Name: Margaret Laurence and Jack McClelland, Letters
Brand: University of Alberta Press (CA)
SKU: 9781772123357
Price: 33.99 GBP
Availability: InStock

Margaret Laurence and Jack McClelland, Letters

Edited by: Laura K. Davis, Edited by: Linda M. Morra

Published by University of Alberta Press (CA)

In Stock

£33.99

Format: Paperback
Pages: 696
Illustrations: 12 b/w photos
ISBN: 9781772123357
Publication Date: 30-Apr-2018

Subjects:
Anthologies (non-poetry)
Literature: history & criticism
Canada

Quantity

Margaret Laurence and Jack McClelland--one of Canada's most beloved writers and one of Canada's most significant publishers--enjoyed an unusual rapport. In this collection of annotated letters, readers gain rare insight into the private side of these literary icons. Their correspondence reveals a professional relationship that evolved into deep friendship over a period of enormous cultural change. Both were committed to the idea of Canadian writing; in a very real sense, their mutual and separate work helped bring "Canadian Literature" into being. With its insider's view of the book business from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, Margaret Laurence and Jack McClelland, Letters presents a valuable piece of Canadian literary history curated and annotated by Davis and Morra. This is essential reading for all those interested in Canada's literary culture.

Laura K. Davis is a tenured faculty member who specializes in Canadian literature at Red Deer College, Alberta.

Dr. Linda M. Morra is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at Bishop's University. Her publications include Unarrested Archives: Case Studies in Twentieth-Century Authorship (2014), a co-edited collection of essays, Basements and Attics, Closets and Cyberspace: Explorations in Canadian Women's Archives (2012), and an edition of Jane Rule's memoir, Taking My Life (2011).

"One of the most important writers at McClelland & Stewart in the house's heyday, [Margaret] Laurence formed a bond with flamboyant publisher Jack McClelland. The 400 or so letters that passed between them show a deep mutual respect and offer up many insights into writing and publishing in Canada.... [The book] exposes a great deal about Laurence's craft, her difficulties with censorship, and McClelland's commercial ups and downs.... The letters themselves are revealing and frequently fascinating." George Fetherling, Quill & Quire, May 2018

"[Margaret Laurence and Jack McClelland, Letters] documents the era through the warm, nostalgic filter of private letters between one of the country's most acclaimed novelists and her publisher. It is a sweet book, funny and angry by turn, and a delight to read." [Full review at https://www.blacklocks.ca/book-review-im-betting-on-you] -- Holly Doan -- Blacklock's Reporter, 20180623

"For scholars, this volume offers a wealth of insight into Canadian publishing history and into Laurence's creative practice. The annotations and introduction, though of somewhat uneven quality, are nevertheless thoughtful and richly informative. These entertaining letters tell an absorbing story about the development of Canadian literary culture, as well as about the relationship of two extraordinary individuals." -- Faye Hammill, The Times Literary Supplement -- 20190409

"Few epistolary volumes have as strong a claim to true importance as Margaret Laurence and Jack McClelland.... More than that, though, the book captures several generations, offering a broad look at copyright, the changing technology of publishers, political discontent in Canada, the burgeoning national literary scene, general readers' and reviewers' conservatism,... and writers' creative process.... [A] major achievement of this book is its insight into Laurence as a major cog in the wheels of Canada's publishing and arts scenes...." -- Jeffrey Aaron Weingarten, Canadian Literature -- 20191025