New book for Dr. Kruk

Congratulations to Dr. Laurie Kruk, associate professor of English, on the publication of her new book, Double-Voicing the Canadian Short Story (University of Ottawa Press).

The book is the first comparative study of eight internationally and nationally acclaimed writers of short fiction: Sandra Birdsell, Timothy Findley, Jack Hodgins, Thomas King, Alistair MacLeod, Olive Senior, Carol Shields and Guy Vanderhaeghe. With the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature going to Alice Munro, the “master of the contemporary short story,” this art form is receiving the recognition that has been its due and—as this book demonstrates—Canadian writers have long excelled in it. From theme to choice of narrative perspective, from emphasis on irony, satire and parody to uncovering the multiple layers that make up contemporary Canadian English, the short story provides a powerful vehicle for a distinctively Canadian “double-voicing”. The stories discussed here are compelling reflections on our most intimate roles and relationships and Dr. Kruk offers a thoughtful juxtaposition of themes of gender, mothers and sons, family storytelling, otherness in Canada and the politics of identity to name but a few. As a multi-author study,Double-Voicing the Canadian Short Story is broad in scope and its readings are valuable to Canadian literature as a whole, making the book of interest to students of Canadian literature or the short story, and to readers of both.

"Double-Voicing the Canadian Short Story could not be a more timely study, appearing as it does in the wake of Alice Munro's 2013 Nobel Prize. But Kruk urges readers to look beyond our national avatar of the form; engaging with the short fiction of Sandra Birdsell, Timothy Findley, Jack Hodgins, Thomas King, Alistair MacLeod, Olive Senior, Carol Shields and Guy Vanderhaeghe, Kruk persuasively shows us how the Canadian short story, as a 'double-voiced' genre, unsettles complacencies and is a powerful tool of subaltern creativity," said Dr. Lorraine York, professor of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster Univeristy.

The book is scheduled to be launched at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, at the University of Calgary, May 28 – June 3.