For “P” of
my Book Advent Calendar, I thought I would do something different: suggest a reference book to enhance
reading. As the editor states, the book
provides “glimpses down roads you may, one day be traveling” in your reading.
Day 16: 501 Writers: A Comprehensive Guide to the Giants of
Literature edited by Julian Patrick
This book
is a guide to leading writers from different eras and cultures. It is divided chronologically into 13
sections beginning with “pre-1500” and ending with “post-1960”.
Each entry
includes brief biographical data, a list of signature titles, a note on the
writer’s style and genre, and an appraisal of his/her literary innovations,
cultural impact, and contributions to the canon of world literature. Quotes, interesting anecdotes, and
photos/illustrations enhance the text.
Here’s an
alphabetical list of some of the writers featured: Chinua Achebe, A. S. Byatt, Giacomo Casanova,
Roald Dahl, Umberto Eco, John Fowles, Gao Xingjian, Vaclav Havel, Henrik Ibsen,
Henry James, Milan Kundera, Pär Lagerkvist, Haruki Murakami, Anaïs Nin, Ovid,
Orhan Pamuk, Pascal Quignard, J. K. Rowling, Vikram Seth, Colm Tóibín, John
Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, Jeannette Winterson, W. B. Yeats, and Émile Zola.
Julian
Patrick, the general editor, is a professor of literature at the University of
Toronto. It is his name which first drew
me to this guide. It is no surprise
therefore that a number of Canadian writers appear (Margaret Atwood, Marie-Claire Blais,
Robertson Davies, Michael Ondaatje, and Alice Munro) as well as writers with a definite
Canadian connection (E. Annie Proulx and
Carol Shields).
Obviously,
this is not a book to read in one sitting.
It is one to peruse at leisure.
I even like
the title of 501 as opposed to 500. The
editor explains that the addition of “1” is intended to “indicate the
possibility of the additional, thus signaling that a list such as this can
never be comprehensive or complete.” As
you go through the pages of this book, you will undoubtedly find yourself suggesting
writers you think should be added.
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