Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

Click to enlarge

Print Price: $38.50

Format:
Paperback
704 pp.
6" x 9"

ISBN-13:
9780195445299

Publication date:
October 2011

Imprint: OUP Canada

The Concise Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature

Second Edition

Edited by William Toye

Critically acclaimed for its ambition and scope, The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature is considered the authoritative reference of its kind. The original concise version appeared in 2001, retaining the Companion's informative coverage of major writers, significant works, and other aspects of the Canadian literary scene, while omitting regional and genre surveys and francophone writers whose works have not been translated into English.

Now available in paperback, its successor treats the explosion of publications by "new" writers of fiction and poetry as well as by authors who already had entries in the Companion - all these recent works described in considerable detail by William Toye. There are 42 new entries on subjects that include Christian Bök, Joseph Boyden, CNQ: Canadian Notes & Queries, Cormorant Books, Michael Crummey, Yann Martel, Lisa Moore, Michael Redhill, and Miriam Toews. With more than 1,000 entries that include many books published in 2010, this new edition offers a comprehensive look at the wealth of literature produced by Canadian writers.

Readership : This updated second edition will appeal to the general reader interested in the Canadian literary scene, or more broadly, the arts in Canada. In particular, students of Canadian Literature, booksellers, and librarians will find the A-Z format makes for an indispensible, quick reference tool.

Reviews

"A masterful achievement from the indefatigable William Toye."

--Eleanor Wachtel, host of CBC's Writers & Company
"William Toye has expertly marshalled and written a rich, hugely informative compendium of knowledge about the astonishing diversity of Canadian writing. No library, public or personal, can afford to be without it."

--Roy MacSkimming, author of The Perilous Trade: Book Publishing in Canada, 1946-2006
"For breadth, accuracy, and insight, The Concise Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature is still the best quick reference guide to Canadian literature in any medium."

--Nino Ricci, award-winning author of The Origin of Species
"The Concise Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature is an indispensable tool and guide for anyone interested in Canadian culture. William Toye has done a superb job of updating entries in the first [concise] edition, which appeared in 2001, and in adding many new entries. ... He is one of Canada's finest editors, and this always elegant and often eloquent volume, combining necessary information and insightful evaluation, clearly bears the mark of the master editor's hand."

--Professor Zailig Pollock, Department of English Literature, Trent University
"Handsome, ... arranged in readable and elegant columns. The prose [is] sharp and effective, crackling with literate enthusiasm. Toye has been working this beat for decades and it may be that in studying, selecting, and analyzing this material he's become more knowledgeable about the breadth of Canadian writing, English and French, than anyone else alive. ... An essential work of reference."

--National Post
"An indispensable guide to all things CanLit."

--Globe and Mail

Preface to the Second Edition
Contributors
A-Z

There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.

William Toye was the general editor of the first edition of The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature and co-editor of the second edition. He wrote The St Lawrence (1959) and William Toye on Canadian Literature (2005); edited the popular anthology The Book of Canada (1962); co-edited, with Robert Weaver, The Oxford Anthology of Canadian Literature (2nd edn, 1981); and was a founding editor of The Tamarack Review. He was editorial director of Oxford University Press Canada from 1969 until his retirement in 1991. In 1995 he was awarded the Order of Canada, in 1996 he received an honorary M.A. from Oxford University, and in 2004 he was given an honorary doctorate by Victoria College, University of Toronto.

The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature - Edited by Eugene Benson
William Toye
Canadian Short Stories - Edited by Robert Weaver
Preface by William Toye
An Anthology of Canadian Literature in English - Edited by Donna Bennett and Russell Brown
New Anthology of Canadian Literature / Document Guide for the Humanities Pack - Edited by Donna Bennett and Russell Brown
A History of Canadian Culture - Jonathan Vance
The Devil Is a Travelling Man - W. O. Mitchell
Edited by Ormond Mitchell and Barbara Mitchell
Canadian Poetry from World War I - Edited by Joel Baetz

Special Features

Fully revised. Updated entries now include books published to 2010.
New content. Includes 42 new entries, meticulously researched and written by William Toye.
Critically acclaimed. Based on The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, Second Edition, a Globe and Mail bestseller and Quill & Quire book of the year.
Extensive scope. Entries on authors, significant works, publishers, literary magazines, and literary works, arranged in an easily accessible alphabetical order.
Over 1,000 entries. Carefully cross-referenced entries facilitate further reading.
Renown editor. William Toye is the former editorial director of Oxford University Press Canada and has received the Order of Canada among other academic distinctions.