Book Club: February 12, 2024, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows- Zoom only – new date*
- This event has passed.
February 5 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
February 12, 2024, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows
Alistair MacLeod, No Great Mischief (1999)
Discussion Leader: Meg Fox
The first (and only) novel by a great Canadian short story writer, No Great Mischief (1999) was published when Alistair MacLeod was in his mid-sixties. Chronicling the lives of several generations of Scottish immigrants on Cape Breton, this novel tells a story of exile and ancestral home, of family and blood ties to the clan and the land, of miners, loggers, drinkers, adventurers, even orthodontists (eventually). The title comes from General Wolfe’s comment before the 1759 Battle of Quebec about his Highland soldiers: “they are hardy, intrepid, accustomed to a rough country, and no great mischief if they fall.” The novel is written in simple direct language, with a lyric intensity. In awarding it the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 2001, the judges valued its style above all: “The music of the Cape Breton rings throughout this book, by turns joyful and sad but always haunting. Written in a hypnotic, stately prose where every word is perfectly placed, ‘No Great Mischief’ has the same haunting effect, and shows why the master craftsman took more than ten years to write it.” (Available in all formats; 304 pages)
The link to register is https://forms.office.com/r/caCZdtusd7
The deadline to register is the Monday morning the day of the event at 8 am. The Zoom link will be sent to registrants only.
If you have any questions, please contact the organizer – Linda Hutcheon at l.hutcheon@utoronto.ca.
