“The most important book to be written in more than 40 years about the rise of Canadian literature…
Arrival: The Story of CanLit
brims and crackles, in equal measure, with information and energy.” —
Winnipeg Free Press
A
Globe and Mail
Top 100 Book
National Post
99 Best Books of the Year
In the mid-twentieth century, Canadian literature transformed from a largely ignored trickle of books into an enormous cultural phenomenon that produced Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, Mordecai Richler, and so many others. In
Arrival
, acclaimed writer and critic Nick Mount answers the question: What caused the CanLit Boom?
Written with wit and panache,
tells the story of Canada’s literary awakening. Interwoven with Mount’s vivid tale are enlightening mini-biographies of the people who made it happen, from superstars Leonard Cohen and Marie-Claire Blais to lesser-known lights like the troubled and impassioned Harold Sonny Ladoo. The full range of Canada’s literary boom is here: the underground exploits of the
blew ointment
and
Tish
gangs; revolutionary critical forays by highbrow academics; the blunt-force trauma of our plain-spoken backwoods poetry; and the urgent political writing that erupted from the turmoil in Quebec.
Originally published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Canadian Confederation,
is a dazzling, variegated, and inspired piece of writing that helps explain how we got from there to here.