The Wrong World

The Wrong World: Selected Stories and Essays of Bertram Brooker, edited and introduced by Gregory Betts, documents important changes in Canadian society at the beginning of the twentieth century. Canada, like many other nations, has engaged with and been influenced by the major periods of the twentieth century, namely modernism and postmodernism. Brooker, a writer and painter is an important but little known actor in Canadian modernism. Brooker lived in a period of intense change, as Canada shook off its primarily agrarian and colonial culture. This deeply shaped his work and inspired his sense of being part of something completely new. In one of the essays in The Wrong World he says “Those of us who are forty or more have passed out of an old civilisation into a new one in half a lifetime – And that has never happened before!” In The Wrong World, Gregory Betts brings both Brooker and this dynamic period back to life, providing a new understanding of the artist and the Canada that shaped his work.

To find out more about Bertram Brooker and Gregory Betts, visit the Open Book Toronto website to read more about both of these interesting characters.

For further information on The Wrong World check out the UOP’s website.