Melissa J Gismondi
A Grizzly Tale
Bear
By Marian Engel
Daunt Books 176pp £8.99
Bear is the story of a summer love affair between Lou, an archivist tasked with cataloguing the library of a 19th-century Ontario manor, and a bear affiliated with the isolated house. The bear, we are told, is ‘indubitably male’ and smells of ‘shit and musk’. One of Lou’s first interactions with Bear, as he’s known, occurs outside, at his shed. After watching him drink a pail of water, Lou whispers to Bear, ‘Who and what are you?’
We might also ask that question of this strange yet brilliant novel, first published in 1976 and now reissued by Daunt Books. In under two hundred pages, it flirts with a range of issues, including colonialism, women’s sexual liberation, the tension between intellect and instinct, and modern society’s alienation from
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
When @djbduncan notices the text for a literary jigsaw puzzle had been written by a former colleague, his head spins. A wild surmise. Are jigsaws REF-able?
Dennis Duncan - The W Factor
Dennis Duncan: The W Factor
literaryreview.co.uk
In an effort to scold drinkers, Victorian temperance societies furiously marked every drinking establishment with a red X on city maps. It was a spectacular case of propaganda backfiring.
@foxtosser explores the history of drink maps
Edward Brooke-Hitching - From Beer Street to Gin Lane
Edward Brooke-Hitching: From Beer Street to Gin Lane - Drink Maps in Victorian Britain by Kris Butler
literaryreview.co.uk
How did a workers’ insurance agent who died of tuberculosis at the age of forty become a global literary icon?
@MortenHoiJensen on Kafka's metamorphosis
Morten Høi Jensen - Paranoid Humanoid
Morten Høi Jensen: Paranoid Humanoid - Metamorphoses: In Search of Franz Kafka by Karolina Watroba; Kafka: Making o...
literaryreview.co.uk