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Running the Whale’s Back
In a collection as fine in scope as it is intimate in detail, Running the Whale’s Back presents a host of Eastern Canada’s brightest literary talents, all putting pens to paper to explore the multiple facets of what we call “faith” through a unique Atlantic vantage point.
In a satisfying mixture of styles and themes, the full breadth of Atlantic Canadian spirituality is revealed. These are pieces that poke and prod, ruminate and circulate with themes of religion and cultures of spirituality. Mysticism meets piety, holiness argues with practicality, and hope lives side by side with despair as the stories spiral and waltz themselves across the four provinces.
As the authors leap from subject to subject, we discover death lurking in the lonely wilderness, ski jumpers participating in miracles, and preachers suffering marital discord. Featured authors are Michael Crummey, Sheldon Currie, Joan Clark, David Adams Richards, Kenneth J. Harvey, Clive Doucet, Deborah Joy Corey, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Michael Hennessey, Lynn Coady, D.R. MacDonald, Jessica Grant, Michael Winter, Samuel Thomas Martin, Michelle Butler Hallett, Kathleen Winter, and Ann Copeland.
Two men freeze solid during a blizzard, their bodies posed until spring. A minister discovers his wife’s Internet infidelities. A former nun discusses “Hanging up the Habit” on a talk show. A ski jumper takes off . . . and never lands. In an unmistakable chorus of Atlantic accents, Running the Whale’s Back offers a host of stories from Eastern Canada’s brightest literary talents.
Exploring the precarious terrain of faith and doubt, these authors pen rough-hewn, weather-beaten accounts of spirituality and religion. Consider yourself forewarned: there’s grit in these stories. The authors poke and prod, unearthing philosophies and leitmotifs rarely examined. As they leap from subject to subject, surfacing and diving, we encounter intense ruminations on life and death, morality and immorality, peace and desire — and even a miracle or two.
“A great read from cover to cover.”
– Quill & Quire
“T;rancendence seems to be the word that applies to this collection. … Running the Whale’s Back, through its themes of death and love that lock arms with belief and doubt, shows that age-old ideas are the best ones humans ever had, do have, will have, forever and ever. The ideas seem so good and lasting because they are articulated through the transcendent aesthetics of language, of story.”
– Winnipeg Review
“Serves to highlight this perpetual return to contemporary issues of faith: whether that faith be religious, economic, sexual or familial. … These are stories that should be contemplated slowly and treated as individual meditations.”
– Atlantic Books Today
“While their origins are grounded and specific, the spiritual musings themselves are diffuse. … the book’s success — and it is a great read from cover to cover — comes down to the high quality of the stories themselves.”
– Quill & Quire
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Details
Dimensions:
304 Pages
8in * 5in * 0.69in
405gr
Published:
October 22, 2013
Publisher:
ISBN:
9780864929136
9780864927828 – EPUB
Book Subjects:
Featured In:
Language:
eng
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