What do you think?
Rate this book
Readings in Commonwealth literature
Readings In Commonwealth Literature
448 pages, Hardcover
First published September 29, 1973
About the author
William Walsh
9 books1 followerWilliam Walsh was successively Professor of Education, Professor of Commonwealth Literature and acting Vice Chancellor of Leeds University.
His first specialty was education and later Commonwealth literature, including works on V S Naipaul and R K Narayan.
His first specialty was education and later Commonwealth literature, including works on V S Naipaul and R K Narayan.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 3, 2016
I'm picking and choosing essays here, mostly focusing on Canada, India and a bit of Africa. I picked this out of the ToK recycling bin because I remembered Rushdie's essay called something like "There's No Such Thing as Commonwealth Literature." I guess this is what he was reacting to (and the Booker prize).
Achebe - the preceived responsibility for novelists to act as moralists in Nigeria (and perhaps other places with only a small literary tradition).
Atwood - relating Canada's gross climate to the prevalance of old/mean/scary/deathly women in our literature.
Dudek - pretty snarky take down of almost every Canadian poet. I think he liked Earle Birney.
Jones - Kinda forget this one. Apparently Canadian poets don't like urbanized (suburbanized) life. Well, it was the 1960s.
Matthews - likes AM Klein. I should read this dude.
New - Even popular Canadian fiction has "muted terror" instead of happy endings. Lots of mid-century cynicism, apparently.
Woodcock - Kind of a snarky take down of many mid-century Canadian writers. Does not the Canadian Council because it's "institutionalized" funding. (Is that worse that funding via private publishing companies?)
Achebe - the preceived responsibility for novelists to act as moralists in Nigeria (and perhaps other places with only a small literary tradition).
Atwood - relating Canada's gross climate to the prevalance of old/mean/scary/deathly women in our literature.
Dudek - pretty snarky take down of almost every Canadian poet. I think he liked Earle Birney.
Jones - Kinda forget this one. Apparently Canadian poets don't like urbanized (suburbanized) life. Well, it was the 1960s.
Matthews - likes AM Klein. I should read this dude.
New - Even popular Canadian fiction has "muted terror" instead of happy endings. Lots of mid-century cynicism, apparently.
Woodcock - Kind of a snarky take down of many mid-century Canadian writers. Does not the Canadian Council because it's "institutionalized" funding. (Is that worse that funding via private publishing companies?)
Displaying 1 of 1 review