Andre Alexis Revisited

I’ve already made clear my objections to Andre Alexis’ recent Walrus article decrying the state of Canadian literary criticism (or CanLitCrit). But my relatively mild rebuke has now been superceded by Zachariah Wells’ truly devastating response in Canadian Notes and Queries, which can be found here. It should be called My Deathmatch with Andre. An [...]

Read Full Post »

Why Spy?

Inspired by recent events, I argue in the Globe and Mail that spies aren’t all that important. You can read the article here.

Read Full Post »

Canadians Too Mean?

In the latest issue of The Walrus, Andre Alexis argues that Canadian literary criticism is, of all things, too mean-spirited. He blames John Metcalf for the sitation. I wasn’t impressed with Alexis’ arguments and wrote a rebuttal (a very mild Canadian rebuke, of course), which ran in today’s National Post. You can read it here. An excerpt: [...]

Read Full Post »

Christopher Hitchens: No Prayer But A Poem

  I wonder if anyone has written on the etiquette of prayer, the social ethics of when it is appropriate to pray for another person. Christopher Hitchens has cancer. I have every good wish for him and hope that his chemotherapy treatment is effective and he recuperates quickly. But even if I were the praying [...]

Read Full Post »