Collecting Stamps Would Have Been More Fun

by Stouck, Jordan

• ISBN13: 9780888645210
• ISBN10: 088864521X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-15
• Publisher: Univ of Alberta Pr

Summary

This unique exchange of letters between literary icon Sinclair Ross and several prominent writers, publishers, agents, and editors asks why many Canadian artists, especially those in western provinces, spent a lifetime struggling for recognition and remuneration. Featuring exchanges with Earle Birney, Margaret Laurence, and Margaret Atwood, among others, this collection exposes the conditions of cultural work in Canada for much of the twentieth century. This vivid, often moving, selection of professional and personal letters, plus the only formal interview Ross ever gave, provides a valuable resource for those engaged with the history of publishing in Canada, as well as for those with an interest in Canadian literature. [133 words]

Author Biography

Jordan Stouck teaches discourse analysis at the University of British Columbia (Okanagan), with a particular interest in Canadian and Caribbean diasporic cultures and the history of Canadian literature. David Stouck is Professor Emeritus, Simon Fraser University. He has written biographies of Ethel Wilson and Sinclair Ross and has edited a collection of Ross criticism for University of Toronto Press.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. VII
Introduction	p. IX
Abbreviations	p. XXIX
Chronology	p. XXXI
American Dream: Letters 1933-1945 (short stories and As for Me and My House)	p. 1
Canadian Failure: Letters 1946-1960 (short stories and The Well)	p. 41
ôModest Hopesö: Letters 1962-1971 (Whir of Gold)	p. 91
Succès d'estime: Letters 1972-1974 (Sawbones Memorial)	p. 137
Literary Forefather: Letters 1975-1986	p. 193
Appendix: Interview with Sinclair Ross, 1971	p. 259
Archival Sources	p. 273
Index	p. 281
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