Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- The Canadian Short Story: Status, Criticism, Historical Survey
- 1 Canadian Animal Stories: Charles G. D. Roberts, “Do Seek Their Meat from God” (1892)
- 2 Tory Humanism, Ironic Humor, and Satire: Stephen Leacock, “The Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythias” (1912)
- 3 The Beginnings of Canadian Modernism: Raymond Knister, “The First Day of Spring” (written 1924/25)
- 4 From Old World Aestheticist Immoralist to Prairie Moral Realist: Frederick Philip Grove, “Snow” (1926/1932)
- 5 Psychological Realism, Immigration, and City Fiction: Morley Callaghan, “Last Spring They Came Over” (1927)
- 6 Modernism, Prairie Fiction, and Gender: Sinclair Ross, “The Lamp at Noon” (1938)
- 7 “An Artful Artlessness”: Ethel Wilson, “We Have to Sit Opposite“ (1945)
- 8 Social Realism and Compassion for the Underdog: Hugh Garner, “One-Two-Three Little Indians” (1950)
- 9 The Perils of Human Relationships: Joyce Marshall, “The Old Woman” (1952)
- 10 The Social Critic at Work: Mordecai Richler, “Benny, the War in Europe, and Myerson's Daughter Bella” (1956)
- Myth and the Postmodernist Turn in Canadian Short Fiction: Sheila Watson, “Antigone” (1959)
- 12 The Modernist Aesthetic: Hugh Hood, “Flying a Red Kite” (1962)
- Doing Well in the International Thing?: Mavis Gallant, “The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street” (1963)
- 14 (Un-)Doing Gender: Alice Munro, “Boys and Girls” (1964)
- 15 Collective Memory and Personal Identity in the Prairie Town of Manawaka: Margaret Laurence, “The Loons” (1966)
- 16 “Out of Place”: Clark Blaise, “A Class of New Canadians” (1970)
- 17 Realism and Parodic Postmodernism: Audrey Thomas, “Aquarius” (1971)
- 18 “The Problem Is to Make the Story”: Rudy Wiebe, “Where Is the Voice Coming from?” (1971)
- 19 The Canadian Writer as Expatriate: Norman Levine, “We All Begin in a Little Magazine” (1972)
- 20 Canadian Artist Stories: John Metcalf, “The Strange Aberration of Mr. Ken Smythe” (1973)
- 21 “A Literature of a Whole World and of a Real World”: Jane Rule, “Lilian” (1977)
- 22 Failure as Liberation: Jack Hodgins, “The Concert Stages of Europe” (1978)
- 23 Figures in a Landscape: William Dempsey Valgardson, “A Matter of Balance” (1982)
- 24 “The Translation of the World into Words” and the Female Tradition: Margaret Atwood, “Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother” (1983)
- 25 “Southern Preacher”: Leon Rooke, “The Woman Who Talked to Horses” (1984)
- 26 Nativeness as Third Space: Thomas King, “Borders” (1991)
- 27 Digressing to Inner Worlds: Carol Shields, “Our Men and Women” (1999)
- 28 A Sentimental Journey: Janice Kulyk Keefer, “Dreams:Storms:Dogs” (1999)
- Further Reading on the Canadian Short Story
- Time Chart: The Short Story in the USA, Canada, and Great Britain
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
20 - Canadian Artist Stories: John Metcalf, “The Strange Aberration of Mr. Ken Smythe” (1973)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- The Canadian Short Story: Status, Criticism, Historical Survey
- 1 Canadian Animal Stories: Charles G. D. Roberts, “Do Seek Their Meat from God” (1892)
- 2 Tory Humanism, Ironic Humor, and Satire: Stephen Leacock, “The Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythias” (1912)
- 3 The Beginnings of Canadian Modernism: Raymond Knister, “The First Day of Spring” (written 1924/25)
- 4 From Old World Aestheticist Immoralist to Prairie Moral Realist: Frederick Philip Grove, “Snow” (1926/1932)
- 5 Psychological Realism, Immigration, and City Fiction: Morley Callaghan, “Last Spring They Came Over” (1927)
- 6 Modernism, Prairie Fiction, and Gender: Sinclair Ross, “The Lamp at Noon” (1938)
- 7 “An Artful Artlessness”: Ethel Wilson, “We Have to Sit Opposite“ (1945)
- 8 Social Realism and Compassion for the Underdog: Hugh Garner, “One-Two-Three Little Indians” (1950)
- 9 The Perils of Human Relationships: Joyce Marshall, “The Old Woman” (1952)
- 10 The Social Critic at Work: Mordecai Richler, “Benny, the War in Europe, and Myerson's Daughter Bella” (1956)
- Myth and the Postmodernist Turn in Canadian Short Fiction: Sheila Watson, “Antigone” (1959)
