Alice Munro's Bestiary

Alice Munro's Bestiary
Author: Héliane Ventura
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 238
Release: 2024-10-09
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 103640871X

Taking its cue from medieval bestiaries, this alphabet book is composed of 63 entries ranging from ADDER to WOLFHOUNDS, with each entry juxtaposing an image, an excerpt from a story by Alice Munro, and a commentary. The images are reproduced from original medieval illuminations, the excerpts feature an animal, or a human being depicted through animal comparison, and the commentaries highlight the way Munro suggests relationality between the human and the non-human. Munro troubles the boundaries between good and evil as she troubles the boundaries between human and non-human. Through the mask of the animal, she effects a release from strict morality and proposes an uncommon and undomesticated representation of human life, revolving on simultaneous transcendence and derision. The volume will appeal to Munro scholars and to lovers of Alice Munro alike because it solves some of the enigmas set by her stories but suggests other riddles and more secrets.

The Rapture Index

The Rapture Index
Author: Molly Reid
Publisher: American Reader
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2019
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781942683827

A collection of award-winning stories that put the medieval bestiary through a postmodern blender to explore the wilderness of suburbia.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
Author: David Sedaris
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2010-09-28
Genre: Humor
ISBN: 031613127X

Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life. In "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In "Hello Kitty," a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA meetings. In "The Squirrel and the Chipmunk," a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudiced family members. With original illustrations by Ian Falconer, author of the bestselling Olivia series of children's books, these stories are David Sedaris at his most observant, poignant, and surprising.

Open Letter

Open Letter
Author: Frank Davey
Publisher:
Total Pages: 306
Release: 1987
Genre: Canadian literature
ISBN:

Any Small Thing Can Save You

Any Small Thing Can Save You
Author: Christina Adam
Publisher: Blue Hen Trade Paperbacks
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2001
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780425187623

Bestiaries are instructional guides gathered from fables and told by travelers of the wondrous beasts few have ever seen. Adam's book contains tales that are like these beasts, full of magic, morals and interplay.

Mosaic

Mosaic
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2012
Genre: Comparative literature
ISBN:

The Diviners

The Diviners
Author: Margaret Laurence
Publisher: New Canadian Library
Total Pages: 562
Release: 2008-11-19
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1551992434

The culmination and completion of Margaret Laurence’s celebrated Manawaka cycle, The Diviners is an epic novel. This is the powerful story of an independent woman who refuses to abandon her search for love. For Morag Gunn, growing up in a small Canadian prairie town is a toughening process – putting distance between herself and a world that wanted no part of her. But in time, the aloneness that had once been forced upon her becomes a precious right – relinquished only in her overwhelming need for love. Again and again, Morag is forced to test her strength against the world – and finally achieves the life she had determined would be hers. The Diviners has been acclaimed by many critics as the outstanding achievement of Margaret Laurence’s writing career. In Morag Gunn, Laurence has created a figure whose experience emerges as that of all dispossessed people in search of their birthright, and one who survives as an inspirational symbol of courage and endurance. The Diviners received the Governor General’s Award for Fiction for 1974.