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Books

Canada produced many first-rate and internationally successful writers in the 20th century, including Margaret Atwood: The Robber Bride (1993); Alias Grace (1996) and The Blind Assassin (2000); Robertson Davies: Fifth Business (1970), The Rebel Angels (1981), What’s Bred in the Bone (1985); Alice Munro: Who Do You Think You Are? (1978); Michael Ondaatje: In the Skin of a Lion (1987); The English Patient (1992); Anil’s Ghost (2000); Jane Urquhart: Away (1993), The Underpainter (1997); Carol Sheilds: The Stone Diaries (1993); Rohinton Mistry: A Fine Balance (1995); and winner of the 2002 Booker Prize, Yann Martel: Life of Pi (2002). All of these are useful for understanding the Canadian psyche, but none comes from British Columbia.

The following have a greater bearing on the Vancouver area: Coupland, Douglas, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (1991), Douglas & MacIntyre. Probably the most famous novel written by a Vancouverite, this came to crystallize the entire post-boomer generation. Recently Coupland put together an interesting book of anecdotes and photos concerning Vancouver, City of Glass (2001). In Souvenir of Canada (2002) he gave the same treatment of quirky pictures and observant witticisms to the country as a whole.

Hodgins, Jack, The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne (1979), Macmillan. All of Hodgkins’ novels deal with characters reconstructed from his Vancouver Island childhood. Eccentric but realistic, they are West Coast archetypes, placed in life-affirming situations and treated with stylistic suppleness in narratives that are playful and sometimes experimental.

Johnson, E Pauline, Legends of Vancouver (1911), Quarry Press. A timeless collection of stories written by this celebrated Native poet, and based on legends recounted to her by Chief Joe Capilano.

King, Thomas, Green Grass, Running Water (1993), Harper Collins. The best-known of Canada’s First Nations authors, King writes with great wit and narrative ease. Also recommended is his collection of short stories, One Good Story, That One (1993). He has also edited All My Relations (1990), an anthology of Native Canadian fiction.

Love, Karen (Ed), Facing History: Portraits from Vancouver (2002), Arsenal Pulp Press. A brand new collection of interesting photos and essays about the city, that knocks the socks off anything else in a similar vein.

McClelland and Stewart, Selected Poems 1961-92, George Bowering (1993). A good overview of the vast body of work of this renowned Vancouverite who has just been named Canada’s first ever Poet Laureate. Burning Water (1980), also by Bowering, is a fine account of George Vancouver’s voyages.

Pistolesi, Andrea, Vancouver: Sunrise to Sunset (1998), Bonechi. Best collection of glossy photos depicting this photogenic city.

Stouck, D & Wilkinson, M (Ed), West by Northwest: BC Short Stories (1998), Polestar. A collection of short modern fiction by BC writers.

Vogel, A & Wyse, D, Vancouver: A History in Photos (1993), Altitude. A visual approach to the city’s past, captured in vintage black and white.

Wilson, Ethel, Swamp Angel (1954), McClelland & Stewart. Born in South Africa, Wilson came to live in Vancouver, becoming one of the first Canadian writers to truly capture the rugged and unsurpassed beauty of the BC landscape. Unpretentious and lucid, her style is typified by this strong sense of place.

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