{"id":3119,"date":"2008-05-09T13:11:02","date_gmt":"2008-05-09T17:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/2008\/05\/09\/literally-in-toronto\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T13:05:35","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T18:05:35","slug":"literally-in-toronto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/05\/09\/literally-in-toronto\/","title":{"rendered":"Literally in Toronto"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"toronto.jpg\"<\/a>
\n<\/st1><\/st1>\n<\/p>\n

What do the novels Alias Grace<\/em> by Margaret Atwood, Clara Callan<\/em> by Richard B. Wright, Fugitive Pieces<\/em> by Anne Michaels, and In the Skin of a Lion<\/em> by Michael Ondaatje have in common? They are all set in <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1>.<\/p>\n

The first book I ever read that was set in <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> was Atwood’s The<\/em> Edible Woman<\/em>. As a grade nine student attending a down town high school<\/st1>, to read about Marian McAlpin and Duncan meeting at places that I not only knew, but could walk to after school, was an exhilarating experience. <\/span>It gave me a sense empowerment — it was as if I better understood the protagonist’s identity struggles simply because I used the same subway stations. Even now, ten years later, every time I walk by Park Hyatt Hotel (formerly the <\/st1>Park<\/st1> Plaza<\/st1>) I think of Marian enjoying a cocktail on the roof top lounge overlooking the city.<\/p>\n

Having visited several European cities that celebrate their literary incarnations, achievements, and heroes through commemorative plaques on the sides of buildings and parks, I’ve always wondered why <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> doesn’t do the same. Maybe I haven’t been looking hard enough, but as far as I know there is nothing in Rosedale indicating that Timothy Findley (author of The Wars<\/em>, for which he won the Governor General’s Award for fiction) was raised in this affluent <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

This lack of literary consciousness inevitably leads to two conclusions: A) authors are reluctant to choose the <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> landscape as a backdrop for storytelling, and B) Torontonians and tourists are not interested in our literary history. However, I’ve recently learned this is not exactly the case, at least, not entirely.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week I came across Bibliotravel.com<\/a>. <\/span>This website, which is run by Canadian librarians Fiona Scannell<\/span><\/a> and James Schellenberg<\/span><\/a>, describes itself as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free online <\/em>resource for identifying books set in distinct locales.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d And it does just that.<\/span> <\/span><\/em>Bibliotravel.com<\/a> <\/em>provides lists upon lists of books based on their settings. <\/span>Looking for a book set in <\/st1>Dublin<\/st1>, Ireland<\/st1><\/a>? Just use the search engine and you get nine results: a play, two memoirs, and several novels (Joyce’s Ulysses <\/em>is conspicuously missing.) The information is user driven, so that bibliophiles can add their favourite books to the ever growing and diverse catalogue of works and locations.<\/p>\n

While navigating through Bibliotravel.com<\/a>, I surprisingly learned that our city is in third place in the world<\/em> with 135 listed books that feature <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> as either the main setting, or one of many settings. <\/span>In first place is New York<\/st1> with 255 books, and <\/st1>London<\/st1> is in second with 237. <\/span><\/o><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The website takes some liberties when defining a location as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153setting.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d For instance, Roch Carrier’s childhood classic <\/span>The Hockey Sweater<\/a><\/em> is included in the Toronto<\/st1> list, but I remember distinctly that the entire story is set in Quebec <\/st1>— unless the scene where <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1> based Mr. Eaton replies to Mrs. Carrier’s letter counts as being set in the Big Smoke. Other than this small discrepancy, the website is a great resource with a lot of potential. One thing I would like to see incorporated into each book profile is an inventory of the streets, stores, parks, and other local landmarks that are unique to a particular city.<\/span><\/em><\/o><\/em><\/p>\n

Although Toronto based literature is a long way off from being celebrated in the public realm by locals and tourists alike, Bibliotravel.com<\/a> serves to clarify at least one misconception: that there are plenty books out there about or featuring Toronto.<\/p>\n

What is your favourite book set in <\/st1>Toronto<\/st1>?<\/p>\n

photo of Allan Moak’s A Big City A B C<\/u> taken by Patricia Simoes <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do the novels Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, Clara Callan by Richard B. Wright, Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, and In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje have in common? They are all set in Toronto. The first book I ever read that was set in Toronto was Atwood’s The Edible Woman.Continue reading “Literally in Toronto”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4049,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21759,15],"tags":[8972,8959,8960,379,8957,34,8965,4903,1804,8958,2477,765,8964,359,8963,8966,8961,469,8969,8970,8752,819,8962,8968,8971,8967,19],"class_list":["post-3119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","category-media","tag-aeoefree-online-resource","tag-allan-moak","tag-anne-michaels","tag-author","tag-big-city","tag-book-review","tag-clara-callan","tag-dublin","tag-eaton","tag-fiona-scannell","tag-governor-general","tag-ireland","tag-james-schellenberg","tag-london","tag-margaret-atwood","tag-marian-mcalpin","tag-michael-ondaatje","tag-new-york","tag-park-hyatt-hotel","tag-park-plaza","tag-patricia-simoes","tag-quebec","tag-richard-b-wright","tag-roch-carrier","tag-search-engine","tag-timothy-findley","tag-toronto"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLiterally in Toronto - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2008\/05\/09\/literally-in-toronto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Literally in Toronto - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What do the novels Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, Clara Callan by Richard B. 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