1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910455956903321

Autore

Lynch Gerald <1953->

Titolo

The one and the many : English-Canadian short story cycles / / Gerald Lynch

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2001

©2001

ISBN

1-282-01432-3

9786612014321

1-4426-8194-2

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (256 p.)

Disciplina

813/.010971/0904

Soggetti

Short stories, Canadian - History and criticism

Canadian fiction - 20th century - History and criticism

Cycles (Literature)

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- PREFACE -- Introduction: The Canadian Short Story and Story Cycle -- 1: 'In the Meantime': Duncan Campbell Scott's In the Village of Viger -- 2: Fabian Feminism: J.G. Sime's Sister Woman -- 3: Fabulous Selves: Two Modern Short Story Cycles -- 4: 'To keep what was good and pass it on': George Elliott's The Kissing Man -- 5: No Honey, I'm Home: Alice Munro's Who Do You Think You Are? -- L'Envoi: Continuity/Inclusion/Conclusion -- NOTES -- WORKS CITED -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

The search for the 'Great Canadian Novel' has long continued throughout our history. Controversially, to say the least, Gerald Lynch maintains that a version of it may already have been written - as a great Canadian short story cycle. In this unique text, the author launches into a fascinating literary-historical survey and genre study of the English-Canadian short story cycle - the literary form that occupies the middle ground between short stories and novels. This wide-ranging volume has much to say about the continuing relationship between



place and identity in Canadian literature and culture. Initially, Lynch employs Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town for illustrative purposes, and begins by discussing two definitive features of short story cycles: the ways in which their form conveys meaning and the paramount function of their concluding stories, which are here called 'return stories.' Lynch then devotes five discrete but related chapters to six Canadian short story cycles, spanning some one hundred years from Duncan Campbell Scott to Thomas King, and tracing some surprising continuities in this distinctive genre. A number of the works are discussed extensively for the first time within the tradition of the Canadian short story cycle, which has never before been accorded book-length study in English. This engaging and intelligent volume will be of interest to the general reader as well as specialists in Canadian literature.