The Wrong ... Review?

Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review, has published a review of the UOP’s newest title from the Canadian Literature Collection. The Wrong World, edited by Gregory Betts, is a collection of previously unpublished works of Betram Brooker, a Canadian pioneer in the realms of literature, visual arts, film, and theatre.

I’m always happy when writers from Canadian Literature review our books, because we at the UOP love our Can Lit. (Don't believe me? Take a look at our backlist – we’ve got everything from Susanna Moodie, to Stephen Leacock, to Northrop Frye and Margaret Atwood.)

I have to admit I got a little over-excited when I read the first line: “Every so often a text comes along that changes how things are done...” and then realized that the comment wasn’t directed towards our volume, but was referring to the other book featured in the review (Reasoning Otherwise: Leftists and the People's Enlightenment in Canada, 1890-1920 written by Ian McKay and published by Between the Lines.)

When it comes to reviews, that’s just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes.

All in all, Bart Vautour has some pretty nice things to say:

Betts has done a great service to the study of modernism in Canada by recovering and arranging these texts. This collection has great pedagogical potential and can contribute much to a rethinking of how modernism is taught in Canada. Part of the text’s usefulness for teaching is its accompanying website (www.press.uottawa.ca) which contains supplementary material such as biographical information, essays and short stories that are not included in the collection, and study questions for the texts that are included. The strength of this collection lies in the fact that it is geared to help both literary scholars do the work of reconnaissance that Ian McKay advocates and that is so important for the study of modernism in Canada while it also facilitates the ability of a new generation of students to do that same work.

To read the review in its entirety, visit the Canadian Literature website, and then scroll down the page for a bit before you start to read. ;)