Robert Kroetsch: Essayist, Novelist, Poet

by David Staines (Editor)

Robert Essayist, Novelist, Poet brings together an international cast of critics, scholars, and writers to examine, re-examine, and honour the celebrated author’s immense significance in the twenty-first century, and what it means to be Canadian and part of the country’s literary landscape. Original essays by Dennis Cooley, Phil Hall, Nicole Markotić, Aritha van Herk, and Rudy Wiebe, among others. The author of nine novels, thirteen books of poetry, and seven non-fiction volumes, Robert Kroetsch (1927 2011) was a major figure in the development and history of literature in Canada. He won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction for The Studhorse Man (1969) and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry for The Hornbooks of Rita K. (2001). He received honorary degrees from the University of Winnipeg (1983) and the University of Alberta (1997), and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (2004). Robert Kroetsch stands as a seminal figure in the Canadian literary landscape. In his early fiction he introduced postmodern techniques into the mainstream of Canadian fiction. He then moved on to writing poetry while still writing fiction, and created a new vision for poets across the country, defining the nature of the poetic experience by searching out the roots of his place in the Canadian landscape. Robert Essayist, Novelist, Poet is a timely reminder of the immense significance that Kroetsch holds in the twenty-first-century understanding of what it means to be Canadian and part of the country’s literary landscape.

256 pages, Paperback

Published February 18, 2020

About the author

David Staines is a Canadian literary critic, university professor, writer, and editor. Staines studied at the University of Toronto, where he obtained a BA in 1967, and at Harvard University, where he obtained an MA in 1968 and a PhD in 1973.

He currently serves as a Professor of English at the University of Ottawa. He has written or edited more than 15 books on medieval culture and literature, and on Canadian culture and literature. He is now engaged in the arduous task of reading and writing on “The History and Development of Canadian Fiction.” Staines is a member of the Board of Trustees of the RBC Taylor Prize.

In 2011, he was awarded the Order of Ontario for helping to establish the Giller Prize, Canada's highest award for fiction, and the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. In 2011, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as a champion of Canadian literature and mentor to young writers."