Ground Works: Avant-Garde for Thee

by Christian Bök, Margaret Atwood (Introduction)

"This anthology of Canadian experimental writers evokes the rich and unexpected heritage of current Canadian fiction. It contains groundbreakingly ruptured, side-splittingly excessive, weirdly lucid, and above all, endlessly interesting writing. Contributors include Michael Ondaatje, Leonard Cohen, Graeme Gibson, Christopher Dewdney, George Bowering, and Matt Cohen, as well as innovators such as Ray Smith, J. Michael Yates, Gail Scott, Andreas Schroeder, Audrey Thomas, and Robert Zend."

Genres: Anthologies, Fiction, Short Stories, Canada

256 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Christian Bök (born Christian Book) is a Canadian experimental poet. He began writing seriously in his early twenties, while earning his B.A. and M.A. degrees at Carleton University in Ottawa. He returned to Toronto in the early 1990s to study for a Ph.D. in English literature at York University, where he encountered a burgeoning literary community that included Steve McCaffery, Christopher Dewdney, and Darren Wershler-Henry.

In addtion to his poetry, Bök has created conceptual art, making artist's books from Rubik's cubes and Lego bricks. He has also worked in science-fiction television by designing artificial languages for Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict and Peter Benchley's Amazon.

As of 2005, he teaches at the University of Calgary.

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb! Canadian pomo extravaganza. Contents:

Leonard Cohen—Beautiful Losers (available)
Audrey Thomas—Ten Green Bottles (out of print)
Graeme Gibson—Five Legs (available)
Ray Smith—Cape Breton is the Thought-Control Capital Centre of Canada (available)
Michael Ondaatje—The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (available)
Chris Scott—Bartleby (available)
J. Michael Yates—The Abstract Beast (out of print)
Andreas Schroeder—The Late Man (out of print)
Christopher Dewdney—Fovea Centralis (out of print)
Matt Cohen—From The Story So Four (out of print)
Martin Vaughn-James—From The Story So Four (out of print)
George Bowering—A Short Sad Book (out of print)
Daphne Marlatt—Zócalo (out of print)
John Riddell—Criss-Cross (out of print)
Dave Godfrey—Dark Must Yield (out of print)
Robert Zend—Daymares (available)
Derk Wynand—One Cook, Once Dreaming (out of print)
Gail Scott—Spare Parts (available)
bpNichol—Still (out of print)
Steve McCaffery—Panopticon (available)

[Olive Steele · Rating 5 out of 5]

GROUND WORKS: Avant-Garde for Thee is an Anthology. Edited by Christian Bok and Introduced by Canadian Writer Margaret Atwood. An excellent read; funny, bold, and easy. I enjoyed every minute of reading it. I gave the book five stars!

[A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very difficult book to get through, and understand. I get that avant-garde means experimentation with the art form, but when it's at the expense of being coherent, it's just annoying. It often feels narcissistic. I'd only recommend five entries or so out of the entire anthology.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection from Canadian wordsmiths. I read this collection almost 6 years ago and still pilfer through it every now and again for enjoyment. Highly recommended to the off-beat reader.