia as a consequence, in order to relieve myself of that unwelcome sensation, I start casting about for a larger backdrop, one that might better accommodate the [...]
Peeing Unrepentantly into Infinity: John Smith’s Fireflies in the Magnolia Grove
Zachariah WellsJohn Smith, Prince Edward Island’s inaugural poet laureate, has been publishing books of poetry since 1972. In spite of his on-Island acclaim, and despite the fact that a Google search of his name – in quotation marks! – turns up nearly six million hits, he remains, I think, very little known outside the cozy confines [...]
Norm Sibum on Tap
Evan JonesNorm Sibum was born in Oberammergau, Germany, in 1947, grew up in Alaska, Missouri, Utah and Washington, and moved to Vancouver, Canada, in 1968. He has published poetry with presses in the UK and Canada, the most recent of which are The Pangborn Defence (Biblioasis, 2008) and Smoke and Lilacs (Carcanet, 2009). His Girls and [...]
Reflections on Scouting
David MasonA few years ago I had a visit from Justin Schiller at my store and that visit initiated a lengthy period of meditation on an aspect of bookselling which, while largely unknown or of no interest to the public, is so central to bookselling that dealers constantly dwell on it. For anyone who doesn’t know [...]
Never Mind the Streets of Paris: An Introduction to John Smith
David hickey“Poems,” John Smith tells us in this issue of CNQ, “can be complicated critters.”
Try to get them in line as you like, it’s true, the words always have a way of slipping out from under your watch. Undisciplined in the art of conformity, good poems stay out late, sending their best lines back to us [...]