This Time, That Place

Description

Blaise is probably the greatest living Canadian writer most Canadians have never heard of. Quill & QuireIf you want to understand something about what life was like in the restless, peripatetic, striving, anxiety-ridden, shimmer cultural soup of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, writes Margaret Atwood, read the stories of Clark Blaise.This Time, That Placedraws together twenty-four stories that span the entirety of Blaises career, including one never previously published. Moving swiftly across place and time, through and between languagesfrom Floridas Confederate swamps, to working-class Pittsburgh, to Montreal and abroadthey demonstrate Blaises profound mastery of the short story and reveal the range of his lifelong preoccupation with identity as fallacy, fable, and dream.This Time, That Place: Selected Storiesconfirms Clark Blaise as one of the best and most enduring masters of the formon either side of our shared borders.Praise forThis Time, That Place[Blaise] paints a restless, uneasy portrait of society at the turn of the 21st century.New York TimesMore people should read Blaise Contemporary life is full of irreconcilable tensions.This Time, That Placecaptures a handful of them, simultaneously telling stories of three countries and a multitude of identities that cut across various social, culture, political and economic dimensions.Globe and MailIf the topic is longing, loneliness or the search for love in an untethered world, no one writes with more wisdom or more beautifully.Alexander MacLeod, for theGlobe and MailThis Time, That Placeis not only a stunning collection of fiction, it is one of considerable importance; most readers will not recognize how much they have been lacking in their reading lives until they experience the work of Clark Blaise first-hand.Toronto StarThe adolescent yo-yo takes many forms inThis Time, That Place(), which recalls an old cigar box filled with undated and often cryptic postcards. [] Individually or as a group, these loosely linked stories will reward multiple readings.Literary Review of CanadaThis Time, That Placedemonstrates why Blaise is one of Canadas greatest short story writers.CBC BooksBlaise is almost preternaturally adept at noticing things sublime technique and linguistic finesse [are] showcased in these inestimable short works.Quill & Quire, starred reviewWith the publication ofThis Time, That Placeconfirms, author Clark Blaise is clearly documented as being one of the best and most enduring masters of the short story literary form.Midwest Book Review[Blaises] readers dont feel as though theyre merely a fly on the wall: Theyre sitting in the back of a stolen car in the middle of the night, inheriting a new identity as they watch a past life fade in the rearview.The McGill TribuneThe publication ofThis Time, That Placeis a cause for celebration. Not only doesThis Time, That Placeprove Blaise to be a master of the craft, it also holds a mirror up to the reader. It may answer the question Who is Clark Blaise? but it raises the bigger, more important questions of Who am I? and Where am I now?PRISM InternationalClark Blaise might be North Americas Great Unclaimed Writer These stories, like their author, embody and enact a continental sense and sensibility.The BulwarkThis Time, That Placedoes a good job of establishing Blaise not only as one of the major voices in Canadian fiction in the last half-century, but as a deeply entertaining writer to boot. Its one best enjoyed slowly, giving each of these stories time to settle and let them linger on.Live in LimboThese stories cover ground not only geographically. They are also crowded with character and incident, always fiercely and smartly observed Blaise has gathered here a smart, sprawling collection of stories about family, rootlessness, and identity.Kirkus ReviewsBlaises stories are shapely and full of keenly observed details that bring their often unglamorous settings to life. For those unfamiliar with his work,This Time, That Placewill come as an especially pleasant discovery.Shelf AwarenessThis selection contains a lifes work from one of the most important short story writers to ever live in North America. No artist before Blaise, and nobody since, has moved through the continent with so much sensitivity, compassion, and intelligence. Most at home when they are lost, Blaises characters search hardest for belonging when the conditions are least hospitable. For fifty peripatetic years, his beautifully crafted stories have shown us a way though. In our desperation, whenever we ask: Where am I now? Clark Blaise provides the honest answer we need: Right here.Alexander MacLeod, author ofAnimal PersonA dazzling gallery of portraits of North American lives rendered in Blaises emotionally evocative style.Joyce Carol OatesPraise for Clark BlaiseIf you want to understand something about what life was like in the restless, peripatetic, striving, anxiety-ridden simmering cultural soup of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, read the stories of Clark Blaise. Hes the recording angel and the accuser, rolled into one. Hes the eye at the keyhole. Hes the ear at the door.Margaret AtwoodBlaise is probably the greatest living Canadian writer most Canadians have never heard of.Quill & QuireClark Blaises brilliantly imaginedThe Meagre Tarmacis a novel in short-story form, warmly intimate, startling in its quick jumps and revelations with the rich and compelling detail for which [his] fiction is renowned Remarkable.Joyce Carol Oates