Talk of the Town

Jack Hodgins, Novelist, Short Story Writer And Teacher

Thu. Nov. 20TH, 7:30-9:00 pm

With: Jack Hodgins, Author Of Distance, McClelland & Stewart, 2003.

There is an oft-quoted description of Jack Hodgins first collection of stories from the Montreal Gazette that is no less potent for its frequent retelling -- Spit Delaney’s Island did for the people of Vancouver Island what William Faulkner did for the South. Spit Delaney’s Island was published in 1976 and received a nomination for the Governor General’s award for fiction. In his subsequent fiction Hodgins has continued to chart the emotional and physical landscape of Vancouver Island, while creating characters whose predicaments in life are universal. His latest novel, Distance, ranges from Cape Scott on Vancouver Island to Ottawa and Australia and back again. And once again, Hodgins brilliantly explores the travails of family relationships and the inter-relationship of human community and landscape. Distance also displays the energy of language and invention that has become Hodgins’ hallmark.

The discussion will take place at UBC’s Robson Square campus. Attendance is free of charge, but please pre-register at info.talkofthetown@ubc.ca or phone 604-822-1700.

For more information on the book you can go the McClelland & Stewart web site: (http://www.mcclelland.com/catalog/display.pperl?0771041993).

Distance

“The novel is at its best -- as Hodgins’s usually are -- in the way it climbs immediately inside how his Vancouver Island people talk to each other. These are uniquely Canadian exchanges of razor wit among self-perceived outsiders with long histories… Also terrific about Distance -- and a good thing too, because it's about the human importance of landscape -- is the natural description of the Vancouver Island forest and the Australian outback: Sonny used to like to puncture the "blisters of pitch" from young white pines, "just to have that scent on his hands the rest of the day." Or Queensland: "Dirt, tufts of grey grass, grey-brown lumps of sheep. A few scraggly trees. On and on and on. Far off, a horizontal bar of earth the colour of dried blood."

Greg Hollingshead, The Globe & Mail

About The Author

JACK HODGINS: Jack Hodgins was born in 1938 in the Comox Valley, on Vancouver Island. After attending the University of British Columbia he taught high school English in Nanaimo, before accepting teaching positions at a number of Canadian universities. He is now a member of the faculty at the University of Victoria, the city where he and his family live.

His literary career has been spectacular. His first book, a collection of stories entitled Spit Delaney’s Island, was nominated for the 1976 Governor General’s Award.

His first novel, The Invention of the World, published a year later, attracted many admiring reviews (“an astounding achievement”, Quill & Quire; “the major work of Canadian magic realism,” Canadian Fiction Magazine), and won the Gibson Literary Award as the best first novel of the year. His second novel, The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne (1979), received still more critical praise and won the Governor General’s Award.

Since then Jack Hodgins has produced five books, including a book for children, Left Behind in Squabble Bay (1988). He has been awarded the Canada-Australia Literature Prize, and has read from his work in countries as distant as Japan and Austria.

Bibliography

• Broken Ground, McClelland & Stewart, 1998; Emblem Editions, 1999
• The Macken Charm, McClelland & Stewart, 1995
• Innocent Cities, McClelland & Stewart, 1990, Emblem Editions, (M & S), 2000
• The Honorary Patron, McClelland & Stewart, 1989
• The Barclay Family Theatre, MacMillan, 1981
• The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne, MacMillan 1979, New Canadian Library, 1997
• The Invention of the World, MacMillan 1977, New Canadian Library, 1994
• Spit Delaney’s Island, MacMillan 1976, New Canadian Library, 1992
• A Passion for Narrative: A Guide to Writing Fiction, M & S (revised), 2001

Links & Readings

Links

The Globe & Mail review of Distance

Greg Hollingshead’s review of Jack Hodgins latest novel.

Impac Literary Prize

A review of Hodgins novel Broken Ground, which was nominated for the richest literary prize in the world in 2000.

Hodgins on the Teaching of Writing

Jack Hodgins has taught in university creative writing progams and written a book called A Passion for Narrative: A Guide to Writing Fiction. This article is based on a keynote address he delivered in Australia in 2000.

The Macken Charm

A review of The Macken Charm by Peter Buitenhuis published in 1995.