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Mythology gives shape to experience and provides a framework in which to locate oneself. However, women, in classical mythology, were either denied a representation and, thus, a history and genealogy, or they were portrayed ambiguously, making it difficult for women to find their own identity. Katrin M. Fennesz focuses on the representation of women in novels by the Canadian author Aritha van Herk and analyzes how she transports women's fictional lives into our postmodern world by using and abusing classical, biblical, and indigenous mythology. Ultimately, she demonstrates that van Herk succeeds in creating a new mythology by digging deep to discover women's original strengths and powers. In the end, mythological characters are given new life, women a voice, the landscape is granted its own identity, and the city of Calgary its own face. This study is aimed at students and scholars in the field of Canadian Literary Studies. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal, published by Canadian Ethnic Studies Association on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 897 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Aritha van Herk: Essays on Her Work.(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Nicholas Birns
Publication: Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2002
Publisher: Canadian Ethnic Studies Association
Volume: 34Issue: 2Page: 144(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, published by Bibliographical Society of Canada on March 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1577 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Aritha van Herk Papers: First Accession.(Bibliography)
Author: Sheila Latham
Publication: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 2002
Publisher: Bibliographical Society of Canada
Volume: 40Issue: 1Page: 79(5)

Article Type: Bibliography

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Chapters: Aritha Van Herk, Kelly Kisio, Rod Buskas, Martin Sonnenberg, Jackson Davies, Paul Greene, Gus Marker, Val Fonteyne. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 28. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Aritha van Herk (born 26 May 1954) is a Canadian writer, critic, editor, and university professor. She was born in Wetaskiwin, Alberta (near Edmonton). Her parents and elder siblings immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands before she was born. She grew up in a bilingual home, speaking English and Dutch. In 1974, she married Robert Jay Sharp, who is a geologist. Van Herk studied Canadian literature and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, graduating with a B.A. Honours in 1976, and an M.A. in 1978. Since 1983, van Herk has been teaching at the University of Calgary. She teaches Creative Writing, Canadian Literature, and Contemporary Narrative. Van Herks writing career began with the publication of her M.A. thesis in 1978. Judith a novel that explores a feisty female protagonists experiences in both rural and urban Canadian spaces, was the first winner of the Seal First Novel Award (C$50,000) from McClelland and Stewart, which granted the book international distribution throughout North America and Europe. With her second novel, The Tent Peg (1981), van Herk continued to focus on issues of both female experience and the Canadian wilderness in a narrative where the female protagonist disguises herself as a man in order to get a job as a cook in a northern geological bush-camp. Van Herk established herself as a postmodern novelist by challenging classic myths and mythology, upending notions of both gender and genre, and experimenting with humour and magic realism. Van Herk would continue to subvert literary conventions with her third novel, No Fixed Address: An Amorous ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=575557 ... Read more

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Chapters: Todd Mcfarlane, Nancy Huston, W. P. Kinsella, Aritha Van Herk, Janette Oke, Brad Fraser, Jerry Auld, Gwen Pharis Ringwood, Doris Anderson, Ted Byfield, Alice Major, Betty Lambert, John A. English, Colby Cosh, Doris Mccarthy, Linda Smith, Morris Shumiatcher, Michael Wex, Gloria Sawai, Robert Kroetsch, David Carpenter, Hazel Hutchins, Malcolm Azania, Norman Conrad, Roy Kiyooka, Fiona Patton, Fred Stenson, John Krizanc, Candas Jane Dorsey, Robert Cohen, Mark Anthony Jarman, René Dahinden, Todd Babiak, Shirlee Matheson, Shenaaz Nanji, Peter Oliva, James Martin, Merna Summers. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 112. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Todd McFarlane (born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian cartoonist, writer, toy designer and entrepreneur, best known for his work in comic books, such as the fantasy series Spawn. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, McFarlane became a comic book superstar due to his work on Marvel Comics' Spider-Man franchise. In 1992, he helped form Image Comics, pulling the occult anti-hero character Spawn from his high school portfolio and updating him for the 1990s. Spawn was a popular hero in the 1990s and encouraged a trend in creator-owned comic book properties. In recent years, McFarlane has illustrated comic books less often, focusing on entrepreneurial efforts, such as McFarlane Toys and Todd McFarlane Entertainment, a film and animation studio. In September, 2006, it was announced that McFarlane will be the Art Director of the newly formed 38 Studios, formerly Green Monster Games, founded by major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling. McFarlane used to be co-owner of National Hockey League's Edmonton Oilers but sold his shares to Daryl Katz. He's also a high-profile collector of history-making baseballs. McFarlane was born in Calgary, Alberta, ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=82471 ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada, published by Bibliographical Society of Canada on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 681 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Mary McConnell, Cameron Treleaven, Aritha van Herk. Editions and Impressions: Collectors and Their Love of the Works of L.M. Montgomery.(Book Review)
Author: Cecily Devereux
Publication: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Bibliographical Society of Canada
Volume: 43Issue: 2Page: 101(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Labour/Le Travail, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2007. The length of the article is 1350 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Aritha van Herk, Mavericks: An Incorrigible History of Alberta.(Book review)
Author: Terry L. Chapman
Publication: Labour/Le Travail (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Issue: 60Page: 294(3)

