From a High Thin Wire

by Joan Clark

In 1982, From a High Thin Wire introduced a powerful new voice into Canadian fiction. Twenty years later, Joan Clark, a powerhouse in Canadian fiction, re-edited her debut collection from the perspective of a more mature writer — an unusual feat for most writers. The ten frank yet subtle fictions in this collection are loosely based on Joan Clark's own life. Like Emily, a character who recurs in several stories, Clark left Cape Breton for Alberta as a young woman, only to struggle later with her sense of not quite belonging. Shortly after its publication, William French wrote in The Globe and Mail , "[Clark has] that admirable ability to peel away the skin and let us see all the complex influences that intersect to make a particular woman act as she does... She has a fine sense of the infinite possibilities of life that are somehow never realized because of the limitations of human nature." Having lived in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, and Newfoundland, Joan Clark brought and still brings an intimate knowledge of many parts of Canada to her writing. In "God's Country," Emily feels compelled to return from Calgary to Harbour Mines, Cape Breton, where she rages against the "eye of God" that has reduced the miner's son she once loved to a mute old man. "Her Father's Daughter" finds the teenaged Emily confusing her affection for her lonely father with her own budding sexual longings. "Historical Fiction," a comic allegory of university life, imagines first-year virgins guarded in their dorm by a witch with a cat named Freud, and in the title story, two sisters come back "from away" to bury their mother, whom they recall as a small bird, "singing from a high, thin wire." Told from the perspective of women at different ages, the stories in From a High Thin Wire explore how childhood experiences can sometimes shape adult choices. They also showcase the genius of the accomplished writer Joan Clark would become.

152 pages, Paperback

Published March 8, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Joan Clark BA, D.Litt (hon.) (née MacDonald)is a Canadian fiction author.

Born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Clark spent her youth in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She attended Acadia University for its drama program, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with English major in 1957.[1] She has worked as a teacher

Clark lived in Alberta for two decades and attended Edmonton's University of Alberta. She and Edna Alford started the literary journal Dandelion in that province in the mid-1970s. She eventually returned to Atlantic Canada, settling in Newfoundland.

Joan Clark's early work consisted primarily of literature for children and young adults, such as Girl of the Rockies (1968), The Hand of Robin Squires (1977), and The Moons of Madeleine (1987). By contrast, her 1982 short-story collection, From a High Thin Wire, is a decidedly mature and sometimes sexually charged work. This volume was revisited by Clark and republished with revisions in 2004. Clark has a reputation for continuously revising her works even after their initial printing.

Joan Clark's next publication for adult readers was The Victory of Geraldine Gull (1988), a novel examining the clashes of culture and religion between Cree, Ojibwa, and white communities in Niska, a village in Hudson Bay. The Victory of Geraldine Gull was a finalist for the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD and the Books in Canada First Novel Award. Clark published a second collection of short stories, Swimming Towards the Light, in 1990. The following year she was presented with the Marian Engel Award, recognizing her entire body of work.

Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck (1993) was the first of two novels by Clark based on the Viking presence in Newfoundland. The novel focuses on Freydis Eiriksdottir, daughter of Eirik the Red and sister to Leif ("The Lucky") Eirikson. The Dream Carvers (1995) follows the adventures of Thrand, a Norse child.

Clark wrote her first published novel as a young stay-at-home mother, writing in longhand during her infant son’s naptimes. “I had never written fiction before and was amazed that I had been walking around without knowing that there was a story inside my head. That joy of discovery has kept me writing ever since.”

Clark served on the jury at the 2001 Giller Prize.

Clark lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.