Book Description

Is it possible to write an artistically respectable and theoretically convincing religious novel in a non-religious age?

Book Description

Book Description

Book Description
As André Alexis says in his introduction, "There is much to talk about in these stories" because Callaghan is "writing about the inherent, he is after what lies within," and Callaghan's characters are inherently "in flight, hard to grasp, on the verge of change, subject to unexpected and unsuspected impulses: the irrational (anger, violence, jealousy, sexual desire, blind hatred...) His chosen subject was the fleeting."

Introduction by André Alexis
Edited by Barry Callaghan ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Tremendous fiction
Morley Callaghan is one of the finest Canadian writers I have come across. His themes may not always appeal to a broad readership, since they are sometimes fairly parochial in nature, giving him a wide claim to being agenuine "Canadian" author (rather than North-American). However,he is a truly international writer as well, of a calibre I've not oftenencountered. Perhaps his career didn't quite have the impact of ErnestHemingway's (with whom he was quite friendly in the thirties) or GrahamGreene's, but the quality of his work puts him very much in their class."A Time for Judas" is a good example of this. Callaghan takes us,in a Gore Vidal-like fashion, back to the time of Christ and recounts amarvellous tale set in and around Jerusalem. It is not only well-writtenand exciting, but as a purported account of the "true" events ofthe time (left to be discovered on papyrus centuries later), it falls intoa sort of mystery tradition which is very hard to pull off, from a writingpoint of view. With complete confidence, Callaghan tells a tale which willthrill and perhaps even enlighten you, and have you seeking out more of hiswork. Fortunately, there is a relative abundance so find this one if youcan. ... Read more

Book Description
The Ontario farmland described with arresting clarity in White Narcissus is, despite its beauty and abundance, “a place of choked vistas” where bitterness and rivalry have taken root. Against this backdrop Raymond Knister portrays the triumph of longing over despair, as his hero, Richard Milne, struggles to redeem his childhood sweetheart from the spiritual imprisonment of her parents’ home.

First published in 1929, White Narcissus was a groundbreaking work in the development of the Canadian realist novel, fusing Knister’s imagistic sensibility with the deeply felt experience of a real time and place.

Knister died tragically at the age of thirty-three, before his contribution was recognized in his own country and before the full potential of his remarkable talent could be realized. ... Read more