Sunday, March 17, 2024

My Review of Clark Blaise's This Time, That Place: Selected Stories in Canadian Writers Abroad

I'm happy to share with all of you that I'm back in the digital pages of Canadian Writers Abroad magazine, this time reviewing Clark Blaise's most recent short story collection, This Time, That Place

Here's an excerpt from the piece:

"Blaise, like many of his fictional doppelgangers, has led an almost preternaturally peripatetic life. He is both an American and a Canadian, with stints in Montreal, Florida, New York, Iowa, and other places during his long life. He has also maintained close ties to India, thanks to his decades-long marriage to fellow author Bharati Mukherjee before her death in 2017. Much of Blaise’s earliest stories, including “Broward Dowdy,” “A North American Education,” and “A Class of New Canadians” are intentionally autobiographical – Blaise was doing auto-fiction before it was trendy – and his overarching theme is clear. A peripatetic life can lead to a fragmented identity, and the quest for a sense of belonging often competes with one’s other desires, and, in some cases, better judgment."

Enjoy!