Hugo Wong/B次元官网网址 staff
From Sept. 22 to 24, 14 Canadian authors will descend on the Mary Winspear Centre for the Sidney and Peninsula Literary Festival. This is the second of three profiles from the Peninsula B次元官网网址 Review.
When asked what he would be reading at the Sidney and Peninsula Literary Festival, Guy Vanderhaeghe, speaking from his home in Saskatoon, replied with a laugh. B次元官网网址淚 havenB次元官网网址檛 quite made up my mind yet.B次元官网网址�
The 66-year old writer, who has never been to Sidney, says he will most likely read from Daddy Lenin, his latest short story collection from 2015 and one of his novels set in the 19th century American and Canadian west, but he has a large and varied catalogue to choose from. He has written short stories, plays, and novels to critical acclaim, and like many Canadian authors, VanderhaegheB次元官网网址檚 work is deeply rooted in the rugged and the rural, with clear links to a nascent Canadian literary movement.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 hard to remember how different things were 40 years ago. Forty years ago CanLit was a fairly new phenomenon and I think a lot of people thought that the places where they lived and the country where they lived and worked wasnB次元官网网址檛 actually represented that well or in much detail, so I think part of it was a conscious decision B次元官网网址ut on the other hand, I would argue that itB次元官网网址檚 purely a natural thing, to write about what youB次元官网网址檙e familiar with and what you love and whatB次元官网网址檚 rooted deeply in your bones.B次元官网网址�
His rural upbringing and his masterB次元官网网址檚 degree in history is clearly reflected in his work, which is full of real historical details.
His interests led him to write three historical novels about the development of the West in the late 19th century. The first of those novels, The EnglishmanB次元官网网址檚 Boy (about the Cypress Hills Massacre and 1920s Hollywood), won him his second Governor GeneralB次元官网网址檚 Award and was turned into a CBC miniseries in 2008.
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 plan or plot what you would call a marketing strategy. I donB次元官网网址檛 attempt to figure out what people might want to read. I write what interests me and what IB次元官网网址檓 curious about. I hope that I will find an audience in some of the same things.B次元官网网址�
His latest short story collection is a change after three long historical novels, but it is actually a return to his work from the 1970s and B次元官网网址�80s like Man Descending, which won him his first Governor GeneralB次元官网网址檚 award.
B次元官网网址淲hen I started writing novels, some reviewers would say B次元官网网址榳ell, heB次元官网网址檚 not as good a novelist as a short story writer,B次元官网网址� then I arrived at the point where I wrote a couple of novels and people had forgotten that I had ever written short stories!B次元官网网址�
Vanderhaeghe sees Daddy Lenin as a sort of sequel to Man Descending, which chronicles men who are looking back, men who are VanderhaegheB次元官网网址檚 age now. Reviewers have noted his wry characterizations of rural, rough and tumble men, some of whom are a little foolish. He says he is gratified when he meets readers who say his work helped them understand a man in their life who might resemble one of his characters, even though he is careful to say that he is B次元官网网址渘ot talking about therapy.B次元官网网址�
Vanderhaeghe says meeting people at literary festivals helps his perspective as well.
B次元官网网址淢ost of a writerB次元官网网址檚 life is spent in a very solitary fashion. YouB次元官网网址檙e sitting in a room and youB次元官网网址檙e writing and thereB次元官网网址檚 not much contact with people. So things like literary festivals I think remind you about the people who you hope to be writing for.B次元官网网址�
