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Literary Criticism Canadian

The Half-Lives of Pat Lowther

by (author) Christine Wiesenthal

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2005
Category
Canadian, Literary
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802036353
    Publish Date
    Nov 2005
    List Price
    $89.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802094803
    Publish Date
    Nov 2006
    List Price
    $59.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442681422
    Publish Date
    Sep 2005
    List Price
    $99.00

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Description

Since her untimely death in 1975, the life and work of the Vancouver poet Pat Lowther have often been referred to as 'the Lowther legacy.' In The Half-Lives of Pat Lowther, Christine Wiesenthal seeks to convey what that legacy actually entails.

Combining biography with an analysis of literary and cultural history, Wiesenthal examines the critical legacy of a writer whose remarkable life and poetry have remained overshadowed by her notorious death. Working within a new form of biography, which employs multiple narrative arcs - or 'half-lives' - that interpret Lowther's life and poetry within and across several interpretive frameworks, Wiesenthal retraces the influences on the public memory of the poet. She charts Lowther's complex creative evolution: from her modest beginnings as a high-school drop out and single mother, to her emergence as one of the most distinctive poetic voices of the seventies.

A wealth of previously uncollected and unpublished letters, notebook entries, court documents, interviews, and archival materials illuminate Pat Lowther's manifold achievements in her domestic, political, and intellectual lives. The Half-Lives of Pat Lowther is the premier work on this remarkable figure.

About the author

Christine Wiesenthal is the critically acclaimed author of The Half-Lives of Pat Lowther, a biography shortlisted for the 2006 Governor General’s Literary Award for Nonfiction. She has published numerous works of nonfiction and poetry, including Instruments of Surrender, a collection shortlisted for the Stephan G. Stephannson and the Gerald Lampert awards in 2001 and 2002. She currently lives in Edmonton.

Christine Wiesenthal's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction
  • Short-listed, Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction

Editorial Reviews

'Deftly analyzing both the canonization and desecration strategies that have shaped the Lowther legacies, Wiesenthal wisely moves beyond the victimization myth and characterizations of the poet as a "prescient Cassandra".…Few poets would be fortunate to have so intelligent and painstaking an advocate. Wiesenthal has not only rescued many precious and vanishing fragments of the life story, but also brought into focus the very complex mythological and scientificmaterial Lowther was consuming like a blast furnance and trying to incorporate into her work.'

The Globe and Mail

Other titles by

Collected Works of Pat Lowther, The

edited by Christine Wiesenthal
by (author) Pat Lowther

The Half-Lives of Pat Lowther

by (author) Christine Wiesenthal

Writing the Terrain

Travelling Through Alberta with the Poets

contributions by Ian Adam, Robert Stamp, Tammy Armstrong, Margaret Avison, Douglas Barbour, John O. Barton, Doug Beardsley, Bonnie Bishop, E.D. Blodgett, Robert Boates, George Bowering, Tim Bowling, Jan Boydol, Gordon Burles, Murdoch Burnett, Anne Campbell, Weyman Chan, Leonard Cohen, Dennis Cooley, Joan Crate, Michael Cullen, Cyril Dabydeen, Lorne Daniel, Alexa DeWiel, Jason Dewinetz, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Cecelia Frey, Gary Geddes, Gail Ghai, Deborah Godin, Jim Green, Leslie Greentree, Vivian Hansen, Tom Henihan, Michael Henry, Walter Hildebrandt, Gerald Hill, Robert Hilles, Nancy Holmes, Richard Hornsey, Tom Howe, Aislinn Hunter, Bruce Hunter, Laurence Hutchman, Sally Ito, Pauline Johnson, Aleksei Kazuk, Robert Kroetsch, Fiona Lam, William Latta, Tim Lilburn, Alice Major, Kim Maltman, Miriam Mandel, Sid Marty, David McFadden, Barry McKinnon, Erin Michie, Deborah Miller, Anna Mioduchowska, James M. Moir, Colin Morton, Erin Moure, Charles Noble, P.K. Page, Rajinderpal Pal, Ruth Roach Pierson, Joseph Pivato, Roberta Rees, D.C. Reid, Monty Reid, R. rickey, Ken Rivard, Stephen Scobie, Allan Serafino, Joan Shillington, Greg Simison, Carol Ann Sokoloff, Karen Solie, Stephan Stephansson, Peter Stevens, Ivan Sundal, Anne Swannell, Vanna Tessier, Colleen Thibadeau, John O. Thompson, James M. Thurgood, Eva Tihanyi, Yvonne Trainer, Aritha Van Herk, Rosalee van Stelten, Miriam Waddington, James Wreford Watson, Wilfred Watson, Tom Wayman, Phyllis Webb, Jon Whyte, Christine Wiesenthal, Sheri-D Wilson, Christopher Wiseman, Stacie Wolfer, Rita Wong, Richard Woollatt & Jan Zwicky