- 12 The Modernist Aesthetic: Hugh Hood, “Flying a Red Kite” (1962)
- Doing Well in the International Thing?: Mavis Gallant, “The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street” (1963)
- 14 (Un-)Doing Gender: Alice Munro, “Boys and Girls” (1964)
- 15 Collective Memory and Personal Identity in the Prairie Town of Manawaka: Margaret Laurence, “The Loons” (1966)
- 16 “Out of Place”: Clark Blaise, “A Class of New Canadians” (1970)
- 17 Realism and Parodic Postmodernism: Audrey Thomas, “Aquarius” (1971)
- 18 “The Problem Is to Make the Story”: Rudy Wiebe, “Where Is the Voice Coming from?” (1971)
- 19 The Canadian Writer as Expatriate: Norman Levine, “We All Begin in a Little Magazine” (1972)
- 20 Canadian Artist Stories: John Metcalf, “The Strange Aberration of Mr. Ken Smythe” (1973)
- 21 “A Literature of a Whole World and of a Real World”: Jane Rule, “Lilian” (1977)
- 22 Failure as Liberation: Jack Hodgins, “The Concert Stages of Europe” (1978)
- 23 Figures in a Landscape: William Dempsey Valgardson, “A Matter of Balance” (1982)
- 24 “The Translation of the World into Words” and the Female Tradition: Margaret Atwood, “Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother” (1983)
- 25 “Southern Preacher”: Leon Rooke, “The Woman Who Talked to Horses” (1984)
- 26 Nativeness as Third Space: Thomas King, “Borders” (1991)
- 27 Digressing to Inner Worlds: Carol Shields, “Our Men and Women” (1999)
- 28 A Sentimental Journey: Janice Kulyk Keefer, “Dreams:Storms:Dogs” (1999)
- Further Reading on the Canadian Short Story
- Time Chart: The Short Story in the USA, Canada, and Great Britain
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
Summary
In an interview with Geoff Hancock in 1981, John Metcalf stated:
We now have sophisticated writers who make considerable demands on readers.
Compare this with what we had before. When I arrived in Canada in 1962, the Canadian story was more tale or yarn. … Heavy on plot and light on brains, style, and elegance. … Callaghan may have known Hemingway but I can't see any evidence that he learned from him. It was Hugh Hood with Flying a Red Kite who signalled that we were joining the rest of the 20th century. (Metcalf 1982a, 13)
Asked by Hancock whether anything had changed concerning the short story in Canada in the previous decade, Metcalf replied: “It's changed out of recognition” (Metcalf 1982a, 12).
This brief extract from an interview may serve to indicate, if indirectly, that John Metcalf has been the most important supporter and mentor of short fiction in Canada (even surpassing Robert Weaver from CBC Radio in this respect). For almost five decades now Metcalf has worked devotedly to this purpose, in several ways and with unflinching determination: as a cultural critic, literary critic, anthologizer, editor of short fiction, and also as a short-fiction writer himself.
As suggested in the quotation above, Metcalf started out as an immigrant to Canada in 1962. He was born in Carlisle, England, in 1938 to a schoolteacher and a Methodist minister (for biographical information see Rollins 1985). Metcalf was a voracious reader at school and university, which he completed with a B.A. in 1960 and a Certificate in Education in 1961 (Rollins, 155). After several teaching jobs in England, he went to Canada to teach English and Canadian history at a high school in Montreal. He soon became aware of the relative dearth of Canadian literature and Canadian literary studies at the time and, after settling in Canada in 1966 for good (and becoming a Canadian citizen in 1970), he developed into one of the most outspoken and severe critics of Canadian culture, cultural policy, and of Canadian literature, with a special dedication to Canadian short fiction (see Nischik 1987).
Metcalf's main goal at the time was to make Canadians conscious of and interested in their own literature, that is, to make Canadians read Canadian literature (he claimed in 1986 that “one out of every five Canadians is functionally illiterate,” see Metcalf 1986b, 4).
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- Information
- The Canadian Short StoryInterpretations, pp. 283 - 298Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007