Left Hook: A Sideways Look at Canadian Writing

by George Bowering

In this collection of incisive, cogent essays, former Poet Laureate and Governor General's Award winner George Bowering explores the varied and often misunderstood landscape of Canadian literature and culture. Offering close readings of the works of a wide array of writers--Michael Ondaatje, Robert Kroetsch, Ethel Wilson, Milton Acorn, Daphne Marleatt, bpNichol and many more--Bowering considers what it means to be a Canadian writer, and a Canadian reader. Throughout, he considers the themes, preoccupations and hooks that abide in our national literature. And amid explorations of Sheila Watson's Double Hook and Margaret Atwood's sharp lines of poetry--"like a hook into an eye"--Bowering manages to land a few punches of his own.

In Left Hook Bowering throws assumptions about national identity into the ring with modernism and postmodernism, regionalism and anti-centrism. Along the way he makes delightful digressions about his personal experiences--growing up in B.C.'s Okanagan Valley playing baseball and reading dime novels; his attraction/repulsion to American culture; discovering poetry as a young man; his first encounter with Al Purdy's teeth-staining homemade wine. Above all, he tells us--with infections enthusiasm--about the books and writers he loves.

Always engaging, Bowering is the ultimate literary conversationalist--informed and intimate, intelligent and irreverent.

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

George Bowering was born and brought up in the Okanagan Valley, amid sand dunes and sagebrush, but he has lived in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta — great sources of hockey stars. Along the way he has stopped to write several books on baseball. He has also picked up Governor General’s Awards for his poetry and fiction, and otherwise been rewarded with prizes for his books, except in his home province of British Columbia. His earlier ECW book, His Life, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for 2000. He lives in Vancouver.

Reviews

[Dana Larose · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays by one of Canada's former Poet Laureates.

I enjoyed most of them, although there were a few that required more background in criticism than I possess.