Article Type: Book review

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Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Kai Nielsen, Naweed Syed, Ted Morton, David H. Kelley, Hugh Dempsey, W. P. Kinsella, Aritha Van Herk, Frank W. Stahnisch, Christian Bök, Fred Wah, David Bercuson, Eric Charles Milner, Robert J. Elliott, M. Elizabeth Cannon, Glenn Price, Barry Baldwin, Peter Fitzgerald-Moore, David Comer, Alan Dowty, Leonard Waverman. Excerpt:Alan Dowty is Professor of Political Science Emeritus, University of Notre Dame . He was formerly Kahanoff Chair Professor of Israel Studies at the University of Calgary , 2003-2006, and President of the Association for Israel Studies, 2005-2007. Dowty acquired a B.A. from Shimer College (1959) and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1963). He returned to Shimer to teach for a time in 1966, and as of 2010 is the vice president of the Shimer College Alumni Association. His recent work focuses on Israeli politics and the Arab-Israel conflict. Ira Sharkansky of The Hebrew University calls Dowty's "The Jewish State: A Century Later," "the most thorough and sensitive asessment of Israel's democracy that I have seen." Publications References (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Aritha van Herk Aritha van Herk (born 26 May 1954 ) is a Canadian writer, critic, editor, and university professor. She was born in Wetaskiwin , Alberta (near Edmonton ). Her parents and elder siblings immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands before she was born. She grew up in a bilingual home, speaking English and Dutch . In 1974, she married Robert Jay Sharp, who is a geologist. Van Herk studied Canadian literature and Creative Writing at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, graduating with a B.A. Honours in 1976, and an M.A. in 1978. Since 1983, van Herk has been teaching at the University of Calgary . She teaches Creative Writing, Canadian Litera... ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from American Review of Canadian Studies, published by Association for Canadian Studies in the United States on December 22, 2001. The length of the article is 3254 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Calgary cousinage of Restlessness.
Author: Aritha Van Herk
Publication: American Review of Canadian Studies (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2001
Publisher: Association for Canadian Studies in the United States
Volume: 31Issue: 4Page: 589(9)

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After five years buried like a mole amid the decaying maps and manuscripts of an historical institute, Lou is given a welcome field assignment: to catalogue a nineteenth-century library, improbably located in an octagonal house on a remote island in northern Ontario. Eager to reconstruct the estate’s curious history, she is unprepared for her discovery that the island has one other inhabitant: a bear.

Lou’s imagination is soon overtaken by the estate’s historical occupants, whose fascination with bear lore becomes her own. Irresistibly, Lou is led along a path of emotional and sexual self-discovery, as she explores the limits of her own animal nature through her bizarre and healing relationship with the bear.

A daring and compelling novel, Marian Engel’s Bear won the Governor General’s Award for 1976.


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Customer Reviews (4)

Elegant, exquisite and very different
Strange and elegant book about a summer, a woman and a bear on an island -- also about books and knowledge.I could not (um) bear interruptions whilst reading this short novel and gobbled it up in one sitting.Definitely goes on my This Year's Best Reading list. Marian Engel was a brilliant Canadian writer who won the Governor General's Award with "Bear" in 1976 which itself is rather shocking given the content and tenor of the times.

A Special Paradise for the few
And like all paradises, transient, for without loss, a paradise does not exist.

Marian Engel weaves a dense, exposed little world for her character and the reader, I'm not sure I can say more than the other reviewers, but only express my joy with the book.It's funny to see what is disturbing for some, tepid for others, and downright heaven incarnate in the north woods for others.

More than you think
Bear is more than just a story about a woman on an island, interacting with a bear.It is about a woman who finds her place in life, her life wants and goals, and her tracks to her life journey.This is about a woman who was headed in the wrong direction--leading a drab, boring life, a life that seemed to be controlled by the affair she was having. She takes a trip to a historical house on an island in Canada and finds that it was more than she had ever expected.Her life change and new attitude was fueled by a sexual relationship.It is more than just a sexual relationship--she finds out how to love herself and love others as well. Bear is an interesting tale filled with sadness, love, and truth.This story needed to be written and needs to be read.

A disturbing tale finely told
Marian Engel's short novel Bear is an odd book.Winner of the Governor General's Award (Canada) in 1976, it clearly has attained critical success.In broad outline, Engel tells the story of a bookish young woman, Lou,working as an archivist in dusty historical institute, who is given thefield assignment to catalog a nineteenth century library located on aremote island in Ontario.The only other inhabitant of the island is thepet bear of prior the occupants, and a strongly sexual - though notconsummated - relationship develops between them The subject matter of thisbook may be very disturbing to some - an afterward in the Canadian editionto this book notes that many have described the book as"pornographic".I do not agree with this censor's view, butagree that it is not a book for children or prudes.

The real"subject" of the book is Lou's growth from retiring recluse tomore confident woman; although the medium of transformation is throughsexual awakening, this is not the sole or even principal end result.

Finally, a word must be added about Engel's wonderful writing.Hercharacters, settings, and descriptions are lively, strongly visual, and attimes amusing.Take, for example, her musings on historical Canadians:"The Canadian tradition was, she had found, on the whole, genteel. Any evidence that an ancestor had performed any acts other than working andpraying was usually destroyed.Families handily became respectable inretrospect but it was, as [Lou] and the [Institute Director] often mourned,hell on history."More such fine writing awaits the reader of thisshort but non-complacent novel, which I recommend. ... Read more

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Exploring relationships in the alien hyperworlds of circus performers, taxi drivers, and single fathers, Martin Sherman looks at the shattered universes of characters struggling to persist amid shards of their faith. ... Read more

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Beloved of readers and writers alike, Carol Shields was a formidable creative force. e author of dozens of books, she won a Pulitzer Prize and an Orange Prize, a Governor General's award, and many other honours and recognitions. And this extraordinary writer's work continues to inspire lovers of language from around the world.Carol Shields: Evocation and Echo gathers together a bouquet of literary responses. Critics, friends, and fellow writers from North America and Europe here respond to the writing of Carol Shields. Their observations, augmentations, and creative interventions make for a collection that pays homage to Shields, but nonetheless possesses its own distinctive flavour. Her magnificent words continue to reverberate, evoking laughter and memory, and echoing her perceptive eloquence. ... Read more